Ridey Rielo and her son Christopher Rodriguez talk in their home in Williamsport recently. DAVE KENNEDY/Sun-Gazette
Ridey Rielo, of Williamsport, says the best decision she ever made in her life was to leave her native Cuba to come to the United States. It was a journey that began for Rielo and her husband, Sammy Rodriguez, by crossing the border from Mexico when she was 8 1/2 months pregnant.
Rielo says, although Cuba is a beautiful country, it is a hard place to live.
“The salaries are really low, like $15 a month. Everything is really expensive. If you want food, if you have kids, it’s really hard.”
It is difficult even if you have good jobs, like Rielo and her husband, who worked in IT, did in Havana. Rielo and Rodriguez always found a way to work multiple jobs to keep their kids fed, Rielo said.
If you leave something outside, even a pumpkin for a Halloween decoration, someone will steal it to eat, she shared.
“Cuba is not safe. When you make $15 a month, people are looking to make easy money,” said Rodriguez.
Rodriguez had a work visa through his IT job in Cuba to go to Mexico. The couple made the decision to have Rielo accompany him and the pair would ask for asylum at the U.S.-Mexican border.
“We decided to cross the border and come to the United States for a better life, a better future for our kids,” said Rielo.
Once they made it to the U.S. border, they requested asylum and their names were put on a list. Then they waited to be interviewed by U.S. officials. The pair had to get a hotel room in Mexico for two weeks while they waited, which cost them all the money that they had brought.
Once they were interviewed, U.S. officials gave Rielo two options — cross the border to the U.S. alone or wait for her husband, who was being detained.
Rodriguez encouraged his wife to go alone so their son could be born in the United States.
“You have to go. You are a strong woman, you can do it,” Rodriguez had told his wife.
So a scared but brave Rielo came into the country alone — 8 1/2 months pregnant with one dress, one pair of shoes, no money and unable to speak English. Her husband was held for 2 1/2 months in a detention center in Mexico and another 35 days in the U.S., waiting for his ICE interview.
Rielo said they knew very few English words when they came to this country.
“We are learning,” she said with a smile. “It’s a hard language.”
Rielo made her way to Williamsport to meet with a family friend who offered assistance.
Fifteen days after arriving, she moved into Family Promise Center, an organization that helps homeless families.
She was alone on a Sunday at Family Promise Center when she went into labor with their son, Christopher, and walked herself to the hospital a few blocks away to give birth.
A month later, her husband joined them in Williamsport and met his son for the first time.
The trio would live with Family Promise Center for a year, sleeping in a different church every week. It was hard living like that and having a baby, Rielo said.
Rielo’s other children, a daughter, 16, and a son, 10, are still living in Cuba with their grandmother while Rielo completes the process to bring them to the US.
They have not seen the two children in Cuba in almost three years.
“I talk with them everyday, but it’s really hard to be separated. I’m here for them to give them a better future, a better life. Everything in life has a sacrifice, that is my sacrifice being apart from any kids,” said an emotional Rielo.
Rielo tries to teach her children in Cuba one English word every time she speaks to them.
“They say, ‘but mom, I don’t speak English’ and I tell them, ‘you are going to learn. If I can learn, you can,'” she shared with a laugh.
It is neither an easy nor a fast process to bring her children here to the United States.
Rielo applied and their applications were sent to the national visa center. Then the U.S. officials asked for more documents, like birth certificates and passports. The next step will be the interview with U.S. officials for which the children will have come to the United States.
Rielo will have to fly to Cuba to bring the children to the U.S. for the interview.
“It’s a very expensive process,” Rielo said.
“I just wait for the approvals. We try to work very hard to make the money for the process,” Rielo said.
The first thing her two children want to do when they come to live in the U.S. is go to Burger King, she said with a smile.
“They are really excited to come here, but I am more excited,” Rielo said.
Rielo and her husband and son now have their own apartment in Williamsport.
“This is my heaven,” she said with a big smile, in their modest apartment. The family was excited when the landlord approved them, and Rielo wanted to move in the same day, she shared with a laugh.
“I wanted to sleep in our bed and have Christopher in a crib,” Rielo said.
The family’s journey from Cuba, to having jobs and their own apartment would not have been possible without the help from churches and agencies in Lycoming County.
“I have to say thank you for all the help that we have been given,” said a grateful Rielo.
“A lot of organizations have helped us, Family Promise, United Way, City Alliance Church, New Covenant United Church Journey House, Expectations Women Center and Sojourner Truth Ministries,” where she is now employed as an administrative assistant.
“One day, they offered me a job. I was so excited; with work, the sky’s open (with) the possibilities,” Rielo said with a smile.
“When we come to this country, we want to work, help our family, have a better life, have a better future,” she said.
Her husband is currently employed in the IT industry.
The family will also be one of the families to move into the Sojourner House of Hope extension home, where they will have one side of the duplex with three bedrooms, a world of difference from their home in Cuba.
“In Cuba, the whole family shared one bedroom,” Rielo said.
The home needs a lot of work but the family is ready to tackle it.
“I’m really excited for it to be our place. It feels like it’s going to be a palace,” Rielo said.
With all the family has endured in the last few years they are grateful to be here and for the help they have received along the way.
“We are so grateful to everybody, every person and every organization that has helped us in this process, I want people to know how important these organization are for people like us, not just immigrant people, but people that have lived here for years. When we came here, we didn’t speak the language, no friends, didn’t have one cent to buy anything, didn’t have clothes and had one pair of shoes and one dress,” Rielo said with tears in her eyes.
Fast forward to today the family bought their first car this past summer, a dream that would have never have been realized in Cuba.
Today, she is proud to have their own car, their own bedrooms and a bank account to deposit her paycheck. In Cuba, none of that was possible, Rielo said.
The family has made friends and found the Williamsport area to be very welcoming.
“We surround ourselves with good people; I am happy, I am really happy to be here in this town,” Rielo said. “It’s the best decision I have ever made in my life to come to the United States.”
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Cuban couple builds new life in U.S., strives to bring children home - Williamsport Sun-Gazette
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