THE STORY OF JOSE:
Jose is a 30-year-old native born citizen of Nicaragua, a country that is one of the poorest in the world. His mother was very young and living in extreme poverty when she gave birth to Jose and his twin brother and due to her economic situation, she was unable to keep both children. Jose was sent to be raised by his grandmother in another city while his mother kept the other son.
At the age of 9, Jose's grandmother and mother gave both brothers to an orphanage in Managua where they lived for the next two years in an unloving environment. On weekends, the children of the orphanage would stand at the front iron gates waiting for family members to come visit. Oftentimes, no one would come. Sometimes, Jose's mother would arrive only to pass a dollar to each of the siblings through the bars of the gates. If there was one fortunate aspect of being in the orphanage, it was that it offered food, shelter, education, competitive sports, and a brief opportunity to have structure in Jose's life.
Two years later, at the age of 11, his mother took the brother out of the orphanage and Jose was sent back to live with his grandmother. During this time, Jose began to excel in soccer and had dreams of playing professionally someday. He did not do well in school and decided to drop out at the age of 15 to focus solely on soccer.
When Jose was 16, his grandmother made the decision to move to the United States to live with family members, leaving Jose behind in Nicaragua. From that point on, Jose basically became homeless, either living on the streets or sleeping at the homes of friends.
Fast forward to the age of 29 when family members encouraged Jose to apply for a Humanitarian Grant in the United States, meant to be a possible path to citizenship here, or at the very least to give a two-year permit to work here and learn a skilled trade that would provide a better life in Nicaragua after his 2 years in U.S. were completed. A thorough background check and all the requirements were met and approved by United States Customs and Immigrations before Jose was accepted to participate in the humanitarian grant program and receive the beautiful gift of coming to the United States. Jose's dream of having a better life was about to begin.
I met Jose when he first came to Orlando, which was June of 2024. He was living with his cousin, a United States citizen and flight mechanic for United Airlines. Jose was so excited to be in the United States and begin his search for a job. After meeting him for the first time, I was so impressed with his love of our country and his enthusiasm, that I decided to try to help him find a job through my friends who own businesses. But I quickly learned, Jose’s biggest obstacle was that he only spoke Spanish and no English… and English was now a requirement by employers due to safety and insurance purposes. I tried to help Jose learn English and find odd jobs while he continued his search. A few months later, he was finally hired by a local, reputable awning company.
Even though he was making minimum wage, Jose was thrilled ... as this was the first stable job he ever had in his life. With the money he earned, he was able to share rent with two co-workers in a small cottage home on Grant Street. Not only was he able to make enough money to pay rent, but for the first time in his life he was able to pay for his own groceries and put a little money aside without assistance from anyone or any agency.
Jose quickly learned how to fabricate and install awnings and developed a nice group of caring friends at work. After years of experiencing abandonment on many levels, he finally had a sense of belonging and self-esteem through his accomplishments.
With one year of the program completed, and another year to go, the humanitarian program was abruptly shut down by our government, and immigrants from Venezuela and Nicaragua were ordered to leave the country within 30 days. It was a confusing time as it was never made clear whether the government was only making this demand of illegal immigrants and criminals ... or whether those who had been approved to be here could legally remain. The government order was immediately appealed and while the challenge was playing out, we tried to find the answer before the deadline to leave approached. Then images began appearing in the media of both legal and illegal immigrants being arrested, detained and deported to prisons or countries unknown. Even though Jose was here legally, he feared he would be targeted and mistakenly deported. He was afraid to take advantage of the DHS offer to immigrants of a free flight home and $1000, because he feared the offer was a trick to arrest and detain immigrants at the newly built Alligator Alley Detention Center and possibly deported to a country other than his own of Nicaragua. The overall feeling in the final days before the deadline was one of panic and confusion. Then two days before the deadline, Jose learned that he was included with those who were required to leave the country. He was devastated and frightened by the fast turn of events. With little time left to get him a flight out of the country, I helped Jose by purchasing his return flight to Nicaragua. He returned home with nothing except two suitcases of his belongings ....no place to live and no money for food or shelter.
I chose to try to help support Jose with a small amount of money to put him in a communal home (shared by residents) while I tried to find organizations or non-profits in Nicaragua that could help him get reestablished or find a job. This was nearly an impossible task to do from here. For 2 months of this painstaking effort, I researched, called and wrote emails only to experience the frustration of receiving not one single response. Then finally, I reached out to Habitat for Humanity here in the United States where I was informed that the government of Nicaragua had recently shut down over 5,000 foreign nonprofits, seizing all of their assets and bank accounts and forcing them to leave the country. So, in other words, even though the organizations still showed up on the internet, they were actually no longer there...explaining the reason for no responses. All that time, hoping for a positive outcome, my efforts were now at a complete dead end. There was going to be no help for Jose, and I knew at that point I wasn't going to be able to continue offering financial support he desperately needed.
Because Jose had dropped out of school, he lacks the necessary credentials to be accepted into a trade school. And Nicaragua is such a poor country that there aren't enough jobs available for the thousands of impoverished people competing for the .86 cents an hour minimum wage job. And even if a job could be secured at that hourly rate, it isn't enough to sustain someone with basic needs.
So, herein lies the basis of my birthday wish.
Jose is a kind soul with an undeterred dream of returning to the United States. His last night in Miami before returning to Nicaragua, his family threw a farewell party for him. He sent me a photo of himself at the party .... standing with the United States flag proudly wrapped around him, his eyes filled with tears, and a caption under the photo read: Thank you, God, for the good moments I’ve had here in this country. I feel grateful for everything”. To this day, Jose still cries for the life he once knew in Orlando. He doesn't understand why he wasn't allowed to stay. He doesn't understand the politics of our country. He only understands that he accepted a beautiful opportunity that was offered to him.
I think back to our own ancestors who arrived here with the same anticipation and excitement that Jose felt... dreaming of living life in the land of opportunity … The United States of America… and how sad it is now that this dream for him no longer exists.
I could no longer provide support to Jose in the communal home. At Christmas, he took a bus to visit his mother who lives in a faraway town in Nicaragua. During the visit, we spoke on video chat where I witnessed his fresh drinking water being scooped from a 55-gallon plastic container situated in a room void of all furniture except a few chairs. I asked where the fresh water in the container originated from and he showed me a black rubber tube hanging out of a wall. Twice a week, a dam is opened by the city to bring fresh water to nearby homes. The tube brings the water into the 55-gallon open drum from which they scoop their water to use to brush teeth, bathe, cook and so on. There is no electricity in the home so there is no hot water. They use a propane tank to cook on a two-burner stove. The building is in ruins with structural cracks in the walls and floor. There are no windows in the openings and no screens to prevent mosquitoes from coming in. Nicaragua is very hot and there is no air conditioning in the structure that they call home. But there was no room in the home for him to stay with his mother permanently. The only option was to return to a life of homelessness.
Now here's why I have asked for my birthday wish to be considered by you:
Jose has an opportunity to visit friends in Spain who want to help him obtain sponsorship of an employer and a work permit to hopefully start a new life in Spain. I have researched the cost of what it will take for him to go and the requirements of Spain that he must meet in order to enter the country. My wish for my birthday is to help raise the money to pay for this opportunity for him. All money raised will go towards Jose's ticket to Spain, the funds required by Spain for entry into their country and to pay for medical travel insurance required by Spain.
I chose spotfund.com as the charitable platform, because they don't take a cut of the money raised.
I thank you for your friendship ... and your and for your consideration of granting my birthday wish by supporting this cause. ❤️
