Puerto Ricans coping as they spend Thanksgiving off island
For displaced families from Puerto Rico who are spending Thanksgiving in Central Florida, the holiday is a reminder of their ongoing state of limbo.
For those hoping to return, it’s the uncertainty of when is the right time. For those who want to stay, it’s frustration about finding the resources they need.
Rosalie Agrón arrived in Orlando on Oct. 4 with her two sons, Jan Carlo, 15, and Alan, 10. Agrón is living in her uncle and aunt’s home; her husband stayed on the island to work.
Her home in Aguadilla barely had any damage, but she said “the emotional damage is much stronger.”
“I would love to stay, but everything depends on whether I find work and an apartment, so then my husband quits his job and comes here to live
like the family we are. Otherwise, he’ll stay at his job, because it’s the only form of income we have,” Agrón said.
“They fill your head over there,” Agrón said. “When I thought to come here it was because over social media I saw a lot of videos of the Florida governor saying the doors were open for those coming from Puerto Rico, and I said, ‘If I go there, at least I can have the opportunity to get ahead.’ Because that’s what you hope to find, and I came here with that hope, but when I arrived it was the total opposite.”
This month, Central Florida officials met with Gov. Rick Scott to warn him that arrangements need to be made for long-term housing, medical care and jobs. Already, more than 140,000 people have arrived in Florida from Puerto Rico.
Despite the disappointment and worry, Agrón and her extended family will enjoy a Thanksgiving dinner to “give thanks for being alive; it’s the main reason to give to God, and for having a family that gave me shelter,” Agrón said.
For Clara Medina Verges, being far from home is difficult, but she’s grateful to receive refuge at her friend’s Orlando home.
It might be too early for a Christmas tree, but Medina Verges thought seeing it up at Madeline Caraballo’s home would distract from the weeks that she has spent away from home in Puerto Rico.
But it hasn’t cheered her up. It’s only heightened the guilt she has been feeling after coming here with her 8-year-old son, Gabriel Bodón Medina, on Oct. 13. She left behind her husband — a chef and the sole financial provider for her family — and her 21-year-old son, who has autism.
“It feels like I abandoned them,” Medina Verges, 47, said in tears.
But Medina Verges couldn’t delay her decision to leave. Gabriel was born with a serious case of renal failure. At his young age, his kidneys work about 35 percent of their full capacity. He becomes dehydrated very easily.
A month before the catastrophic storm hit the island and disrupted normal hospital operations, Gabriel’s doctors determined his renal function was so low that he had to begin receiving dialysis treatment.
As Medina Verges tried to find the right specialist to treat him, the hurricane hit.
A few days later, Caraballo, 45, who has lived in Orlando for 18 years, received a call from her friend. She broke down crying, and in her desperation, she said, “If I don’t leave, he’s going to die.”
Caraballo did not hesitate. She bought her friend’s plane ticket and has hosted them in her home since. There are eight of them staying in her home.
The friends met in their early 20s in Ponce, working behind the register at a Church’s Chicken, a popular fast food chain in Puerto Rico.
“She spoke with me even before reaching her eldest son,” said Medina Verges. Caraballo said she doesn’t know when her friend will return to Puerto Rico, but there’s no deadline.
“I’m very attached to my island, so it’s hard. This is my first Thanksgiving away from home,” Medina Verges said.