Kevin

full interview

I’m Ivana Vasquez and today I’m going to interview you. I want to know about your past, your present, your strengths, your resilience, your dreams. What happened and how it makes you feel? Tell me, what’s your name?
My name is Kevin.

What type of housing do you live in today, Kevin Ramos?
I’m living in a Chester-type residence. I am living with my wife.

How do you spend your time here? Do you work?</i
What type of housing do you live in today, Kevin Ramos?
I’m living in a Chester-type residence. I am living with my wife.

How do you spend your time here? Do you work?>
At the moment I am not working, as I am still in the migratory process. Uhm, uhm, I spend my spare time in services such as volunteering in an organization, in different organizations.

What are some of the things that bring you joy and make you happy?
The things that make me happy are, it is through art, that is, drawing. I capture everything, everything I feel, I capture in paintings and drawings.

What has life been like since you came to this country?
Life has become a little, a little easier, and at the same time difficult because I have faced different challenges here in this country. At first we didn’t arrive very, very easily so to speak, but always with, with our heads held high knowing we can move forward.

What was the good thing about being here and what was difficult?
The good thing about being here is that they don’t discriminate against me like they did in my country because I’m from the LGBT community, as I am a man, a gay man. I’m not discriminated against here. Uh, the people who discriminated me the most were the, the Latino community. Well, you don’t see that much here anymore.

How does it feel to be away from your family, your home? How does it affect your feelings? Like you, uh, because of the stigma… Can you describe it?
Being away from my family? Well, my family didn’t always have that kind of living together. So, I can’t really say I miss them as I didn’t live with them for long, since they were one of the reasons why I left, because I was gay and they didn’t accept my, my sexual preference, and I left my family at a very young age. So I have practically no communication with them and neither do they with me, and I can’t say that I miss them.

Have you ever imagined that you could handle this situation? How did you do it, survive with it?
Huh? How could I handle this situation? I don’t understand this question.

Did you ever imagine that you could handle the situation? Like the previous question about, about your family, how has being away affected you? How are you handling it?
Well, how have I handled the situation? Well, as I said in the, in the previous question. It’s, it’s, it’s not like I’ve given it a lot of importance because they, they weren’t fully part of my life. And then of course I don’t, I don’t think about them much. And practically it, it doesn’t affect me much.

Do you think that, do you think you have the, have you had the capacity to be able to face these challenges? Or do you think you’re still living with resilience?
Uhm, my, my challenge is… it’s myself, because I always set my goals, I set my purpose to move forward, uhm, I have always faced my things, because I have seen myself alone and I have visualized myself alone, because if, if, without me I am nothing, then I don’t depend on the other person.

How do you think refugees are perceived in this country? Can you tell us about some occasions when you have felt discriminated against?
Uhm, yes, on several occasions I have been discriminated against in this country. But more, more, specially by the Latin, Latin American side. Uhm, uhm, I had a problem with a girl, because when she found out that I was a gay boy she started to spread the word and tried to belittle and my partner just because of my sexual preference, so… the discrimination comes mainly from the Latino side, not from the natives, as with the American residents, I haven’t had any problems with them.

Why did you leave your country? Could you describe it?
I left my country because of many social differences. The way life is there, the way they live and still care for the integrity of the family and the church, and it’s based on that. So, seeing a gay person or a trans person with a gay person, or someone from the community as a partner for them, is something, something not very normal. They want to belittle you, they want to humiliate you, they want you to follow their religion, their customs, their culture, to also follow what they believe the basis of the family and the basis of the church is.

How was the trip here? Any particular difficult experiences you can tell us about?
Uhm, the trip here was very long and the journey was a little difficult for me because when we were in Mexico we went through, through a lot, through a lot… We had sun poisoning, we went hungry, we slept on the street where we, where we were passing the night, and the, the most difficult journey was when we climbed onto the train because people with weapons were getting on it, pointing at us, um, my partner suffered sexual assault, something that affected me, and unfortunately it was an experience that I don’t wish for anyone. Only when we arrive here, we were got to this country did we say ‘we arrived, but this is where the difficult part begins’.

Do you often think about these events? Any in particular that you think about frequently?
Well, the event that most impacted me was the aggression that my partner suffered, which was on the train, and when they pointed guns at me, and when there were also children climbing on top of the train crying, asking their mother for food and the scorching heat. Those were very, very traumatic situations for me, for both my partner and me.

How are you feeling right now?
Well, right now I’m already going to therapy, because all those events that I went through traumatized me and so… Uhm, it’s something I couldn’t get over just like that or just by telling someone. So I, I’m going to therapy with a psychiatrist and they’re already dealing with my case and, uh, now I’m doing well.

What are your hopes and future for, for, uh, now that you’re here in the United States, what are you, your strength, your hope, your dreams? How do you see yourself now in the future?
My strength right now is my wife, she is the one who supports me and advises me, she has always been there with me, she is the one that, that, the one I live for. In a more distant future I see myself now, with a more fluent English, already with, with studies, a more stable job, this is how I see myself in the future.

I appreciate your interview, Kevin. Thank you very much.