Cedar Rapids woman encourages immigrant parents to advance

CEDAR RAPIDS — In a room full of toys, books, clothes and diapers called the We Care Shop, Monica Vallejo held 19-month-old Oliver Gonzalez as she and the boy's mother picked Christmas gifts for him from among the presents donated to the Young Parents Network.

'¿Estos?' Vallejo asked in Spanish, holding a set of brightly-colored plastic toys.

Vallejo, 56, Hispanic program specialist, has worked with Latino families at the Young Parents Network for the last nine years. She teaches a Wednesday night class on prenatal care for Latino families, helps develop bilingual programs and assists in teaching the regular Thursday night classes.

The majority of families Vallejo works with emigrated from other countries. And while it's challenging for any expecting couple to prepare for the birth of a child, it's especially difficult for a couple who just moved to a country where they don't yet speak the language and don't have family nearby, she said.

Vallejo, who grew up in Ecuador, is familiar with that experience.

When she was 15, Vallejo's sister moved to Cedar Rapids and applied for Vallejo's residency, which would take more than a decade to come to fruition.

More than 28 years ago, after Vallejo received a degree in social work, married and had two children, she and her husband decided to leave a corrupt political system in Ecuador to come to Cedar Rapids.

But personal struggles abounded, she said.

Vallejo couldn't speak English. She missed the food she grew up eating.

In Ecuador, a bus stopped every few minutes at the end of her street. In Cedar Rapids, most adults drive a car, something Vallejo had never learned to do.

'My daughter used to cry and say, 'Why don't you learn how to drive?'' Vallejo remembered. 'This is what pushed me to say, 'I'm going to drive. I know I'm so afraid to crash, but I'm going to try.''

When she first came to Cedar Rapids, Vallejo worked housekeeping at a hotel.

'It was a very hard time for me. I was crying every single day,' she said. 'I (said) in my mind, 'How can I go to college in my country and now I clean bathrooms when I used to have somebody do it for me in my country?' And then I thought this is the United States. (You) have to have the character and courage to say, 'I want to do better.' This is the country of opportunities. If you don't grab (them), you lost your opportunity.'

When Vallejo's children began school in Cedar Rapids, she decided to take classes herself.

'My husband said, 'It's time. You have to go and learn English. There is no other way you're going to move forward. You're going to be stuck in these kinds of jobs. Everything we do in our lives in our country is no more,'' Vallejo said. 'I said, 'OK.''

These are the kinds of struggles and triumphs Vallejo wants to share with the couples who are starting the first American-born generation of their families.

'What I'm trying to do is (have) people to see me as equal,' Vallejo said. 'I had the same problems. I (didn't) know the language. I (didn't) have work when I came, so I was starting from scratch, like they say here. I say, 'You know, I have the same problems you have long ago. I keep on working because of my kids, and you're going to do the same. ''

Vallejo also wants to send the same message she told her children to the children she works with at Young Parents Network.

'I told my kids, 'You aren't better than anybody, and nobody is better than you.' Everyone can get an education here. They can learn English and go to school and get a degree. Only we need to push a little bit more, only we need to help and get them information so they can do it. If I can do it, you can do it.'

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