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  Amelia Ruiz-Ruiz

  Amelia Ruiz Ruiz is a farmer in Maricao. Since she was a child, agriculture has been a big part of her life. She is the tenth of eleven siblings. Since there were so many siblings and her father was the only source of income, they experienced poverty. But despite everything, they always managed to find something to fill their stomachs. Their main livelihood came from agriculture; from what his father grew on the farm. Amelia is a mother of four and grandmother of eleven. Throughout her life she has always carried on the recipes she learned from her mother. Recipes mostly made with ingredients she can find on her farm. Among her favorite recipes are: "vianda con bacalao”, "pasteles", coffee made from scratch, and "sorullos”. Amelia also tells us about the difficulties faced, as a farmer on the island. How difficult it is to work the land and how little they get monetarily. In addition to all this, there is the farmers' terror: weather phenomena, such as hurricanes and storms. With their strong winds and rain, they destroy the hard work, sweat, effort and take away the livelihood of many farmers. "The life of a farmer is difficult, very difficult." Note: The interview was conducted in Spanish.
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  Carmen Mojíca Quiñones

  Carmen Mojíca Quiñones is a retired art teacher living in Barrio Voladoras Moca. She lives alone with her dog “Blacky”. Currently her favorite hobbys are going to the casino and going to eat with her family in different municipalities in Puerto Rico. Sometimes when she is alone in her house, she takes out her canvas, art brushes and paint and starts painting. When Carmen was young, she always loved school but when she fell in love, she was obligated to leave school for a while. Now at 81 years of age her perspective has changed since times have changed. Back then kids had to obey their parents in everything they said, so Carmen had to leave school so that she could learn what a housewife does for her future husband. Now she understands that what happened in high school, her leaving school just because she fell in love it was sexism by her mother. This was because back then women were supposed to stay home taking care of the household chores and taking care of their kids while their men worked. Nowadays we can see that a woman can do the same things a man can do and a man can do the same things the woman can.
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  Elizabeth Vera Gonzales

  Elizabeth Vera Gonzales has been a nurse for approximately 30 years. She lives in sector El Gringo in San Sebastián, Puerto Rico. For the past few years, she has been working at the EDP (Electric Data Processing) university as a nursing professor. During her time as a nurse, she has been witness to many social justice issues but some stuck out to her more then others. The issues that will be discussed may include the transition from public healthcare to private, the flu epidemic, the Coronavirus Pandemic and lastly the implementation of the health reform. We will be addressing these problems from the perspective of someone who has had a chance of being on both sides of the spectrum. As she also worked for an insurance company auditing the doctors’ offices in quality issues. She beards witness to many unfair and unjust things during these times. Some significant and interesting anecdotes from this nonfiction oral history piece is the under appreciation for the healthcare workers. It is a shame that we had to undergo a Pandemic to truly see nurses and appreciate the sacrifices they do for us on a daily basis. Not to be confused with heroism, because they shouldn’t have to sacrifice themselves at the expense of others. Elizabeth’s life experiences fit into larger societal trends, social movements, and social justice issues because it gives us a new perspective and further understanding of the social justice issues we face as citizens and as the nurses suffer the consequences.
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  Sheyla A. Mercado Sánchez

  The narrator’s name is Sheyla Arleen Mercado Sanchez, from Añasco, her birthday is on August 19, 1975. The interview takes place in Añasco. The date was September 8, 2022. Sheyla was born and raised in Añasco throughout her life. She has always been very responsible, dedicated, and hardworking. She has always been fond of working in finance and that is why all the jobs she ever had have been related to that. The interview focuses on social aspects regarding hurricane Maria, Electric Energy Company, COVID, abortion, and the government. In the interview the time periods go from 2017 to 2022. Starting from Hurricane Maria all the way to COVID and recently the situation regarding gas prices. The interview mostly focuses on the events that happened on the island and with the narrator. The narrator's experiences do have a relation with diverse social issues because it relates to their health, their economic status, and their daily life. They deal with political failure, overall structural care in most of the island and with managing to work on the minimum wage. The point is that there are many issues that need to be addressed that have not been done yet properly. All these things shaped and made the interview that later became a story possible.
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  Fabiola N. Oliveras Rosa

  The narrator is Fabiola N. Oliveras Rosa. She is a 22-year-old girl born in Manatí. She lives in Monte Bello, a rural community within the town of Manatí. The topic touched on during the interview covers the events that Fabiola experienced during Hurricane Maria. In the interview, topics such as the difficulties faced by the rural population of Puerto Rico as opposed to those faced by the urban population are discussed. In the same way, the issues of injustice are touched upon when it comes to accessibilities to the opportunity for services. Fabiola manages to offer the public a new point of view of what it is like to go through these needs when living in the rural area of ​​the island.
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  José Rafael Cruz Ortiz

  José Rafael Cruz Ortiz, a 22 year-old student from the University of Puerto Rico at Mayaguez, tells us the story of how he endured the Hurricane Maria catastrophe, numerous protests, and the pandemic whilst still trying to succeed as a student.
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  Carlos Rodríguez García

  In this interview, I sat down with Carlos Rodríguez García, and we talked about when Hurricane Georges hit Puerto Rico. At that time, he lived in Humacao with his wife and his son, who was about 9 months old. Carlos mentioned his experience and some social justice problems he and others were facing. Throughout the interview, Carlos talked about how scary it was when he heard a loud sound and when he went to his baby’s room, he realized that the window had broken because of the pressure of the air. He then realized that water was coming in. He mentioned how important the help of many private sectors and the Church were.
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  Luz María Merle Rodríguez

  Luz María Merle Rodríguez has lived her entire life by the beach, “Los Almendros”, in Rincón. Where once there stood an entire neighborhood on the beach with an active community full of people and a fishery, is now a thin, empty, sandy shore next to the ocean. As time passed, coastal erosion destroyed these houses and businesses, meanwhile others were offered deals to sell their beachside plots of land. The loss of fishing in the wake of Hurricane Maria also led to the decline of the fishing community at the beach. Luz describes how this beach has changed over her lifespan and gives insight into the community, the traditions and the people that she had growing up and how they too have changed in the wake of coastal erosion.
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  Paola Cintrón Matías

  Paola Cintrón Matías is a 19-year-old college student who attends the Polytechnic University of Puerto Rico. She likes to listen to music, play videogames, drink coffee, and hang around with friends. The interview addresses the events of Hurricane Maria during her 9th grade school year. During this, her house burned down due to a blunder on the generator they were using at the time. Both her and her family were greatly affected by this incident. Paola’s experience exhibits how people can lose everything in the blink of an eye. It took her some time to recover everything lost and yet the scar of it all remains. While her and her family managed to later convalesce, many others who have suffered similar experiences have yet managed to do so.
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  Blanca Cruz Miranda

  My aunt, Blanca Cruz Miranda, lives in Bayamón, Puerto Rico, one of the cities of the metropolitan area in the island. This area is known for its high population and large amount of housing projects. Blanca is the mother of 3 young adults, which she cared for while being a teacher. During March 15, 2022, the magistrate of Puerto Rico had a protest march in the capital city, San Juan, related to their working conditions. This has been a problem for almost a decade, but this was the first time enough of them joined in to get attention from various media outlets.
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  Angel Gabriel Rivera Garcia

  Ángel Rivera García is a 20-year-old UPRM student studying Electrical Engineering. He loves to spend time with his family and has two younger siblings. Ángel and his family were safe during the hurricane and nothing major happened to their house. The story contains an interesting description of how there was a sudden calmness during the natural disaster, which was the eye of the hurricane. During this, they were able to go out for a while and see how everything was around their neighborhood. After the hurricane, he and his siblings had to find ways to maintain entertained during the time with no phone service or power, by playing board games, like Monopoly and card games. He describes how he and his dad had to cut up all the trees and branches that were left in the ground around his neighborhood after the hurricane. Ángel’s dad works in Claro, and he and the company put up the infrastructure of antennas to provide phone service to the community. He tells us how the families were so grateful to the workers after they regained communication with their loved ones. It was an emotional moment for his dad, and his sacrifice paid off.
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  Carlos Rodríguez Quintero

  Carlos Rodríguez Quintero is a 22-year-old Mechanical Engineering Student at the University of Puerto Rico, Mayaguez Campus. He was born and raised alongside his sister and cousins in Ponce, Puerto Rico. From his early years he was interested in many extracurricular activities like sports, music, designing and cars. His passion for cars has motivated him to study and work towards starting his own business in the future. In 2017, he graduated high school and started studying at UPRM when Hurricane Maria impacted the island in September of that same year. Hurricane Maria caused the death of 4,645 individuals and it had a devastating impact on the island causing estimated damages of millions of dollars. The government response to this natural disaster was slow and people were not prepared for the aftermath. Carlos speaks about the days following the Hurricane and how hard it was obtaining necessities like food, water, and gas, while also waiting every day for the electricity, water, and communication services to come back. Cooperation and companion from family and neighbors helped him overcome these though times. He recounts his transition from the University at Mayaguez to his house in Juana Díaz during the storm, and back to the University the weeks after the passing of the Hurricane. When he went back to Mayaguez, he faced the many new challenges of being a student at the time. Today, Carlos is doing an internship at Eaton Electrical in Coamo, Puerto Rico and is expecting his graduation in May 2024. Note: The interview was conducted in Spanish. Spanish transcription of audio file is available.
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  Estrella Pagan Wiscovich

  Estrella Pagán Wiscovich is a nice and sweet 70 year old lady who shares her journey of life with us. She starts by talking about her childhood. Estrella came from a poor family. Her father was in the military and took care of his parents and Estrella, with only one job that didn’t pay much. Estrella got treated like a soldier, she had a lot of chores and had to walk three kilometers to school. Growing up she decided she was going to be a doctor, so she could come out of the poverty. During elementary school and high school, Estrella, had some help from teachers that made an impact in her life, and created an internal love for helping others. After graduation high school, Estrella went to college where she started studying Biology, but found that it wasn’t her passion. In her second year of college, Estrella fell in love, got married and had three kids. Estrella had a very delicate body, so her first pregnancy was so dangerous, she ended up being in a comma for almost one month. Short time passed and things did not go well for Estrella and her husband, so they decide to get a divorce. At this point, Estrella finds herself alone, working a night job with three kids to feed. She then moves back with her father and starts helping the kinder-garden teacher where her children studied. She decides to become a teacher and goes back to college. After she gets her degree she finds a job at a school in a poor sector of Cabo Rojo, she identified with the people there, because they grew up like her. She worked for thirty-six years which were the best of her life.
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  Alejandro Yara Valle

  After going through the horrible night of September 2017 when Hurricane María made landfall on Puerto Rico, Alejandro had to go back to work. He faced different situations and needed to head back as soon as possible since he was the electrical engineer in charge of the generator from five hospitals. During this time, he also had to help several family members who were at the hospital and, tragically, he had to face the death of a loved one. This all lead him to be under a lot of stress, but right now, he is able to share his story. The audience can see how resilient and strong he was during these chaotic times.
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  Sofía Pérez Alers

  Sofia is a loving person with whom I was able to sit down with and listen to her story, which seemed like a Puerto Rican tragedy. Sofía lived in Barrio Victoria, in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, but currently resides in her daughters' house because her house was not suitable for an elderly person like her. She tells us her story of how she felt before, during, and after Hurricane Maria. Truly, she is a humble human being who really only cared about two things: the safety of her loved ones and her love of agriculture. She is a strong and independent woman who faced the reality of losing her home and everything in it. Despite this, she lives every day with a smile on her face, providing food to her neighbors and others straight from her yard.
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  Diego Andrés De Sevilla Acosta

  The government of Puerto Rico has treated education as a secondary option for students. Budget cuts have been made around various educational institutions, but mostly focused on the public school system. This includes universities, high schools, elementary schools, primary schools, etc. These reductions have caused emotional and financial damages to the employees, teachers, and students. The reductions have even caused the closures of many schools. As the child of a public-school teacher, Mr. De Sevilla talks about the effects it has had in his family, and what his point of view is on the topic.
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  Raúl Feliciano Gotay

  On 2017, Raúl Feliciano Gotay installed solar panels just a few weeks before Hurricane María threw them away and destroyed them. In this interview, he talks about his experience with the hurricane and explains that solar panels are not always the correct answer. He also goes into detail about how to this day the hurricane is still affecting him emotionally and economically.
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  Eduardo A. Lugo Hernández

  In this interview we talked about Eduardo Lugo's experience with Hurricane María, his work with Impacto Juventud, as well as some social justice topics that derived and became more public after Hurricane María came to the island.
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  Yeandres Rivera González

  In this interview, Yeandres Rivera González talks about his experience after surviving a car accident, the same morning he went through an earthquake that shook the island of Puerto Rico. Additionally, he talked about his relationship with his father.
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  Christopher Mena Lantigua

  Demographic changes in Puerto Rico have caused a lack of access to essential services for people 65 years of age or older, which is exacerbated by the constantly growing poverty all through the island.
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  Cesamil Irizarry Vélez

  In this interview, there are many topics that are discussed, from the general effects of Hurricane Maria on Puerto Rico to its effects on the education system and its students. Professor Cesamil Irizarry Vélez gives us insight as to how it was to work after Hurricane Maria. He also gives us insight as to what changes he has seen in the school over the course of the years, and how the economic downfall Puerto Rico has been suffering for many years has affected his peers, students, and their families.

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