By LIZ MATAKEVICH
STAFF WRITER
Gisselle Gaitan’s mother and father both started out their lives trying to survive the poor living conditions in Colombia before moving to the United States at an early age.
Knowing about her parent’s hardships, Gaitan now does not take anything in life for granted.
“Knowing what they went through to give me a good life makes me appreciate what everything I have,” she said.
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Even though Gaitan is American born, she still carries on a lot of the Colombian heritage that her parents brought over to the United States
“I participate in many Colombian customs with my family here,” she said. |
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One of the main things Gaitan enjoys doing is cooking Colombian food for her family and friends from the recipes her mother brought over from Colombia.
“My mother taught me how to cook Colombian food at an early age and I love to cook whenever I can,” she said.
Gaitan, who is currently halfway through her sophomore year at Rutgers University, realizes the sacrifices her parents made for her to have a better life.
Gaitan said that while her parents were living in Colombia, they were both forced to give up their education and get jobs at the ages of 14 and 9 to help support their families.
“Knowing how hard my parents worked at an early age, this has given me the ambition and passion to take my education very seriously and go out and make something of myself,” she said.
When Gaitan’s mother came over first in her early 20s, she stayed with her aunt who was already living in New Jersey.
“Knowing only how to speak Spanish, my mother had to try her best to find a job to support her mother and siblings back in Colombia,” she said. “I am around the same age now that she was then and seeing how much courage she had has given me motivation to be fearless in life.“
The one thing that took the most getting used to for them was coming to the United States not knowing a single word of English.
Growing up, Gaitan first learned how to speak Spanish fluently from her parents before going to pre-school and learning English.
“Knowing how to speak two different languages fluently is something I feel will give me an advantage in having a successful career in journalism in the future,” she said. “In situations where people only speak Spanish, I will be able to communicate with them and get their story out to the public.”
Gaitan hopes to move to California in the future to pursue her goal of becoming a journalist. “One day I will hopefully be on television doing what I love to do and giving the public some Columbian edge.” she said. |
