Eder Deleon interview of Ismar Deleon

Undergraduate final project submitted to Professor Thomas A. Castillo of the History Department, College of Arts and Humanities for a course sponsored by the Center for the New America, University of Maryland, College Park. Final project for HIST428N Immigrant Life Stories: An Oral History Practicum (spring 2014).I interview Ismar Martin Deleon. He is my father and he was born in 1963 in Salcaja Guatemala. He migrated to the United States in 1981 at the age of 17. The reason he came to the United States was because his father who had migrated to the United States a few years before was struggling to pay the bills. The key points of the interview were family, work, religion, and soccer. Ismar started working at the age of seven with is parents making cortes. Cortes is the clothing that indigenous people wear. He would get up early to help everyday around four in the morning. His favorite past time was playing soccer he wanted to go pro and play in Guatemala. Due to lack of money he was forced to migrate to the United States with his father. Ismar played for many teams in Salcaja he even played for a team called America which was the best team in the town and a semi pro team. When he was 17 he came to the United States to work. He felt that since he was the oldest son in the family he had to take on that responsibility. He left his youth and all of his friends and family in Guatemala to come to the United States were he did not know any one but his father. He did not mind the sacrifice he had make if it meant his family would live a better life. He grew up as a catholic in Guatemala and to this day still practices the catholic religion. In the interview he mentions religions several times and gives thanks to god for everything he has today. Today he is successful he has a house in the United States and two in Guatemala. He is currently working to make sure his children earn a degree