The Salvadorean Great Depression

                                                      The Salvadorean Great Depression
                                                                 by Samuel Fuentes

         There were nineteen of us in a five-room house. To survive, I drink coconut, water, and milk. Today my friend Jay survived. Democracy is present in El Salvador. This is about surviving and living a good life.

       I got food by going to the breadline and eating at soup kitchens. During this time, prices of homes were plummeting. Drought occurred and my family became hobos. Our family had to live in shantytowns that didn't have electricity. Our garden flourished with plants. There were no bathrooms, tools, or clothes.

Our Family in the Depression

                                                            Our Family in the Depression
                                                                     by Tiara Anders

        It was dark, hot, and quiet in the place I call home. I am living at the time of The Great Depression. I am eleven and the Depression started a while ago.

        I am Lydia. We are poor and I haven't eaten since Wednesday. My mom died because of hunger. She died about two years ago and my dad died because of asthma.

       Someone finds me on the street. He said he can take care of me. He adopted me after the Great Depression.

My Childhood

                                                                        My Childhood
                                                                    by Joye Shephard

              My mother told me that this is the way it has to be: we are poor and we are going to get a job and money. We also have to find a  way to get some food to eat for dinner.

              Everyday I wake up and I put on my clothes. My mom drops me off at school. I fish for food to eat with my family. I hunt for food and I kill animals and all kinds of seafood.

             Everyday I wake up and I walk to the lake to fish. Everyday, we live like this.

My Childhood Memories

                                                           My Childhood Memories
                                                                 by Jocelyn Cortez

   


             As I begin to tell this, I am poor. I don't have food or water and only h ave dirty clothes. I go to school and it was a little bug. I am sick and my mom is trying to get food for us.


             This morningI had breakfast from the garden: carrots, broccoli, and tomato.

             We do some math work and it was hard. I went to the cafeteria. I have my own lunch and it was good. My mom paid for vegetables for me to eat healthy food. My mom said she can pick vegetables for us, too.

            My mom asked me, "Did you enjoy your lunch?," and I said, "Yes." She picked vegetables and also found some fruits that were also healthy. She has to pick them and put them in a basket and wash it to make it clean.

My Life and The Great Depression

                                                  My Life and The Great Depression
                                                                  by Miguel Cruz

 

            It was January and we didn't have Christmas yet because we didn't have money. My dad died from starvation. I have a baby sister and we didn't have milk for her so we had to go place to place.

            In my daily life, I have to go to the soup kitchen to get something to eat. I also harvest crops from our garden in the back lot. I also plant seeds in the afternoon after I do all my chores. I sell papers under the hot sun and I have hopes that this is all going to be all over someday as it has been so bad.

            I don't even have education as I can't go to school at all. My life has been so hard as it is impossible to go to school. I have no friends and my parents died and all I have are my brothers and sisters.

     Looking back, I can handle all of this now that I have education. I learned a lesson during the Great Depression. As I look back to see the stock market going down, waiting and wondering in the soup kitchens but al least it was now all over.

My Life and The Great Depression

                                                    My Life and The Great Depression
                                                                      by Jay Zeck

 
       As I begin to tell this story about me and The Great Depression, I used to have a great life with my family, when all of a sudden The Great Depression happened. It was heard on TV while my family and I were eating dinner. My family and I were concerned when we heard about that. We lived in the Valley in Los Angeles.

      My dad was a referee for hockey. My aunt was a hairstylist that made good hair. My brother and I worked on things my dad needed help on. This all happened before The Depression. I had a great life but it was cut short. My life was also complicated as we struggled with hunger and thirst. My aunt died at a dust bowl. She was going to get some eggs from the barn where all the chicken lived. My family and I were scared to get eggs from the chicken coops as we thought the dust storms will happen again. But then my dad was so thirsty that he fainted, so I decided to out and find water. I bought a bucket and a towel if I found any. Half an hour later, I found water. I grabbed some and drank. It was worth it as I had no other choice. I brought the water home and gave my family. I had to protect my family because I was the older one and my brother was just nine years old. I was left in charge.

    It was Tuesday and we are eating breakfast. When a stranger knocked on our door with a gun, he told us to give him food. My dad said "No!" and he shot my dad. My dad told me and my brother to never give anyone food at all.

      My brother and I said we will never do that. When it was dinner, my dad said we only have little bit of food left. We decided that we will go somewhere else and get some more foo if we can find a way.

       Today is Wednesday and we ran out of food. We were so hungry and thirsty. When we were walking to Downtown LA, a helicopter flew over us and rescued us. The pilots took us to a hotel with supplies of food and water.

       This was my story about the Great Depression. I was 11 years old then.

My Lonely Life

                                                                   My Lonely Life
                                                                      by Will Song

         As I begin to tell this, my name is Will. I had parents but we were all having sad lives. We didn't have much stuff. To survive, we had to eat tomato soup. I don't like having to cook it myself. I had no siblings. For sleeping, we had to sleep in a type of car. To brush our teeth, we used rosemary. We lived off in nature, like trees.

        Back then I used to do work in the grass. We never went to school. To make tomato soup, we had to plant tomatoes. I liked how warm it was. I was so sad for six years. This is the worst life ever.

        I wish I had everything. Too bad that I don't. I only have few things. I hate doing work outside. I'd prefer school. But, I'm always bored because I get tired.

        It's hard and sad, I went up to my dad and said that I'm sad. I'd keep it private to everybody. Finally, the reason why is because that I got so tired from all of that work.


 

My Life During the Great Depression

                                                My Life During the Great Depression
                                                                by Alexis Sanchez

             My mother told me that this is the way it has to be. My mother said that we don't have food and she said we have to leave our home. When we got up I got milk and an apple and ate it.

              I go to a soup kitchen and go there too to get water. I get milk from a cow. My family got sick. I go to the soup kitchen to get food for my family. My mom was sick. She told me she to give the food to my child. My mom got killed at the dust bowl. My mom was a happy mom.

              My mom said we don't have food and no home. I had to go to the soup kitchen to get food. I saw a child outside. I saw how hard life is.

The "Good" Old Days

                                                            The "Good" Old Days
                                                             by Emilio Ortigoza

          All I knew was this is the only way to survive. It happened too fast. We haven't had Christmas since 1930 which is three years since. All we had before is gone. This is my life during The Great Depression. Aunt Sandy please read this.

         I'm Kentan and I am 12 years old. It was dry, dusty, and very hot but it's the place I call home. I haven't gone to school in 4 years. My dad died in war. My mom would only eat one meal and she would give the rest of the food to me and my little brother Kaden.

         Our mom would only take a sip of soup every time we went to the soup kitchen. One day, she was very skinny. We offered her our food but said, "No." The next day, she died of hunger. We went to the orphanage while Kaden was crying. I was comforting him telling him that she died for us. He stopped crying.

         At the orphanage I cried in bed but Kaden got up and hugged me. I stopped crying and smiled a bit. The next day we were adopted. I knew everything was going to be okay. Our step-parents had hopes and always encouraged us to never give up. Our stepdad was a migrant worker from Oklahoma but our stepmother helped him to survive. He is used to being homeless so he shares his survival tips with us. Then he drank water with lead at a soup kitchen so we had to take care of him. Then we had to ride a boxcar because he decided to go to California. Then Kenton started coughing and got a really bad fever. We finally made our presence known after Kentan and my stepdad stopped breathing. The conductor took us to the medical cart. They only had one more syringe with medicine. I had to make a choice between Kentan or dad. You choose.

Dad
     The doctors injected the medicine to my dad. I watched as Kentan turned blue and slowly died. After Dad woke up two weeks later I told him what happened and he burst into tears. We hugged. A sandstorm hit and we went the night in the boxcars. The conductor insisted that we sleep there and didn't have to pay nor get in trouble. Dad said that I should've given the cure to Kentan. I said I cared about him and I wished Kentan survived. After the Great Depression, we got a home and every night before I go to sleep, I see Kentan telling me to love to the fullest.

Kentan
     I injected the medicine to Kentan. The conductor said that he is sorry but we had to get off. Kentan woke up two hours later and we left. A kind man let us stay at his house for as long as we want. When we were about to sleep, Kentan said it was all his fault and he started sobbing. I comforted him and said, "I wish Dad was still alive." I could hear the sandstorm outside. After the depression we got a home next to the man who let us stay in his house. From all this I learned that "To the world I may be one person, but to one person I am the world."

The Worst Time Ever

                                                                The Worst Time Ever
                                                                    by Xavier Taylor

      When I was eleven, everyone was poor because of the Great Depression. Everybody was poor: no investments, no cars, no money, and shelter. There was nothing to do but find a way out of here. I use my imagination to play with my friends but that was the only way to play.

     My dad was severely injured and my mom didn't know what to do so I stayed with my parents. We hardly had any money to buy food and we were all so hungry. Until the drought hit how we can't grow food and then the dust bowl came.

     Then we left to go to New York but it was the same. We lost all our money  so we stay until it got better. We had a really hard life so we saved more money and food to survive the hard life that we have right now.

      I know how hard it is now but not in a good way. But I always have hope but it got worse and worse. I went to go see my friend Kalvin to see how he's doing. He was at a lemonade stand and I went to go help him to sell lemonade to have enough money to go to school for both of us so we can have education. My uncle died in the dust bowl when it first hit Santelos. That was the saddest moment for me. I cried a lot when that happened.

The End of Happiness

                                                               The End of Happiness
                                                                    by Peter Cortes

         As I begin to tell this story, everyone I know is either broke or dead. My dad got sick with all the dust in his lungs and died. My mom is depressed and my little sister always cries for my dad.

          We were so broke I couldn't go to school. My mom watched my little sister while I worked at a lemonade stand with my friends. I made enough money for us to get three pieces of bread.

          New York was very dark and sad. We all got so skinny you can see our bones. One day my sister wouldn't wake up and she died by starvation.  We buried her next to our old house. All my friends moved to California and it was all over for me and my mom. We sold my sister's stuff even if my mom didn't want to but we didn't have a choice.

        My mom got really sick and couldn't work so I stole a wheelchair. I knew that it wasn't right but I didn't have enough money.

        My 13th and 14th birthday went by and I didn't have a party, cake, or any presents. On my 15th birthday, it was finally over. But right after everything was getting really good, my mom died. I was transferred to a foster home, and now I was literally all alone.

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