”If you don’t love yourself you can’t really love anyone else.”

Deisy Hernandez, 19, is in her second year of college. She came here to the United States just when she was eight years old. Most of her life she has lived in the United States.

She was the first one in the family to graduate from high school and go to college. She wants to get a masters in counseling because she wants to help kids.

Her life would’ve been so much different than what it is right now if she would’ve stayed in Guatemala because students here in California are given so many opportunities to be able to have an education and be someone in life.

She had to adapt to a whole new world and country, to a whole new country and culture. The transition for her from Guatemala to the United States was hard for her and it was difficult getting used to new people.

She has learned that life could be rough sometimes but it will eventually get better. Her father has been one of the biggest influence in her life because he has set an example for her of who she should be.

Transcript:

Kimberly Hernandez: So,  today I will be interviewing my sister, What’s your name?

Deisy Hernandez: Hi, my name is Deisy Hernandez, and I’m 19 years old.

KH: Can you tell me a little bit about yourself?

DH: So, uhh, like I said, I’m 19 years old, I’m in my second year of college, I go to to West Los Angeles Community College. Ummm…. I came here when I was 8 years old, I was born in Guatemala. So, I’ve been here for longer than I have been in Guatemala. Ummm…. I live with both my parents, I have two sisters and life has been pretty good for me.

KH: Ummm…. where do you see yourself in five years?

DH: Where do I see myself in five years? In five years I see myself with a degree. Right now like I said I’m in my second year of college and I’m going towards a masters. I know it’s still a long way to get there but, I’m trying my best to achieve my goals. Ummm… I want to get a degree in counseling. I was inspired by some of my High School counselors to be a counselor because they were so great and they had uhhhh…. they always knew what to say to me when times got rough and when I was about to give up in my classes they always had words to tell me, to encourage me to keep going. I feel like counselors play a big role in every child’s life and I wanna be, I wanna make the difference in at least someone’s life. That’s why I wanna be a counselor and I really hope to one day get there and be able to help someone, some child out there that actually needs help.

KH: What accomplishments are you most proud of?

DH: What accomplishments am I most proud of? Well, first of all I’m the first one from my family to be going to college so, I’m really proud of that. I’m the first one from my family to graduate from High School with honors and I’m actually really proud of where I come from, like my whole history, my whole family I’m proud of who I am and I’m proud of being here right now. I’m just proud of,of just being alive, just that to me it’s just such a huge accomplishment.

KH: How has life been different than what you imagined it?

DH: I don’t really imagine life, I don’t really think about life in that way, but I feel like if I would’ve stayed in Guatemala my life would’ve been so much different because here, specifically here in California students umm… are given so many opportunities to be able to pursue their education, to be able to be actually become someone with their life’s and I feel like just the fact of coming to the United States has made my life so much different than it would’ve been if I would’ve stayed over there.

KH: What has been the hardest thing you ever had to do?

DH:One of the hardest things that I ever had to do in my life would probably be coming from Guatemala to the United States. Uhhh… when I came here I didn’t know english uhh… it was really hard for me because kids used to make fun of me, they used to bully me in school because I had such a bad accent and it was so hard just to try to accommodate to a whole new world to me  than what I was used to and just the overall fact of being in a whole new country with whole new people was really hard for me. The transition for me was super hard, adapting to the language, to the people,to the so many different cultures that there are in this country was generally hard for me.

KH: If you could do everything again,what would you do differently?

DH: If I could do everything again, something that I would do differently would probably be to not make as many mistakes as I made in High School. I… I’m not proud of it but I would like ditch class, and… and I would… and I made so many friends that I shouldn’t have and honestly the people you surround yourself with have a great impact in your life’s, so I feel like the friendships, some of the friendships that I made in High School I shouldn’t have made them because they encouraged me to do things that I wouldn’t have done if they wouldn’t have been my friends, so I feel like I would’ve changed some of the friendships that I had.

KH: What are the most important lessons you have learned in life?

DH: Some of the most important lessons that I have learned in life would be that first of all, no matter how hard your life might seem right now, no matter how hard, no matter how rough your path is it eventually gets better. I know it sounds so cliche but it’s true nothing lasts forever and another lesson that I have learned is that no one else is going to love you more than your parents and if there’s something that you love to do, if there’s a passion that you have I feel like you have to go towards it, you have to try your best and you have to strive to achieve that passion, you have to maintain that passion because just the simple fact of umm… having that makes you feel different, makes you feel whole and one last lesson that I have learned in life is that you have to love yourself before you ever love someone else because if you don’t love yourself you can’t really love anyone else, if you don’t love who you are, if you don’t like who you are you’re never gonna really love anyone else for who they are. You might think that you do but you really don’t because you gotta love yourself and you gotta love God, you gotta… you have to focus on God because he really does really make an impact in everyone’s life’s.

KH:  Who has been the biggest influence in your life?

DH: The person that has been the biggest influence in my life is my father. He has worked so hard for my sisters and I, to keep us together, to keep us united. He doesn’t make so much money per say we have such a great life but he has tried his best to give us the best life he could, to the best of his ability and he is such an inspiration to me because he also came to this country, he didn’t speak any english and he has made a life for himself, he has made a life for us and he’s just such a good father, he has inspired me to get where I am in life, he has always encouraged me to go to school, to be better than he is now because I know if it wouldn’t have been for my father I probably wouldn’t be here right now and I have to thank him so much for all that he has done for myself and for my sisters and honestly thanks to him and to God we are who we are who we are  now and I am so grateful and I look up to my father so much and I hope that I could be… I could be half the person he is now one day to my children.

KH: What has been the happiest or saddest moment in your life?

DH: I don’t really think there has been a saddest moment in my life besides the fact, besides the day that my grandmother died we were really close to her and to me that was a shocker because first of all we weren’t even with her when she passed away and honestly that was one of the saddest days in my life and the happiest I feel like there hasn’t been like the happiest day in my life because I try to live my life so that everyday I… there could be some happiness in it, not everyday is perfect and not everyday I’m the happiest person but in everyday there is happiness and I feel like that’s what we have to look for.

KH: What are some of your strengths?

DH: Some of my strengths I believe… I don’t really consider myself to have any but, personally I believe that  perseverance is one of them because I’m a really persistent person and also another strength that I might have could be the fact that I don’t like giving up easily therefore my perseverance.I really like to go after what I want and… I feel like that is something really important when it comes to your strengths because if you don’t persevere, if you don’t strive towards your goals you’re never gonna really get anywhere in life and another one of my strengths is that I know who I am as a person, so… and not a lot people don’t really know who they are so they’re really scared of the world, they’re afraid of what might come next, but I know who I am and I know what I want and I feel like that’s such a huge thing to know because if you don’t know any of that you’re never really going anywhere with your life.

KH: What do you think are some of your weaknesses?

DH:Weaknesses? Damn, I have a lot of those. I feel like one of my major weaknesses is that I forgive people to easily I know that’s like… some people might not think that’s  a weakness but, to me it is because often times when people harm you over and over again and you keep letting them in to your life that’s such a big weakness for me because those people don’t deserve to be in your life, those people don’t deserve to be a part of who you are and that’s a weakness for me because no matter how many times someone has done something bad to me I always end up forgiving them so easily and I feel like I should forgive them but I should learn from what they’ve done to me to not make the same mistakes over again to let them into my life.

KH: Well, I just want to thank you for your time and letting me interview you and being so inspirational.