What’s your name, and where do you live now?

My name is Silvia Coss, and I live in downtown Los Angeles.

How do you like it there?

I like it. It’s better and calmer than how it was before. There’s not as much crime, and well, it’s good. It’s a little bit safer. Of course, there will always be danger, but walking at night feels a little more comfortable now.

How long have you been living there?

I have lived in this building for 10 years. 

Did you live somewhere else before? If so, where?

I lived on Sunset [Boulevard], close to Echo Park, and in 1992, I lived near 3rd [Street] and Western [Avenue], where the YMCA is now.

Where were you born?

I am from Saltillo, Coahuila, Mexico. 

How many years ago did you immigrate to this country?

30 years ago.

And the first place you arrived was Los Angeles?

Yes, I’ve been here [the whole time] in Los Angeles. 

What was the first [Los Angeles] neighborhood that you lived in?

I’ve always lived in this neighborhood — in Koreatown or Hollywood. The majority of residents in my building are Korean. 

Did you have family here?

My daughters’ father and I were married in Mexico, and we came over here. My daughters were born in Los Angeles. Now, it’s just my daughters and me because their father went back to Mexico.

What is your connection to Koreatown?

This year, I have seen substantial changes that benefit Koreatown and its residents. I have seen significant change and prosperity for Latinos, Koreans, Caucasians, Black [folks], and anyone of any nationality. We were in a very critical period during the 2020 pandemic. 

In this building, we are all from different nationalities. We are so united and strong in helping each other. If we had not been so united during [COVID], it would have affected us economically, [in terms of] health and food. For example, work halted in 2020, yet there was always food. They would say in Koreatown, ‘In such-and-such a place, there will be food.’ To this day, they still tell us that. They even distributed turkeys at the YMCA on 3rd [Street] and Western [Avenue]. We’ve seen a lot of help, a lot of help. More than anything, we’ve seen a lot of unity.

Do you think unity has always existed over the years?

It is more recent because we value more of what we have now. We aren’t simply machines working; we now realize we are human beings. At least, in my opinion, because in the 30 years I have lived in this country, during 2020, I could stay in this apartment for one month without work. 

I have never stopped working in the 30 years I have lived here. Never! In 2020, we had no other option; we were forced to stop working. The truth is that I never enjoyed this apartment, which I pay for each month because I’m renting. But I never enjoyed it more than I did the entire month I was unemployed. So, I was able to be grateful for many things. 

Right now, I have a good job and know more people. I am more involved in the community and very interested in serving people in need, whether they have money or not. We all need millionaires, the poor, and the homeless. We need everyone. I have seen how these organizations like KYCC extend themselves to the community so that we can lead different lives.

Some people say that the statistics for children from 0 to 5 years of age show they are very intellectually gifted because of their schooling. They are learning well in school. Before, it was a battle because of problems in the home, community, neighborhood, etc. All of you young adults studying—some of you are still online, and others have already returned to school [on campus]. You can see the effort among young adults and children, among adults and parents.

We united so that children and young university students could understand being on a computer. University students struggled and would say, ‘I just don’t understand. I don’t understand.’ But little by little, they started to learn to be up to date with technology and not just be in a chair or [at a desk] in a school classroom. They could use technology to study at school, at home, or wherever.

Right now, 2021 feels very productive and advanced. We have united to help each other out. I am part of the group MUEC (Uniting Hands with Hope for the Community), which is part of KYCC.

I’m a representative of this group, MUEC, and I’m delighted because I’m sharing legitimate resources for the community. People call me because I leave a message and say, “If you need help, please call us. This is our number. We are here to serve you.” And then people call me, saying, ‘Listen, I liked this resource you shared. How can I do it? Can you help me?’ And I am like, Wow, how beautiful it is to help. They call me so that I can help them. I think 2021 has been a very good year — very prosperous and, above all, a united year. That is how I see it. 

What joy! What joy! I identify with that after hearing about your experience. My mom has also been very involved. Unfortunately, there have been many obstacles, so she has been a bit removed from what she used to do. But listening to you motivates me and brings me so much joy that the community has been there for you, just as it has for many of us. I would like to know more about how you got involved because you seem very dedicated to your work.

I did not work in factories because a factory requires a schedule. I’m a single mother. The father of my daughters and I got married in Mexico, and then we came to the United States in 1992. In March of 1992, we arrived in Los Angeles in the Koreatown area. We have been here forever. We decided to come for only one year because the economy in Mexico was very bad.

Then my daughters’ father said, ‘We have a tourist visa. Let’s work hard for a year, the two of us. We’ll go back home, buy a house, yeah?’ We came [to L.A.] and started to work; a year passed, 30 years passed, and then the father of my daughters, well, unfortunately, went down a different path and abandoned my daughters and me. We have no family here in this country. Only my daughters and I are in this country. My daughters’ father preferred to go back to Mexico, so he didn’t have to pay me child support. He decided to do that, and well, it was his deci- sion. So he’s over there. Then I started working.

I couldn’t speak English and didn’t have a career, so I didn’t have a lot of options. I started working — cleaning houses — with a lot of pride. It’s a very honorable job and, above all, very well paid. Well, only sometimes because I have acquaintances who, unfortunately, have struggled to get paid for a good housekeeping job. I worked that way because whenever I was needed at the school, I would ask my bosses for permission, and they would give me the opportunity. 

That’s how the years passed. I supported my daughters, paid rent, made car payments, and paid for gas. I made sure to pay everything that needed to be paid for in this country because many of us say, “Let’s go to the United States,” as if you just came here for money. And then you don’t end up getting money here. You come to sweep houses and offices, and that money has to be used to pay rent because they’ll throw you out if you don’t pay rent. We don’t realize this when we are living in our own countries. We simply have the illusion of coming to the United States to make a lot of money. So I worked all the time. I worked cleaning houses and taking care of children because later on [my employers] would say, ‘Hey, Silvia, this person needs someone, not to clean, but to take care of their children.’

“Yes,” I said to them. “Come on, let’s go. Let’s learn!” In 2020, I worked as a nanny, caring for a kid, when the pandemic hit. I also worked as a housekeeper because my work wasn’t with just one person; in other words, I worked for different houses. The pandemic hit, and the child’s mother said, ‘You know what, Silvia? I am sorry, but my husband and I are now at home, and right now, we don’t need you to come, but we will give you a certain amount of money to help you out, even if it is just for one or two months. We don’t know how long this is going to last.’ “Okay, that’s fine,” I said. And that’s how we left it. 

The other woman I was caring for — well, I couldn’t work there either for the same reason. Work started to drop completely. All month, I was without work, save for two of my employers, one is Italian and the other Jewish, who live in the same building. I spoke to both of them on the same day at their apartments. In the morning, I went with one, and in the afternoon, I went with the other one because they were in the same building.

To this day, neither of them has suspended me, thank God. But then I didn’t have money because the money they were paying me was going straight to rent. I called someone I knew, and during the conversation, I told her, “Hey, I am really fucked.” I told her, “I need a job.” She said, ‘Look, there is a very good job, but I don’t want you to flake out on me.’ “No, tell me what it is,” I said. She responded, ‘Doing phone calls.’ It was election time. I had to make phone calls on behalf of the mayor. It had to do with [local] politics — not the presidents. The change in presidents was also taking place. I was making phone calls, and I loved it. I was calling those who were eligible to vote.

I would tell them, for example, about George Gascón, who is now the [district attorney]. I would talk to them and tell them what we were told to say. I talked to voters to encourage them and tell them why it was good to vote for these people. I started to get involved.

The elections ended in November 2020. The event ended on November 3. Then I heard from another organization that said, ‘Silvia, look, we need people to go knock on doors and make vaccination appointments.’ So, I’m working on that for now — knocking on doors and making appointments. Most of the time, we are in South Central Los Angeles. We’re making appointments for boosters and [shots] for children 5 years old and older. That’s when everything started to become like a little chain. Like in this organization, they gave out money cards, and we had to pick them up. I met a lady there, and we started talking. Her name is Alejandra, and she told me, ‘Hey, I could place you at an organization where we are sending a lot of resources for those in need.’ “Of course. With pleasure,” I told her. I gave her my name, phone number, and all that. She added me to the group I mentioned, MUEC, in January 2021. It was beautiful. I got to know Deisy Gutierrez, who is very involved with KYCC. She started training us. She is a very professional woman. She likes us to learn and not just listen. No, no, no. She likes it when we learn. I started to get involved with them, and then around June, Deisy and some other KYCC people interviewed me. She told me, ‘Yes, we like you. We would like you to be a representative of the group.’ Since June 2021, I have been a representative. That’s how it all started after working as a housekeeper, nanny, and caregiver. Now that I am in the community, I feel super happy because I can help. I feel satisfied when I arrive and knock on doors, and when they open them, I tell them, “Look, I can help you make an appointment so that you can get vaccinated.”

Sometimes, we, as human beings, need motivation from others because we just say, “No, I’m fine. Everybody is going to be fine,” and that’s not true. We need each other. Yesterday, at 9 p.m., I was watching TV, and a person called me and said, ‘Hey, excuse me, I received your phone number. I need an appointment. I want to get vaccinated.’ And I said, “With pleasure! I’ll [make the appointment for] you right away.” ‘Listen, but won’t it be too late?’ “Of course not, not at all. Don’t worry. I’ll make the appointment for you right now. I’ve already made the appointment, and you will be going this Satur- day to get your vaccination.” The woman was delighted because she had obtained the information on her cell phone. Those are some satisfying moments when I am like, Wow. Satisfaction because I’m helping and learning; it’s a little chain that keeps extending. Let me tell you, the person I made the appointment with yesterday, I knew her from when I did this promotora training. She had said, ‘Hey, you know, there’s a lot of work in mission and engagement.’

She worked in mission and engagement. She said, ‘Yeah. It’s a lot of work.’ And I said, “Hey, but you couldn’t schedule the appointment?” She said, ‘I work so much that I haven’t been able to get my [COVID vaccine] or anything. I never imagined that you would make the appointment for me.’ I said to myself, Wow! Yesterday, I could say, Wow, it’s all from the community. When you’re involved in the community, you start — I mean, it all starts as you connect, connect, connect, connect, connect. I want to share that they also took us to another campaign where the Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, was there. And I was like, “What do you mean the governor is here?” He came and took pictures with us. I have a picture with the governor and everything! So the point is to say I’m going out. I have been able to see that it’s not just about you. No, there is a lot. There is a lot. That’s why I’ve been able to get to know the KYCC [community], and I’m very involved with KYCC and the groups that come out of there, including the group I’m in. We are very grateful because they told us that we were only going to stay until December, but the contract has been extended, and it’s going to be half a year longer, so we are going to go forward, and we are going to learn more.

I am learning how to save money, which is helping me a lot. I couldn’t save because I had to spend what I earned. I’m not a person who spends like crazy. But I simply have to pay for my necessities: electricity, bills, rent, the car, etc.
It was impossible to save. KYCC invited me to join this program to save money. Wow! Now I have money! I returned because there are several programs for saving money, and I can also participate in other programs. I asked, “Hey, can my daughter also participate?” “Yes, yes, she is of age.” And so, she also participates. I’m benefiting from that program. If you save $200, you get another $200. Well, that’s very nice, right? And then they tell you, ‘If you save $400, you’ll get $100 more.’ 

All right, that’s good! So, you finish saving the $400, and then they tell you, ‘If you save another $400, you will get another $100.’ Damn! They motivate you without even trying, making you see that you can save. You can save! It takes a lot of sacrifice and effort, but you can save. I have seen a lot of benefits. 2022 is coming with more effort and strength. 

Right now, there is so much work. We want to see if we can fight for higher pay because there is a lot of work, yes, but very low wages, and rent is sky-high. With $50, I would come back with a little bit of change from buying food — food to make in the house from the market. I would take $50 and still come back with change. Now, I take $100 or more. The reality is that you need to be
well paid to afford these enormous rents in California. They say, ‘Well, do you want to pay the price of being in the Golden State?’

It has nothing to do with that. If I simply want to go to another state, who will be able to come and pay such a high rent with such a low salary? Nobody. Nobody’s going to be able to. In an apartment, you have to live with several families to pay the rent. Now, here in this whole Koreatown area, this entire downtown Los Angeles area, they don’t allow many people to live here anymore. They say, ‘I’m sorry, ma’am. Only so many people can live in a one-bedroom — only a certain amount of people.’ So you ask, “Well, where can I go? I’m leaving then.” And that’s what the owners of these buildings haven’t realized. Who’s going to work for them? We are the only ones who work. Why? Because we work, we have very demanding jobs. But the good thing is that the caravans are bringing people. Poor things, God bless them. They bring them here from Mexico, and God bless them. Sincerely, I pray for them because if I am here, they also want to be here, and why not them, too? Of course, they should. There’s enough for everyone, but may God bless them along the way because they look to me like little turtles going toward the sea. If they make it to the sea, they’re set, but if they don’t, then they’re done.

It’s like the people coming from Mexico. If they make it through Mexico to the United States, they make it. But if they don’t, God bless them. It makes me sad that every- body says Mexicans are bad. I am not bad. I pray for all of them. I pray to God to bring them [here] well and to get them through because I think to myself, Why am I going to be selfish if I am also an immigrant? I also came to this country with a vision of faith, prosperity, and getting ahead. They come with the same vision, so I only have to pray for them. That’s the story. Since I saw differently and was able to get involved in the community, something that I used to do but not one hundred percent, I feel that the pandemic has been very sad. It has been very frustrating because reality has also been frustrating for me. I fell into a moment of depression because I said, “What is going to happen?” But then I said, “No, depression is not for me because if I fall into a depression, who’s going to support me? Who’s going to pay my rent? Who’s going to pay my bills? Nobody.”

I have my two daughters, the older one is already married, working, and living in Oregon with her husband. [I also have] my younger daughter, the one with me, well, she’s still in school. She works at Starbucks, but she doesn’t make the kind of money she needs to pay for everything. So I said, “No. This kind of luxury is definitely not for me.” And that’s when I said, “Well, let’s go for it. Take the leap.” That’s when I started to get involved in everything with the community, and I want to get even more involved. And the truth is that I had not seen beyond what I wanted to see. But there’s a very big world if we want to get out of the tiny, little world we were in — or rather, I was in a tiny, little world. That’s the way I thought about it. But no, no, no, no. There’s a lot [out there] and a lot to be found. To help and also to really receive. That is how I got involved with the community, how I [got to know] KYCC, how I’m volunteering with the MUEC group, for which I’m a representative, and well, here, helping the community, getting more and more involved.

Yes, I hear you’re involved in a lot of things in the United States. Has it occurred to you to go back to Mexico to visit relatives someday, or maybe it’s not in your plans and you’d like to be here for a few more years? What are your thoughts on that?

Look, my daughters’ father and I said we would only come for one year to work hard and earn money; we would save and take it to Mexico to build a little house and live peacefully. I never imagined that I was going to stay here for 30 years. Never, never, never. My mentality was not to stay for 30 years, but, well, the circumstances made us stay here. Why? Because the economic situation in Mexico was very tough, with bad people — just very bad. In the beginning, I wanted to go back to Mexico so terribly that I cried. As the song says, “Although the cage is made of gold, it never stops being a prison.” And it’s
not that it’s a prison in the United States. No, it’s just that in Mexico, I’m from the ranch, where my brothers and I walk barefoot on the smoldering ground. And we didn’t feel that hot ground; we didn’t feel it because we were happy. We ran on it and everything. And if there was a tortilla with beans, thank God! And if there was a tortilla with just butter and salsa, thank God! I missed all of that. I used to say, “The United States! The United States!” But when you get here, you see that it’s tough. When you arrive for the first time, well, for me, it was hard. In the United States, and above all, in Los Angeles, [it is difficult]. It’s not like you came to a small town like in Texas because where I’m from, we are almost at the border of Texas — near San Antonio and Laredo.

We didn’t arrive at a small ranch or a small town. We arrived in a city — a big city. I always wanted to go back, but I started to think about our goal, which made me not feel that great desire to return to my country. That year passed, and we stayed another year. That year, we spent time crying, sad, and lonely because we could go back but didn’t have to. So we stayed another year, and that’s how it continued. Then, more crying, more sadness, and more nostalgia. In those years, I was very nostalgic. During the holiday season, because back in Mexico, everyone is breaking piñatas, having the delicious punches and tamales. In other words, everything is traditional Mexican [style], and they don’t do that here. Here, of course, you have the same food and everything.

But it’s not the same. It’s just not the same. I mean, you can get together with friends at Christmas. We bring gifts, and we eat well. I enjoy it very much. I enjoyed it earlier but was in pain because I wanted to be in Mexico. Now, I don’t. Now, I enjoy it one hundred percent. Tell me, would you like to go back to Mexico to visit my family? Of course, to visit Mexico with pleasure, but not to live there. Not anymore. I have spent more years in this country than I have lived in Mexico. So I feel very grateful for this country. I am very grateful. It offers many blessings to those who want them because many are not at peace.
I tell them that if you don’t feel comfortable and this country is not giving you what you want, what are you doing? There’s no point in being in a place where you feel frustrated or discouraged, and on the contrary, I’m very grateful to this country for everything that it has given me, is giving me, and will continue to give me. And to those who want it, it also gives so many opportunities. One example is children’s education.

When I was a child, my mother gave us something to eat in the morning so we could leave with something in our stomachs and go to school. If not, well, sorry, we put up with it.

We were happy playing at our little school there, but not here. Here, you don’t want to make them something to eat. It doesn’t matter. They go to school, and they are fed there. They give them lunch — their little lunch, which they say is [really gross]. But thank God they provide it. In our countries, they don’t even give you a coffee, and that’s sad because our countries are very, very rich. But the government doesn’t want to. So I am very grateful to this country. I am very grateful, and because of how grateful I am, I also want to show it. Of course, I have given a lot. I spent 30 years working in this country, paying rent, paying for cars, insurance, food, and clothes. In other words, I have contributed a lot economically to this country. So much. Ever since I arrived. I am very, very grateful and very happy. I know that I have had problems, for example, with the father of my daughters; unfortunately, he left with another woman. But before that, we lived a very sad life with a lot of domestic violence and many problems. Then one day he decided to leave, and as my mother would say, ‘They didn’t take just one cactus from you; they took a field of cacti from you.’

It hurt a lot because my daughters always wanted their father to be with them. After that, I [decided] that I didn’t want to have another toxic relationship like the one I had, and I dedicated myself to taking care of them one hundred percent and protecting them so that they would also move forward. And thank God, they responded. I told them, “This is your country; you were born here. You know Spanish very well, you know English very well, and you have your citizenship. Do your best!” And they cooperated. Yes, the two children I had in this country cooperated, so I am very grateful. Tomorrow, my plans are not to go back to live in Mexico, and I don’t know the plans of the one who runs this planet. I don’t know. What are his plans for me? But whatever plans he has for me, they are the greatest. But to visit Mexico? Yes, of course I do. Yes, I go, I visit, and so on. But to live [there], no.