Springfield coverage:

At Afghan Kabob Restaurant, customers become family amid lush décor and spices
By Danny Escoto

Afghan Mini-Market provides spices, bread and a piece of home to community
By Kathy Gypson

ArtGehna Fabrics: Turning a dream into reality in Springfield
By Janine Cooper

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This site was designed by M.A. journalism student Cristina Fernandez-Pereda, and sponsored by the AU SOC Center for Social Media.

The students of Race and Community Reporting are: Jessica Arencibia, Ava-joye Burnett, Janine Cooper, Danny Escoto, Cristina Fernandez-Pereda, Radina Gigova, Katherine Gypson, Noelle Harmon, Janel Knight, Jeffery Lambert, Juliana Monsalve, Uzo Nnabuihe, Norma Porter, Dorry Samuels, Laura Schuetz, Lisa Tanger, Kelly Toves, Camille Tuutti-Winkler, Samantha Tyrka, Katie Unthank and Adina Young.

If you want to contact us: dccommunityreporting@gmail.com

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Ethnic media are loosely defined as newspapers, television, radio or Web sites aimed at culturally defined communities. They provide a voice and a way of connecting apart from the mainstream, often in the target audience’s first language. These profiles explore a range of ethnic media in the D.C. Metro area.

Building on a couple’s hard work, Zeba Magazine offers a different view of Afghan culture in glossy pages
By Kathy Gypson

WHUT-TV reflects another aspect of Howard University
By Ava-joye Burnett

Washington Archdiocese’s El Pregonero gives voice to generations of Latino
By Samantha Tyrka

A one-man production, Zethiopia tells the stories of local Ethiopian immigrants
By Uzo Nnabuihe

The Baltimore Times: ‘There’s no place like home’
By Janine Cooper

Small and targeted, American Indian Report Magazine serves as mouthpiece for institute on tribal-government issues
By Dorry Samuels

Vietnamese American Television finds a home on MHz Network’s airwaves
By Katie Unthank

El Tiempo Latino: ‘We are not only making a paper, we try to help the community’
By Radina Gigova

Afro American Tribune: ‘I stay here because I love my people’
By Adina Young

Rang-A-Rang Television broadcasts Iranian Americans’ message of dissent to a global audience
By Lisa Tanger

India This Week and Express India: For one immigrant entrepreuner, the American Dream manifests in newsprint
By Noelle Harmon and Cristina Fernandez-Pereda

Tropical rhythms, early mornings and loyal listeners fuel the Spanish-language El Zol 99.1 FM
By Juliana Monsalve

The intersections of the District reflect the confluences of its many cultures, classes and, often, points of tension. These stories were each inspired by a single intersection in the city.

4th and U Streets N.W.:
Changes in historic community bring about mixed feelings
By Noelle Harmon

9th and F Streets N.W.:
Program prepares women for construction trade — and a fresh start
By Radina Gigova

H and 6th Streets N.W.:
Lunar New Year in Chinatown brings together generations of immigrants in celebration, parade
By Danny Escoto

Adams Mill and Columbia Road N.W.:
Cultural and artistic crossroads stress openness and community
By Jessica Arencibia

Park Road and 16th St. N.W.:
Catholic Church reaches ethnically diverse community with multilingual Masses
By Jeff Lambert

U and 10th Streets N.W.:
Priced out, on the streets or barely getting by, many are left in gentrification’s wake
By Janine Cooper

H and 13th Streets N.W.:
Cultural hot spots breathe new life into Atlas District
By Dorry Samuels

7th and O Streets N.W.:
As crime continues to plague Shaw neighborhood, residents worry about its future
By Lisa Tanger

16th and Lamont Streets N.W.:
Columbia Heights shelter continues struggle against homelessness
By Adina Young

16th and Columbia Streets N.W.:
Columbia Heights church breaches racial barriers with doctrine of faith, acceptance
By Janel Knight

U and 11th Streets N.W.:
Separate worlds exist within neighborhood in flux
By Samantha Tyrka

Good Hope Road and Martin Luther King Jr. Ave. S.E.:
Local man brings poetry, hope to Anacostia
By Cristina Fernandez-Pereda

Massachusetts Ave. and Belmont Rd. N.W.:
A visit to D.C.’s most prominent mosque opens an unexpected world, new understanding
By Katie Unthank

Pennsylvania and Minnesota Avenues S.E.:
At Divine Transformation hair salon, beauty and well-being go more than skin deep
By Ava-joye Burnett

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On a warm, May afternoon in Springfield, VA, a group of women clean the sidewalk surrounding what is known as Afghan Kabob Restaurant, opened in 2001. The establishment shares its plaza with another Afghan bazaar, where shoppers can get food from their home country, and an Indian sari shop, a small clothes maker tucked away in the corner.

Outside this unassuming restaurant, the white walls look plain and run-down. The parking lot is full of cars, but no one can be seen walking around. The restaurant’s windows are tinted, adding to the mystery of the situation.

The atmosphere inside the restaurant, however, is something one could not imagine from just being outside. The scents are the first thing that a customer notices. Dishes, such as the Peshwari Chaplee Kabob (a spicy ground-beef dish named after a sandal (”chaplee”) because of its oblong, flat shape) and the Afghan Carrayee, dominate the air. The spices, very fresh on the mind, make the mouth water.

The décor of Afghan Kabob Restaurant is regal. The customers’ feet are treated to some very comfortable carpet while their back sides are met with rich leather seating. The tablecloth, almost too pretty to eat on, is white and adorned with flowers.

Walking past the tables with children, parents, and their Afghan waiters, Hashem Abbasi, Afghan Kabob Restaurant owner, sits in a corner of the restaurant with some of his friends and colleagues. Behind him is a large painting of a rich, rustic landscape showing his home country’s stark geography.

He explains why he thinks his restaurant is popular. “We serve the right food,” Abbasi says. “We’re showing to everyone like this is [how it is] back home.”

The walls on the inside of the restaurant are adorned with pictures, but the most eye-grabbing ones are showing Congressmen and women enjoying some home-style Afghan cooking. Visits from politicians peaked after Sept. 11, 2001, when the United States went to war in Afghanistan.

“There’s a reason why customers come from 45 minutes away to enjoy the food, enjoy the decorations, enjoy the paintings,” says Abbasi. “They will come all the way over here for a certain type of tea if they have to.”

The restaurant doesn’t seem to only cater to the bigwigs on Capitol Hill, but also to the citizens of Springfield.

“I’m sure that if you ask anyone in the area of Afghan Kabob Restaurant, they have been here before,” Abbasi says. “I treat a customer like family.”

Wakil Abdul, one of Abbasi’s friends and a taxi driver, pipes in.

“People come here for the culture. Whatever race you are, whether it be Oriental or Spanish, people enjoy the culture,” Abdul says. He describes an outdoor festival every Friday not too far from the restaurant that plays host to Afghan food and goods. According to him, the Afghan population of the Northern Virginia area is 100,000.

All the waiters in Afghan Kabob Restaurant are younger than the management, most of them in high school or college. Medhi Bola, one of the waiters and a junior in high school, loves working at the most regal of restaurants in the area.

“My friends come by and visit me at work. They love the food even though they’re not Afghan. This food really just entices people,” Bola says.

With Hashem Abbasi and friends, there is never a dull moment. Getting great food to the masses takes a lot of time and effort, making Dari, an Afghan language, one of the background sounds one will hear while chowing down on a dessert called Baqlawa. You will always know when Abbasi’s got things to do.

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El Zol has been on the air only three years and It is among the most listed to radio stations in the metropolitan area, according to the latest report from Arbitron.

El Zol generated a lot of buzz in the local media, when in 2005 it was announced that its all-Spanish music format was going to replace the largest rock station in Washington, WHFS, owned by Infinity. For many who were loyal listeners of the so-called “alternative rock” station, this news came by surprise. And the decision even prompted listeners to post petitions online for the return of the rock station. For Hispanics, the switch just showed how much they were growing and the influence they could have.

Today El Zol, owned by CBS Radio, enjoys the support and positive response of its Hispanic audience. And at the rhythm of tropical music, they continue their mission to entertain and inform their listeners.

Photo by Juliana Monsalve
Pedro Biaggi at El Zol radio station.

The morning show — “Pedro Biaggi en la Mañana” (Pedro Biaggi in the Morning) — conducted by Pedro Biaggi and Lisbela Lopez is very popular. Latin Americans laugh and enjoy as they listen to the talk show, which also plays music during the morning drive.

Biaggi says this is a dream come true and that there is nothing else he’d rather be doing. He recalls when at a very young age, he would go across the street to a radio station — in his aunt’s neighborhood in Ponce, Puerto Rico — and dreamed of being just like those radio personalities he saw.

“Being that became my fervent aspiration,” Biaggi said. “When I become dramatic, silly or un-self-confident, I remember that I asked for this, that I prayed to God for this. And I said to myself, this is what you asked for, this is what you got. So there is no reason to be complaining.”

Biaggi gets to the station at about 4:45 a.m, and gets ready to go on air by drinking lots of coffee. He gets to the audio booth which is well-equipped, large enough and very clear. As he walks in, he immediately becomes ready. Biaggi gets energetic, funny, loud — or, as he says “encendido,” which means fired up — even if it is not the right day, or if his mood is more dark than bright.

The show finishes at 10:00 a.m, but Biaggi’s day is just starting. After the show he attends meetings, records commercials, and starts preparation for next day show and upcoming events.

Although Biaggi is known by his audience for being very spontaneous and less than serious, he says he doesn’t take his job lightly. He is very demanding of himself and of his colleagues. He knows that at the end of the day, it all comes down to numbers.

Biaggi and his co-talent, Lisbela Lopez, have in common more than the love for what they do, they also consider the biggest reward to be the love of their listeners. They still aren’t use to waking up so early.

Lopez’s day starts at 4:00 a.m. By 5:00 a.m. she is ready in the studio to record the first segment of news and, by 5:45 she is reporting on the traffic. Her day goes as busy and fast as Biaggi’s day. She hardly has time to do personal things.

“My life is to work — this is my professional and my personal life. I don’t work to live; I live to work,” Lopez said

Before Lopez goes to bed, she checks her work-emails and responds to her listeners. During the weekend, she attends various work-related events and does promotions for endorsers.

Lopez says the morning show’s success is due to the fact that they (Biaggi and Lopez) are very real. She says they have opened themselves to the audience and created a bond. She says the major reason why the station obtains such a good response from listeners is because of the stability and continuity of the talents (radio personalities). “Listeners know who we are, and they feel they are part of our lives,” Lopez said.

Lopez says there are challenges every day — keeping up with the news, satisfying the listeners, and filling up people’s expectations — but for her, it is all worthwhile.

To help Biaggi, Lopez and the other talent at the radio station, El Zol has a reliable staff. The latest events have included raising money for the Salvadorian telethon and offering a Spanish job fair.

El Zol is also known for its legal segment in which an immigration lawyer gives legal advice and educates the audience on immigration subjects. Another very popular segment is on Tuesday and Thursdays, when in the morning show they have a clinical psychologist / therapist who responds the listeners’ questions about sexuality and relationships.

Listener Rocio Castillo, from Gaithersburg, Md., believes that El Zol — besides entertaining and informing the audience — has taken an active role in bringing attention to real community issues.

She mentioned issues such as “discrimination, lack of resources and unfair policies.” Castillo also says, “they have used their status as public figures for something more than fame, for being a voice for a minority group that has lately been attacked and persecuted.”

Fifteen years ago, Rajan George, a former representative for a book company, came to America with in hopes of making a better living in a new country. He was 32 at the time, and left behind a wife, 5-year-old son, and newborn daughter in India.

Now, George is a well-established editor of two popular Indian newspapers in Takoma Park, Md. — India this Week and Express India.

“I started Ind”ia This Week in 1995 as a 12-page newsletter, and from there it grew until now that we distribute 10,000 copies every week,” George says. First- and second- generation Indian Americans can find the weekly newspaper in stores, restaurants, community centers and temples around Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

India This Week has a diverse readership, mostly South Asian, from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Starting a newspaper was something George always wanted to do. He says it quite simply: “It’s my passion.”

He says that he created India this Week single-handedly, some of the money coming from prior investments, or from the first two jobs he had working in the United States. One job was at a Health Care Facility for the mentally disabled, and the other at a career company.

After working those two jobs, George started dreaming big. His first initiative toward fulfilling his passion was opening up a copy center.

“No one would give me credit,” George says. “I applied for a loan, and I couldn’t get one. So I had to start it all on my own.”

In the apartment which he has converted into the newspapers’ main office, George scrolls through his e-mails on his Mac as he explains the hurdles he had to overcome. Tons of e-mails fill his screen. Sorting through them all is apart of George’s daily routine.

“It was hard [being here in America], but you just have to live with it,” he says.

Stacks of newspapers line the wall. The apartment that he works out of is a brick townhouse that sits behind a shopping center located right off of University Boulevard.

The office is quietly secluded. Thin, red-flowered curtains dim the living room area, which is furnished with desks, filing cabinets and computers, rather than sofas and love seats.

Christmas cards hang from the blinds. Paperwork, Pepsi cans and thick binders sit on one of the desks. Yellow tabs, with scribbled notes, rim the computer screens. Boxes upon boxes fill every inch of the room. Four telephones sit between two desks. All that can be heard is the quiet hum of the computer monitors, with the occasional ring of the telephones or the hum of a photocopier.

For the first 12 years of the newspaper, George explains, he was completely on his own. “My brother-in-law came in ’72, and I began working with him on the newspaper for some time.”

It wasn’t until four years ago that his wife and children joined him in the Maryland area. His son is now 23, and his daughter is 17.

George is pleased with the time he’s spent in America, though. “When I look at [the newspaper], I’m happy to see it growing,” George says, “It has a good reputation. I’m happy. I like it,” he says.

The newspaper serves the Indian community all over the D.C., Maryland and Virginia metro area—a population of approximately 150,000 people, says George.

The readership has grown over the years along with the Indian community. “Part of this population came to the United States specifically to get a job here and settle, but others came to study, got a job and stayed afterwards,” George said.

As a free publication, India This Week provides no information about their readers’ occupation. However, the Indian population in the area works mostly on businesses like restaurants and stores, the IT industry or also work as lawyers.

“Some of them are integrated in other communities and work for others apart from Indians, but others are not,” George said.

His assistant, Geofrey Gilbit, seems to be just as pleased as George with the success of the newspapers. Gilbit has been working for the newspapers for about three years. “Me and George used to be high school classmates back in India.”

Gilbit does all the marketing for both India this Week and Express India. He spends most of his time on the phone with advertisers who financially support the business. Because the newspapers are free to the public, the newspapers rely on funders to keep it running.

“I talk to real estate agents, travel agents, doctors, local Indian restaurants, grocery stores,” Gilbit says, “Some go for an annual contract, but most pay on a monthly basis.”

On the back of the newspaper, he points out the jewelers that also help fund the newspaper. The beautiful Indian women, wearing big jewel necklaces, stand out on the back page.

“I was actually in the marketing sector back in India,” Gilbit says,”So this isn’t too far off from what I was doing
back home.”

The phone rings, and Gilbit picks it up. He begins speaking the Mayalayam language, one of 18 languages from the Indian continent. He hangs up, and the phone rings again. He begins speaking English. Today, Gilbit is in charge of all the phones in the office.

Five more people work with Rajan George on India This Week. The newspaper is their second job and dedicate to it part-time hours creating the pages’ layout, editing all the stories and finding advertisers for the next edition. There are no reporters: the weekly newspaper depends on contributors and wire services.

PTI, Presstrust of India, and ANI, Asian News International, are other news sources where George subscribes to get information from outside the United States.

The publication includes relevant local stories, but also brings news from India and South Asian countries.

“We cover current events, U.S.-Indian relations, foreign affairs and news about the region. One of the stories our readers have been following very close lately was the U.S. Senators’ trip to India and Pakistan and the U.S. nuclear deal,” editor Manu Jacob said.

“Indian Americans are concerned about domestic issues like any other American. They are also worried about insurance and government services. At an international level, we have our roots: we want to ensure that the rights of all Indians are respected in every country,” said Ishani Chowdhury, director of the Hindu American Foundation.

There are two million Indians in the United States, according to the last U.S. Census Bureau. Merrill Lynch recently reported that one in 26 Indian American are millionaires. Indians also own 35 percent of all hotels in the country, and have started 15 percent of businesses in Silicon Valley.

Despite the community’s overall successes, George says keeping a steady flow of revenue remains the most challenging part of the production process.

“It’s difficult to have advertisers settling down. And for us it’s really difficult when we see the revenue is not forthcoming,” he said.

India This Week’s marketing strategy is a one-to-one dialogue between Gilbit and business owners who contact the newspaper because they are interested in having their advertisement on the newspaper’s pages.

“We don’t even call everyone and try to sell them the advertisements. We just send a letter to people who might want to promote their business among the community. That’s the way we’ve done it for 15 years,” Gilbit said.

U Street in Washington D.C. is famous with its cultural heritage. It was dubbed “The Black Broadway” because of its jazz clubs. Both police and protesters were grabbing a bite at Ben’s Chili Bowl restaurant during the 1968 riots. At the same time, this part of town is the home of the largest Ethiopian community outside Ethiopia. So it’s natural that U Street also has a compilation of the last 15 years of the neighborhood’s history in one spot.

And that is not the African American Civil War Memorial, but rather the shoe repair shop of George Peña.

Peña, 54, originally from El Salvador, is the owner of the little shop with green window frames and a red blinking sign that says “Open,” located on the corner of 13th and U Street.

I turned the door handle and the few steps led me into the ground-floor room. Behind the counter Peña welcomed me with a big warm smile.

Video by Radina Gigova

“I’ve been waiting for you,” he said and before I even turned on my camera, he took out his and took a picture of me. He said he likes to keep memories and pointed towards one of the walls.

The wall was covered with newspaper articles, pictures, souvenirs, an old painting and even glued-on bills of international currency. Peña said one of his regular costumers travels a lot and always brings him international money as a souvenir. Then he reached for his wallet and pulled out 20 British pounds.

“That’s a lot of money. I’m saving it for my grandchildren,” he said. “I have six kids, six,” Peña said, while raising six fingers and smiling proudly. “Five daughters and one boy.”

“Can you believe who came here?” he asked, and pointed to a framed photograph of him and Bill Cosby from 1996. On the wall there were also pictures of Frank Smith, a former D.C. Council member and Paul Berry, a former Channel 7 anchor. There was a small poster of Italy’s national soccer team and a wood carving, a gift from a Jamaican friend.

Peña said that he is well-known in the neighborhood. He said sometimes his clients bring their out-of-town guests to his shop as if it was a tourist site.

“I’m a happy guy. I am honest and people love the job that I do,” he said.

Peña turned on one of his machines and polished the overused heels of a pair of black stilettos. He joked that the lady who owned the shoes had probably danced all night. Then he pointed to an old Singer sewing machine. “It’s old, but it’s excellent,” he said. Peña went to his register to print a receipt. He said the register was almost an antique because it was more than 27 years old.

Peña worked in El Salvador at a shoe factory when he was 16. There he learned almost everything about shoes. He said he can create a shoe from scratch. Peña said he made the shoes that he was wearing. “They are very comfortable,” he said, stepping back and forth. The brown leather shoes had thick but flexible soles, made of different layers. The stitches were straight and precise. The shoes were new, but they seemed as comfortable as an old pair.

Peña said he came to the United States not only looking for a job, but also looking for peace. “This country gave me an opportunity. I was very happy to be able to open my own business,” he said.

Peña worked at the same shop on U Street for 15 years and saw how the street and the community were changing before his eyes. He said that Metro, the restaurants and the Starbucks coffee shop across the street brought him more clientele. Before, he said, people were not walking and now there were a lot of them on the street.

“Every day a new costumer comes in,” he said.

Over the years, his business kept growing and Peña opened another shop, just a few blocks down U Street, on the corner with 15th. There works his longtime friend, Willy Posey. They have known each other for more than 30 years.

“He [Posey] is a very sweet guy, he knows everything about U Street,” Peña said.

Posey, who is African American, came to Washington from South Carolina in 1964. He’s 72 years old. “The bus was 15 cents when I first got here,” he said.

The two met while working at Stern’s Shoe Repair in Silver Spring, Md.

“I haven’t known him for that long. And we just, I don’t know what it was, you know, a bond. If you have a bond with somebody you go away for a few years and when you come back it seems that the bond never broke. It’s not like that with everybody,” Posey said.

When Peña opened his second shop, Posey was more than happy to work there.

“He [Peña] reminds me of the guy that I started out with when I was 12 years old in South Carolina. They have the same mentality — very spiritual, very spiritual man. He just wanted everybody to be peaceful and that’s why I knew I’ll be here for a long time,” Posey said.

He said both shops, the one on 13th and the one on 15th, have plenty of business. But if Posey has some free time, he said, he steps outside and starts talking to the people that pass by on the sidewalk.

“I am capable of making everybody laugh. This has been proven,” he said.

Posey said he used to carry a box of peppermints. “When I see somebody getting a frown on their face, I say ‘Take that lemon out of your mouth and try one of those peppermints,’ ” he said. “”We are all humans, and no matter how you are trying to portray it, there is a soft spot in you, you know,” Posey added.

A costumer opened the door of the shop and Posey welcomed him with the usual smile. They seemed to know each other. Vinnie, who didn’t want to give his last name, lives in the neighborhood. He said that was the first time he brought in shoes to be repaired. But Vinnie said he often chats with Posey on the street. “I see him outside all the time. He is always very nice,” Vinnie said.

Peña’s nephew, Pablo, also works at the shop.

“People come in here because they know we can fix everything,” he said while giving change to Vinnie.

“We are the only ’shoeologists’ on the planet,” added Posey.

Over, at the shop on 13th Street, Peña said he plans to keep working for at least another ten years. He took out a big black Bible with many highlighted verses.

“The secret is praying and reading the Bible. Every day I come in here, read a little, pray, and then I start working. Did you see the sign?”

He pointed to a cardboard sign next to the counter that reads, “Only Christ can save you.” And right next to the message for salvation stood another dear image — a photograph of Posey and Peña, hugging and smiling. It was the same photograph that hung on the white wall above the counter at the shop where Posey was working.

“When we see a smile, it automatically opens us up. We are addicted to smiles, both of us,” Posey said, and started giggling.

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“La Plazita” is what Latinos in the area call a busy shopping center located in Takoma Park, Maryland. In the crowded corner of University Boulevard and New Hampshire, more than a hundred Latinos wait every morning for casual employers looking for cheap labor.

Benedicto Marquez rests against a tree under the shadow, his face looks tired and his voice is very low — as if he didn’t want to be heard. Marquez is a 35-year-old Guatemalan who came to the United States a year ago. Although he seems to be unwinding, he is very attentive and is constantly looking around as if he is waiting for someone.

Marquez’s story is no different from those of the many Latinos who lived in the Takoma Park area. Although some have the “luxury” of having stable jobs that provide them with the security o knowing who their employer is. And offer them a salary, an insurance and sometimes even sponsorship to legalize their immigration status — if they don’t have documents. Others don’t quite have the same luck, and this new wave of immigrant prosecution has left them anxious, scared and with few job opportunities.

Marquez has been in what he calls “La Plazita” since 5:00 a.m. this morning. Hesitant to give more information about himself than he needs to, Marquez says that the day sometimes goes very slow and it seems to be longer than it is.

Today is one of those days.

It is 11:00 a.m., and Marquez is still waiting. “Only some people have come, and I haven’t been lucky. Others have been taken to work,” he said.

Photo by Angie Chuang.
Just as La Plazita has become an unofficial hub for Langley Park’s Latin American immigrants, small offices such as this one on University Boulevard provide more official spaces for essential services that they need: driver’s licenses, taxes, immigration, check cashing. The flags of Our Lady of Guadalupe, Guatemala, Honduras flap in the breeze.

Every day Marquez goes to the Takoma Park shopping center, with hopes that someone would come looking for cheap labor, and that he would have a job for the day.

“People would come here to get Latinos who can work in construction, landscape, painting, cleaning warehouses, moving, and other manual labor. They know we [Latinos] are hard workers and do whatever they ask us to do,” he says.

He also claims they get paid between $10 and $12 per hour. And although they often get less than what the employers promise, it is always better than what he made working in Guatemala. In his country, Marquez used to grow corn. He said he worked long hours and he barely made $4 per day.

“With that much money, who could support their family?” Marquez said.

Although he is not happy being away from his wife and children, Marquez says that at least from here he can help them. He says he only works, sends money, and saves the rest. With the expectation of one day going back home, Marquez waits in “La Plazita” for work — work that sometimes has caused him abuses, humiliations and pain.

In Takoma Park, more than 14 percent of the residents are of Hispanic origin, according to MuniNetGuide.com, a Web site for municipal research. These Latinos have brought their culture to Takoma Park where many Hispanic stores are located, young Latinos drive their cars playing Bachata music, and popular places such as Pollo Campero are crowded with people from other origins.

In contrast to Marquez, Fredy Orellana, 24, talks freely and loudly. He sits a few feet away from Marquez with another three young Latinos. Orellana plays with his hands as he talks and smiles to the others.

“Those in the other corner are new,” he said, “I have never seen them before.”

One of the other men who is with Orellana, tells him to stop pointing. “It’s disrespectful,” he says.

As one big moving truck approaches, all of the men pay attention. The truck stops and the driver pulls down the window. Five Latinos approach the truck and the driver shows with his hand that he needs only two. “How much?” one of the men asks. Two of the Latinos get in the truck and they drive away.

Orellana says he has never seen a fight for work. “We all approach thecars, some go and others don’t. We just wait for the next opportunity,” he said.

The problem is that lately, because there is not much work and some Latinos have offered themselves for less money, about $5 per hour. “And $5 per hour is nothing; most of the time we work long hours doing really hard work. But now those [the employers], who come here often, offer to pay $6 or $7 per hour, and they know someone will be willing to go,” Orellana said.

He claims that once he went with a woman who offered to pay him $8 per hour to put fliers in some apartments in Washington, D.C. He walked all day doing that, and when he was about to finish, she came and asked him how many more fliers he had. “I only have these ones,” Orellana said, showing her just a couple of fliers.

She told him to finish putting the fliers, and that she would meet him in the corner where she had dropped him off earlier. He said he entered the apartment building to put the rest of the fliers and when he got to the corner where she was supposed to meet him, she wasn’t there.

“I waited for an hour, and she never showed up. I didn’t even have money for the bus to go back home,” Orellana said.

After he tells the story, he looks at the ground and laughs. The spirited man then says that as long as there is work, he is fine. He mentions his daughter, who is 6 years old and lives with her mother, who is only 20, in their country, Honduras. Orellana says that although he misses them, he is thankful to be here, and would be willing to take the risks of coming here every time he is sent back by immigration officials.

In fact, Orellana has taken the risk twice already. He says that the first time he came to the United States from Honduras, it took him about a month. He says he was lucky because although he had to walk from Honduras to Mexico, in Mexico City he was able to take a plane that took him to Tijuana. From there he walked across the border.

He had been in Maryland for a year, when a police officer stopped him and some friends who were in the car, because they were going in the wrong direction on a street close to the Pentagon. The police officer asked them for their documents, and called immigration officials who deported them.

Determined to come back to the United States again, Orellana paid a coyote $6,000 he borrowed from various friends. “I walked and walked, took various buses until I made it with a group of about 20 people to the border. In the trip about three didn’t make it because they couldn’t resist the heat. They got dehydrated and we had to leave them,” Orellana said.

His friend Noel Ramirez, 27, who is also on the corner of “La Plazita,” says he had a similar experience in his way here. Ramirez remembers leaving his family behind, but just like Orellana maintains a determined attitude. They tell their stories as if they were simple odysseys. Both of them come from very poor isolated parts of their respective countries.

They laughed when they said that the first time they got here, the most amazing thing they saw was the “soda machine, you put money in, and you get a soda,” Orellana says, while Ramirez laughs.

Ramirez says that during the weekends, he likes to watch television. He says that he doesn’t drink or smoke, nor does he use an drugs.

Ramirez says about the Latino community in Takoma Park that most are very humble, hard working people who only want to help their families back home. “Yes, there are some Latinos who make us look bad by forming those gangs or doing bad things,” Ramirez says. “But most of us are good people.”

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