The picture of the Caracas Mountains in Samantha Requena’s living room transports the sophomore back to her birth country of Venezuela. 

“It’s in my memories. I see it, and I remember looking at it,” the sophomore said. “I remember hiking up the mountain.”

Requena’s memories of her birth country are limited. She moved to the United States at 2 years old when her parents noticed rising crime rates, job insecurity and the scarcity of baby products in Venezuela. The Requenas also wanted the safest place to raise Samantha, who was born with a congenital amputation of her left arm due to amniotic bands syndrome.

“We wanted to make sure she grew up in a society that was a lot more diverse and accepting of physical differences,” her mother Daniela Requena said.

The family started researching the move around July 2010. By February 2011, Daniela sought a work visa for the United States. Nine months later, their move was approved. 

When Daniela and Andres moved to the United States, they knew they were leaving more than just their home country. They left their careers behind. Daniela was a clinical psychologist, and Andres was an architect in Venezuela. Starting new in the United States was a challenge.

Initially the family lived in Dallas, but in 2016 the family was seeking green cards. For that to happen, they needed an employer to sponsor Daniela. The school district where Daniela taught at the time backtracked on its offer to sponsor her green card, which caused her to look for a new employer. 

Dayton ISD offered to sponsor the green card for her, leading the family to move to Kingwood. Daniela worked as a bilingual teacher as the family continued their process of seeking citizenship.

 “With all the political uproar that we lived through since we were 17 years old, and all the problems that we went through, for us, it was important to be part of somewhere and belong to a country and be able to vote,” Daniela Requena said.

The process to citizenship was long and expensive. Daniela was the only family member working, as they waited for her husband to get a work permit. 

After seven years of being a stay-at-home dad, Andres received his work permit. Daniela was bilingual, but Andres’s English was more limited and made finding work a challenge. Eventually Daniela posted a message on the Facebook group “Flooding Kingwood with Kindness.” In the post, she shared that her husband had a lot of experience in construction since he was an architect in Venezuela. 

Within 48 hours of that post, he was interviewed. Twenty-four hours later, he was working at a local remodeling company. 

Now, Daniela teaches at Humble ISD’s Bear Branch Elementary. Andres is now a construction project manager.

Samantha has grown up and watched her parents’ sacrifices. It is something she uses as motivation. She said she works hard in school so her parents will not have to pay for her to attend college. 

Samantha is fluent in both English and Spanish, and she is learning French at school. She is in all advanced core classes. 

“Obviously there’s that old stereotypical immigrant pressure that you kind of just have to do good, because you know that your parents gave up their entire life, their friends, their family, in order to give you opportunities that you wouldn’t have gotten otherwise,” Samantha said.

She hopes to work as a lawyer or work in the United Nations. She said she wants to follow a career path in which she is helping others.

Samantha has not visited Venezuela since she was 4, and she worries about someday losing her Spanish. But she is grateful that her family helps her still feel connected to their Venezuelan roots. If any class at school has a celebration, Daniela makes sure Samantha has arepas, a Venezuelan delicacy, to share. 

Last year, the family celebrated big events. Daniela was granted U.S. citizenship in July 2023. Samantha and her father Andres became United States citizens on Feb. 8, 2023. 

After a stressful 12-year journey, the dream of Daniela and Andres became a reality.

U.S citizenship “gave us a feeling of safety, like nobody can kick us out anymore,” Daniela said. “It makes you feel grounded. You finally belong somewhere.”

This story was originally published on KP Times on November 6, 2024.