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Puerto Rican Families Leave Storm-Ravaged Island for Erie, Pa.

'Many of them come to the United States and they are very educated, but it's going to take them a while before they find something in their field.'

(TNS) — Glorimir "Glory" Encarnacion worried that her oldest daughter would fall behind in school.

She feared for the health of her 5-month-old daughter.

And she wondered when she would be able to return to her job at the train station where she worked as an attendant.

The life Encarnacion and her family had come to know in Puerto Rico vanished when Hurricane Maria battered the island after making landfall on Sept. 20, 2017, as a Category 4 hurricane with sustained winds of 155 mph. It came just weeks after another devastating storm, Hurricane Irma.

Schools closed. Her home flooded. Power went out. The drinking water turned a murky brown. Trains stopped running, putting Encarnacion out of work indefinitely.

"You have everything — house, car, job," Encarnacion, 40, said. "You think you have a complete life. And in one second your life changes. You make a decision to leave your own country. It's very, very, very hard. You separate (from) your family, your mom, your friends. You don't know when you'll see them again or come back to visit."

Encarnacion and her husband, Juan Carlos Machuca, spent each day in the month after the storm wrestling with the decision to leave their home in the city of Guaynabo, 10 miles south of San Juan, and move to the United States.

Today, they are among 39 Puerto Rican families who have relocated to Erie following Hurricane Maria.

New beginning

Those families are trying to adjust to a new way of life in a city where the language, the weather and the culture stand in stark contrast to what they've long known.

Some families have experienced culture shock, said Joanna Cherpak, executive director of the Multicultural Community Resource Center, 554 E. 10th St.

"The language is the biggest barrier, and that's what we're trying to help them with," Cherpak said. "Also, they've suffered trauma. Losing your home in a hurricane — losing everything — is a trauma. There is a little bit of an adaptability (issue). We're working with them through all of that."

Cherpak said many of the people from Puerto Rico, a U.S. territory, have had a similar experience as refugees.

"They are having the same kind of plight," she said. "... Many of them come to the United States and they are very educated, like Glory, but it's going to take them a while before they find something in their field."

Angie Colon, a case manager for the agency, said many families need help with housing, transportation and applying for assistance when they arrive. The agency obtained funding from the county in January to launch a Hispanic self-sufficiency program to help families find jobs and get on their feet.

Encarnacion, who holds a master's degree in human resources, began working as a tutor for the agency on March 1. She helps Erie High School students who have come to the city as immigrants or refugees with their school work.

Why Erie?

Encarnacion's family's journey to Erie started with a friend, Ana Ramos. Ramos, an Erie resident, moved from Puerto Rico to Erie in 2017. Encarnacion and Ramos had worked together more than a decade ago and had stayed in touch. Ramos is also an employee of the Multicultural Community Resource Center.

For Encarnacion, knowing she had a friend in Erie played a large part in her family's decision to move here.

So, in late October, the family of four boarded a plane in San Juan and flew to Miami, and then to Cleveland. Ramos picked them up at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and drove them to Erie. They arrived on Oct. 30.

In their possession were 11 bags. They brought clothes, photos and baby supplies, like a stroller and car seat, for youngest daughter, Juandra Machuca-Encarnacion, who is now 11 months old. They also brought a Puerto Rican flag.

The family stayed with Ramos until the Federal Emergency Management Agency provided temporary housing at the Avalon Hotel.

That's when they saw snow for the first time.

"The first time we saw it, 'Oh, that's so beautiful.'" she said. "We were very happy. The second day it's 'OK, OK.' Then it's two, three weeks (of snow). At home, it's very warm, very hot all the time and then you come here and it's like, 'Oh my God.'"

Adapting to change

Assimilating to life in Erie hasn't been easy.

Encarnacion's oldest daughter, 17-year-old Alondra Guzman-Encarnacion, is a junior at Erie High. Like any kid switching schools, she has worried about fitting in. She became even more shy than she was in Puerto Rico, according to her mother.

Encarnacion's husband, Juan Carlos Machuca, 40, doesn't speak English. Shortly after arriving, he found a third-shift job in Corry, but he resigned in January when it became too difficult to communicate with his English-speaking coworkers, Encarnacion said. He's also soft-spoken and shy, and Erie's winter weather hasn't made the transition any easier for him.

"He's very frustrated," Encarnacion said. "He says 'I'm the man, I'm supposed to work. I don't work.' For him it's very hard right now. He's having the biggest problem in my house. The baby doesn't understand it. Alondra, she understands everything. She speaks English and is good in school."

Encarnacion tries to remind him that he's got the most important job of all — raising children, including an infant. A former hospital security guard, Machuca plans to take classes to learn the language so he can work again.

"Glory is fortunate because she has a very positive, upbeat personality," Cherpak said. "It will be more difficult for her husband, but everything comes in time."

Looking back, Encarnacion says the decision to leave Puerto Rico for the United States was the right one for her family. However, they sorely miss the friends and relatives they left behind, including Encarnacion's 78-year-old mother, who adopted her when she was 4.

"It's very, very difficult," she said. "We talk to her every day. She's alone in Puerto Rico, so it's very, very hard."

Matthew Rink can be reached at 870-1884 or by email. Follow him on Twitter at www.Twitter.com/ETNrink.

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