A short bio of a George

In fifteen minutes he told me, in an English that if I did not listen carefully I would not understand, his life in USA.

He has been in this country for 14 years. He is married, has three children; none of them of school age yet. He works for a repairshop to pick-up and deliver broken and fixed machines. His wages are $ 14.00 per hour. He works forty five to sixty hours a week. One week he worked as long as eighty-seven hours!!!! That week he brought home something like $1400-$1600. He smiled and said that was a very good "Pay". He does not speak English but goes to school to learn it two times a week at a local "y".  He lives in a small one-bedroom apartment with three kids and pays $850 per month in rent. In three months he hopes to put a down-payment on a small house with the money he has saved up over the years. He said it is very hard for him and the family.

I said to him, in English with hand gestures etc. so he could understand me; Obama is proposing some good ideas for immigrants. It is good thing that he is learning English. I also told him; "no more kids". He laughed and said "yes".

I also proposed if he could do some repairwork or if his wife could do some house cleaning he should get in touch with me. He said again; "It is very hard for him and his wife with three children and forty to eighty hours of work weeks".

I felt sad; I wanted to do so much for him.