VOA标准英语2017-- 'Accidental Refugee' Sees Trouble, Tragedy and Success

 

Jessi Calzado-Esponda lives in the United States but spent her early years in Cuba.

Her family lived in Havana. Electric power was undependable. The 29-year-old woman says her family would turn to music when the neighborhood lost power.

“Music was always part of my life even from a very young age. I remember that sometimes when the lights would go out in Cuba, all my family would come out with guitars and there would be singing and there would be some dancing.”

This memory is one of few Calzado-Esponda has from her childhood on the island nation.

She left at age seven – but not by choice. Her aunt had decided¹ to flee from Cuba on a small raft. The young Calzado-Esponda and her grandmother stopped just to say goodbye. But disorder² broke out and the little girl and her grandmother were on the raft when it launched. Neither could swim.

So, Calzado-Esponda became an accidental refugee, floating away from her home.

“Literally in the blink of an eye, I lost my mom, my immediate³ family and my beloved Cuba,” Calzado-Esponda said. She would not see her family again for almost 20 years.

The United States Coast Guard found the raft at sea and took the child and her relatives to the U.S. base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They lived there for several months before they were moved to Tampa, Florida.

That is when Calzado-Esponda’s American life began; it is a story almost as unusual as the one that got her to the United States. At one time homeless, she later launched a travel agency which specializes in group trips to Cuba.

Homeless in America

Calzado-Esponda remembers her first years in the U.S. as happy ones, but she missed her parents and brother.

Several years after their arrival in Tampa, Calzado-Esponda’s aunt killed herself.

“It was like losing a second mother all over again,” Calzado-Esponda said. The severe financial loss made the situation more complex. Her aunt had worked in a good-paying job.

Calzado-Esponda and her grandmother had little money and moved into a homeless shelter.

“It was just really, really, really hard,” Calzado-Esponda told VOA. Sharing a bedroom with strangers and having to eat meals at set times were not things she was used to.

But something wonderful happened when she was about 12 years old. A music teacher and shelter volunteer took an interest in Calzado-Esponda. The teacher urged her to play the piano and other musical instruments.

This led to a six-year study program with what was then the Gulf⁴ Coast Youth Choirs⁶. She received financial aid to pay for her training.

Traveling with the choir⁵, Calzado-Esponda developed a love of traveling, which would be important later in her life.

During that period, the homeless shelter helped her grandmother find a job. Calzado-Esponda says her grandmother never learned to speak English or drive a car. But she was able to earn enough to move out of the shelter and into an apartment.

“Little by little, of course we struggled here and there, but we made it. And, again, it was a lot to do with the community and the support that we got from our community.”

Cuba Inspires

Calzado-Esponda moved in her twenties to Washington, D.C. She found a job in the office of a U.S. congressman⁷. But at 27, she suddenly faced another major challenge. A car accident left her with a severe brain injury.

The injury forced her to leave her job. The young woman suffered some memory loss. She could not remember people’s names or what she said to others. She was often sick to her stomach and her back hurt.

Calzado-Esponda says the injury was one of the most heartbreaking things she had experienced. But, slowly she recovered.

She says she still has some really hard days but that she chooses to “get up the next day and try again.”

Calzado-Esponda got a visa to return to Cuba when she learned her mother was sick. It had been twenty years since she left the island accidentally. She had never returned.

Sadly, the day before Calzado-Esponda arrived in Cuba, her mother died.

“So, the very first time I ever met my whole family was at my mom’s funeral. And it’s one of those things that’s very surreal and it’s also very bittersweet.”

She says she was amazed at the love and support she received.

Just after the visit, then-President Barack Obama announced an easing of relations between the U.S. and Cuba. That is when Calzado-Esponda started her travel agency. She named it Cuba Inspires.

After more than a year of operation, her business is off to a good start. Among her first clients were the reality television stars, the Kardashians.

Calzado-Esponda hopes to build on her success with events, such as the U.S./Cuban youth choir competition, for which she recently won permission. She sees herself as an unofficial ambassador.

"I’ve always considered the United States and Cuba kind of like two divorced parents and, like, the United States being my father, Cuba being my mother. And it is my job to kind of bridge the differences between both of them, because I love both of them."

I’m Dan Friedell. And I’m Caty Weaver⁸.

Words in This Story

aunt – n. the sister of one’s father or mother; the wife of one’s uncle or aunt

raft – n. a flat structure for transportation on water

blink of an eye – expression – very quickly

choir – n. a singing group

apartment – n. a room or several rooms that is used as a place to live

client – n. someone who uses the professional services or advice of another

divorce – v. to legally end one’s marriage; to make or keep separate

1 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

2 disorder   

n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调

参考例句：

• When returning back,he discovered the room to be in disorder.回家后，他发现屋子里乱七八糟。
• It contained a vast number of letters in great disorder.里面七零八落地装着许多信件。

3 immediate   

adj.立即的；直接的，最接近的；紧靠的

参考例句：

• His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
• We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。

4 gulf   

n.海湾；深渊，鸿沟；分歧，隔阂

参考例句：

• The gulf between the two leaders cannot be bridged.两位领导人之间的鸿沟难以跨越。
• There is a gulf between the two cities.这两座城市间有个海湾。

5 choir   

n.唱诗班，唱诗班的席位，合唱团，舞蹈团；v.合唱

参考例句：

• The choir sang the words out with great vigor.合唱团以极大的热情唱出了歌词。
• The church choir is singing tonight.今晚教堂歌唱队要唱诗。

6 choirs   

n.教堂的唱诗班( choir的名词复数 )；唱诗队；公开表演的合唱团；（教堂）唱经楼

参考例句：

• They ran the three churches to which they belonged, the clergy, the choirs and the parishioners. 她们管理着自己所属的那三家教堂、牧师、唱诗班和教区居民。 来自飘（部分）
• Since 1935, several village choirs skilled in this music have been created. 1935以来，数支熟练掌握这种音乐的乡村唱诗班相继建立起来。 来自互联网

7 Congressman   

n.（美）国会议员

参考例句：

• He related several anecdotes about his first years as a congressman.他讲述自己初任议员那几年的几则轶事。
• The congressman is meditating a reply to his critics.这位国会议员正在考虑给他的批评者一个答复。

8 weaver   

n.织布工；编织者

参考例句：

• She was a fast weaver and the cloth was very good.她织布织得很快，而且布的质量很好。
• The eager weaver did not notice my confusion.热心的纺织工人没有注意到我的狼狈相。