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Migrants reap harvest of new learning

By LETITIA STEIN
Published July 2, 2005

PLANT CITY - Her words fit together like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

" "Doy gracias a ... Dios ," she read slowly. I give thanks to God.

Two months ago, the 54-year-old Plant City woman could write her name. O-f-e-l-i-a R-o-d-r-i-g-u-e-z. Nothing more. Now she stood in front of a room of people, holding an open book. Haltingly, she read a short speech in Spanish.

" "Doy gracias a Dios y a mi ... maestra ." I give thanks to God and my teacher.

The printed word no longer was a foreign language.

"I desire to learn," Rodriguez said in Spanish, blushing faintly against the white of her dress. "I have faith and confidence."

And something more, she noted with a grin.

Rodriguez has a diploma for completing her primary education studies through a partnership between the nonprofit Redlands Christian Migrant Association, the Mexican education system and Mexico's consulate in Orlando. She is among the first graduates of the local program, serving migrant workers across Central Florida.

The piece of paper changes nothing. Rodriguez still is cleaning cars for a living, attending classes at night. The nine other adults in her graduating class expect to keep their jobs as day care workers for RCMA and laborers on farms in east Hillsborough County.

Yet all plan to continue studies. This piece of paper has opened a universe of possibilities.

"If they learn better Spanish, it is easier to learn English," said Rey David Penaflor, a representative from the Mexican consulate in Orlando.

He passed out the diplomas during a small ceremony Sunday afternoon at the historic Plant City schoolhouse that houses the RCMA's 3-year-old Community Learning Center. In six month courses, adults can study basic reading and math. Books and testing materials are sent from Mexico.

Eventually, teachers hope the students will learn English and prepare for a high school degree. They can pursue college degrees online through a technological college in Monterrey, Mexico.

"That's our goal, for them not to always be dependent on other people," said Lilia Nacianceno, 27, who coordinates the Community Learning Center. She wants her students to converse with English-speakers without translators, to read and write.

Similar adult programs exist in South Florida. The nonsectarian RCMA also runs child care centers, after-school programs and a charter school in Wimauma.

Ten students graduated in the first class. Forty classmates also are enrolled in various education courses at RCMA, but most are working the summer harvest in northern states.

RCMA may schedule another graduation in December, when Florida's winter planting season has begun.

In Mexico, some dropped out of school to work, or lived too far away from cities to attend classes regularly. From different corners, they came to the United States seeking better lives. They found jobs picking crops, babysitting, working day jobs.

The work left little time for studies. Traditional adult education seemed beyond their reach. How can someone who can't read in Spanish earn a high school degree in English? How to learn when each season finds you in a different state?

"I never imagined it would be possible to complete my primary education," says Maria Marta Vega Santiago, 49, of Winter Haven, whose first language is a native dialect spoken in Mexico. She learned Spanish in the United States. "This is something very important in my life."

--Letitia Stein can be reached at 813 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com

[Last modified July 2, 2005, 01:21:22]