Maggie Proft
Maggie Proft
Hairstylist and New Citizen from Tijuana, Mexico
Stay in school and do the best you can. Do your studies, get good grades and learn Spanish. Spanish will open a lot of doors for you when you go to college. You can get a really good job if you can speak both languages.
Maggie Proft
Hairstylist and New Citizen from Tijuana, Mexico
My name is Maggie Proft. I was born in Mexico. I’ll soon be 45 years old. I grew up in Tijuana. We didn’t have much. Life was difficult. I come from a family of six. I’m the middle child. I went six years to school in Mexico. When Mother bought land we built our house. We had two bedrooms for the eight of us. The sisters slept in the same room. My brothers sleep on the floor.
When we built our house, neighbors got together to help. We spent two years in a house without windows or doors. Mother put up drapes to cover the windows. There was no glass on the window. We also didn’t have a bathroom in the house. We had a bathroom outside. We showered outside in a little shed. We had no gas or electricity. This was only about thirty years ago!
My mom would go from Tijuana to San Diego across the border to the United States to iron clothes and clean houses, so she could provide for us. Sometimes she had to spend a month or two away from us doing that. The lady she worked for wanted her to stay and help all the time. She’d come back home to buy groceries for us. She might spend a couple of weeks with us and then go back to work in San Diego again.
I have a lot of respect for my older sister. While Mother was working she was the one taking care of us. Imagine you are 14 or 15 years old and having to take care of five kids. She did her best to take care of us, so Mom could work.
I went to school in Mexico from first grade to sixth grade. Being poor, they push you to go to sixth and then you are ready to go to work. By sixth grade we know everything a kid needs to know. We know math, algebra, and history. We are ready to go to work.
I had a big problem in first grade. Back in those years it was a big problem not being able to write with your right hand. To write with the left hand was really bad. I’m left handed, so I went through a lot. Teachers hit me with a ruler when I wrote left-handed. I couldn’t concentrate because I was afraid I’d get hit. They kept me from going to second grade. I had to repeat first grade twice, simply because I was left-handed.
For discipline here they [make] you stop and learn. In Mexico they had a stick and would spank you with it a few times. If you didn’t do good in the math test they [would] sit you up by the blackboard and put donkey ears on you.
On Christmas every year we got a new pair of pajamas. There wasn’t enough money to buy presents but there was always something under the Christmas tree. Christmas wasn’t so much about getting presents. Christmas was one of the times us kids could stay up late.
When I was 16 we moved to the United States permanently. I went to one year of high school and had to give up school in order to give my younger brothers and sisters a chance to go to school. I had to go to work to help support the family. I learned my English by listening to people talk. I struggled through that to provide for the family. I pushed myself. I became a U.S. citizen nine years ago.
Honoring Maggie Proft
Abajo En Mexico
(Down To Mexico)
I was born, in Mexico,
Yo nasi, en Mexico,
I am now, forty-five years old,
Aora tengo, quarenta y cinco anyos
In Tijuana, work hard to find,
En Tijuana, no i muchos trabajo
In Tijuana, on the borderline,
En Tijuana, en las fronteras
With eight people, sleeping in two rooms,
Con ocho personas, con dos cuartos,
Head to toe, no room to move,
Cabes a pie, no i curates para mover,
No glass for windows, no electricity,
No I bidrios para ventanas, no electisidad,
No indoor plumbing, for my family,
No banos adrento, para mi familia,
(Chorus)
Abajo en Mexico (2x)
My father drank, never home,
Mi papa tomaba, nunca en casa
Left mother to, raise us alone,
Dejo a mama para, cuidarnos solos
In San Diego, Mama house cleaned,
En San Diego, mama lympia la casa
My older sister, cared for the family,
Me hermana mayor, cuido a la familia
Each day to school, we would walk,
Cada dia a la escuela, caminabamos
Where the teachers, would not let us talk,
Cuando los maestros, no nos dejaban abler
For writing left-handed, teachers would hit,
Por escribiendo con la mano derecha,
mi maestros pageda
Me with a ruler, on my fingertips,
Con una regal, en mis dedos.
(Chorus)
In cardboard houses, with one meal,
En casas de carton, con una comida,
Families living, up on the hill,
Familias vivendo, ariva en la montania,
Each year for Christmas, all we got,
Cada anio para navidad, todo lo que teniamos,
Was a paper doll, pajamas store-bought,
Fue una munickade papel,
pajamas cprado de la tyenda,
To California, in the U.S.A.,
A California, en los estados unido,
With my sister, I, too, came,
Com mi hermana, yo, vine tambien,
Had to learn English, all on my own,
Ternia que aprender ingles, yo sola,
The money earned, I sent back home,
El dinero que ago, yo lo mando a la casa
(Chorus)
At sixteen, I became,
A los disyseys onyos, me comberty,
A permanent resident, in the U.S.A.,
En un residente, del los estados unidos,
With a green card, picture I.D.,
Con la targeta berde. Con la foto del I.D.
I could not vote, but I was free,
No podia botar, pero estaba libre,
To work and live, without fear,
Para trabajar y vivir, sin miedo,
Of deportation, after twelve years,
De ser deportada, despues de dose anios,
I met my husband, with him I did go,
Yo conosy me esposo, con el yo me fuy
To Minnesota, far from home,
A minnisota, ljos de casa,
(Chorus)
Now we have two children,
now I’ve become,
Aora tenemos hijos, aora yo me comberty,
A citizen, of this land I love,
En un residente, de esta tyera que amo
Where there is freedom,
where I have choice,
Donde i libertad, donde tengo que esqojer,
Where my children, have a voice,
Donde mi hijos, tyenen una voc,
To speak up for, those in need,
Para abler, los que nesesytan ajuda,
To work hard, to spread your wings,
Para tradajr duro, para abry tu alas,
Like a condor, monarch butterfly,
Me gusta a condor, mariposa de monarca
To never know, a borderline
(Chorus)
Now we have two children,
now I’ve become,
Aora tenemos hijos, aora yo me comberty,
A citizen, of this land I love,
En un residente, de esta tyera que amo
Where there is freedom,
where I have choice,
Donde i libertad, donde tengo que esqojer,
Where my children, have a voice,
Donde mi hijos, tyenen una voc,
To speak up for, those in need,
Para abler, los que nesesytan ajuda,
To work hard, to spread your wings,
Para tradajr duro, para abry tu alas,
Like a condor, monarch butterfly,
Me gusta a condor, mariposa de monarca
To never know, a borderline
(Chorus)
Music by LARRY LONG
Words by LARRY LONG with Mrs. Umphrey’s and Mr. Wenndt’s 6th Grade Classrooms of Earle Brown Elementary School (Brooklyn Center, Minnesota)
© Larry Long 2006 / BMI