WILL VRASPIR, Hastings Tribune
Published 08:05 p.m., Friday, April 1, 2011
HASTINGS, Neb. (AP) — Anneris "Nery" Shafer, 37, didn't know what would
happen when she floated into the Atlantic Ocean on a tractor tire inner
tube in 1994.
Nicknamed Nery (pronounced Neddy) by her friends, Shafer just knew that
she wanted to get away from Cuba and its communist government.
When President Fidel Castro reversed a long-standing policy of arresting
anyone who tried to leave the island by sea in August 1994, Shafer was
one of tens of thousands who tried to reach Florida. She and a friend
brought water, condensed milk and a bottle of honey on an inner tube and
paddled their way toward Florida.
Despite her college education and job as a physical education teacher,
Shafer said, she lived in squalor in her hometown of Havana.
"If you don't live it, you don't know," she said. "You don't know what
people there suffer. It's not just poverty. You suffer an oppression."
So Shafer risked her life to float to America.
She and her friend didn't have a map, so they were forced to use the sun
and moon to gauge direction. Their plan was to paddle north and pray.
After more than two days at sea, Shafer said, she could see the building
lights off the coast of Florida. But before she and her friend could
reach the shore, they were apprehended by the U.S. Coast Guard.
Shafer was taken to Guantanamo Bay, a U.S. military base on Cuba.
Her situation hadn't improved.
At the base, she and the other refugees were kept in camps and not
allowed to leave.
"For me to leave home, and go basically to jail, was hard," she said.
"My hope was, 'I'm going to the United States.' I told myself, 'I can go
through this. I can suffer for a little bit.'
"We were going to a better place," Shafer said.
After about four months, the U.S. government started to process the
refugees. They started with older folks, then moved to pregnant women
and families with children. Then they processed couples, followed by
single men and women, which included Shafer.
When her time came around, a lottery system was used to determine the
order people in her group would leave, starting with the lowest numbers.
Shafer's number was 1,039.
"It wasn't a lucky number," she said with a chuckle. "I came in on the
last flight that flew to the United States."
Shafer stayed in Florida for a few days until a place for her was found
in Hastings. She flew into the Grand Island airport in January 1996,
where Catholic Social Services employees picked her up to help get her
settled into her new life.
Shafer had no idea where Nebraska was. She knew about Florida because of
its proximity to her home country. She had heard of other states like
California, Texas and New York, but not Nebraska.
After a year, she had the option of moving to a different location if
she didn't want to stay in Nebraska. She decided that she enjoyed the
state and thought it would be a good place to raise a family. She also
could apply to become a resident of the United States after her first
year, which she did.
She worked a variety of cleaning jobs when she first came to Hastings.
She didn't have a car to drive to work, so she was forced to walk
despite the cold.
Someone later gave her a bicycle, which she used until she could save
enough money to buy a car. Four and a half years after becoming a
resident, Shafer was able to apply for her citizenship. She said it was
a long and grueling process, but it was worth it.
"It's a grateful moment when they shake your hand and say, 'You're a
citizen of this country,'" she said.
Despite the struggle, Shafer is now happy with her life in America.
She is married to Josh Shafer and has two children. She works as a
medical interpreter, as a recruiter for the migrant worker program at
Head Start and leads a Zumba dance/fitness class at the YMCA.
For others going through the process to become a citizen of the United
States, she offered some advice:
"Be patient. I know sometimes it's hard."
___
Information from: Hastings Tribune, http://www.hastingstribune.com
http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/Cuban-woman-s-journey-to-Neb-long-arduous-1319155.php
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