Ella es una mujer inmigrante como yo, recién llegó a Chile y ha tenido como todas dificultades para encontrar trabajo. Es contadora y no sabía como validar su título, pero en una charla de una iglesia cristiana obtuvo la información y está haciendo los trámites, mientras tanto busca trabajo en otra cosa, porque necesita solventarse económicamente. Alguna vez fuimos a buscar trabajo juntas, llegamos a un lugar donde había un aviso en la puerta que decía que necesitaban personal para trabajar, cuando nos entrevistamos con la dueña, nos dijo que solo aceptaban chilenos, no migrantes. No es la única mala experiencia, porque un día esperábamos en un paradero de la micro y una dama blanca al vernos, nos puso gesto de malos amigos y además sacó su cartera de un costado de su cuerpo y la puso adelante, creo que pensaba que le íbamos a quitar la cartera. Al principio no comprendíamos la actitud de la señora en el paradero, ni de la señora del trabajo, porque lo que hacen nos afecta, nos sentimos tristes, desmotivadas. El día de lo que nos pasó en el paradero, nos fuimos camino a casa hablando sobre las cosas que nos han ocurrido y aunque íbamos con poco ánimo, cuando pasamos por un parque con muchas palomas nos volvió la alegría, nos dimos cuenta que hay cosas positivas como los animales que nos alegran la vida.

-Mujer, peruana, 40 años

She is an immigrant like me, who recently arrived in Chile and has had a lot of difficulty in finding work. She is an accountant, and she didn’t know how to validate her license here. However, at an informational talk at a Christian church, she got information and is going through the process. Meanwhile, she is looking for work in another area to maintain herself financially. One time, we went together to look for work, and we arrived at a place where there was sign on the door saying that they were hiring people. When the owner interviewed us, she said that they only accept Chileans. This is not the only bad experience that I had. One day we were waiting at the bus stop, and a white woman, upon seeing us, grabbed her purse and held it in front of her tightly. I think that she was thinking that we were going to steal it. At first, we didn’t understand the attitude of the woman at the bus stop, nor the woman with the job. What they did to us affected us a lot; we felt really sad and disheartened. The day that the thing happened at the bus stop, we were walking back home talking about everything that had occurred, and although we were down, when we passed by a park where there were a lot of pigeons, we became happy, because we realized that there are positive things, like animals, that make our lives happier.

-Female, Peruvian, 40 years old