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"How was school? Good?
That's great."
The depression is about everything you swallow.
Everything happened good or bad,
if you don't talk about it, at the end
you gonna get sick. It's gonna be worse.
In Latino, they don't use
to speak about their own stuff, their own problem.
"You don't have to tell nobody what happened"
and then, we are raised with that.
And then we just put like
like a wall over here
on front of
each people.
I came to America in 1988.
It was really sad for me to leave my kids behind.
I thought the best way that I can do, is to come over here first, try to set up everything
before bring them here.
It was really, really bad because
I missed everybody in Dominican Republic.
I feel that emptiness in my heart
because my kids was over there.
After two years,
I was working in a factory place.
One day I went to the bathroom, and then
I collapsed in the bathroom with the door closed.
It passed about fifteen or twenty minutes
and then my partner knocked the door,
but I didn't know, they opened the door.
I was on the floor.
They diagnosed me
that I have a manic depression.
The process was
really, really long
ten years or more.
I had to see how I'm going to be good again,
how I'm going to be able to do what I used to do to work, because they said that I wasn't able to work.
Lie down all day, all night sleeping, sleeping, sleeping.
If I been in my house like this, I won't bring my kids over here. How?
I went little by little open my, open myself and tried to speak just a little bit today,
just a little bit the next time,
just a little bit more the other time.
My therapist used to make a little reunion every Wednesday in the afternoon.
One time she find out about Casa Primavera
and then I just went over there
I wasn't too comfortable over there, and then I go home.
They called me.
"Hey Miriam, what happened? Come on, let's go, come here,
we gonna cook today. Oh, we gonna have computer class,
we gonna have English class, you have to come. Come on!"
Then I said OK.
Boston PD make a lot of outreach.
They send the application to Casa Primavera
and Cariari is the man who help people who want to work.
He said, "I have an application in here for crossing guard."
I say, "For what?!"
I never heard that in Dominican Republic.
Kids go by themselves, no matter what. Nobody cross nobody.
I was thinking that they won't call me
because, you know, I have a mental illness,
but no thanks God
they called me.
And then I start working in 2001.
"See you tomorrow, my little girl."
Little by little I tried to educate myself,
participate in a lot of different conference,
a lot of different workshops about mental illness.
Felix, who is my husband today
helped me to bring my kids over here.
Imagine
eleven years,
twelve years and fourteen years kids.
They didn't know nothing about
school over here,
English and nothing.
The very first couple of years of us being here in the US
we were very much
you know, go to school and come home,
and don't really do a whole lot.
When I was on medication
I was that sick
I just told them, "don't tell nobody
that I have been hospitalized.
Don't tell nobody that I take medication"
because I was really scared
they know that I wasn't "good mentally,"
and they'll take my kids away.
It was
really, really difficult for us
to be with her, because
we had no idea that depression even existed.
It was like a new word in our vocabulary
and my mother would go from extremely happy where she would say,
"get dressed we're going to buy shoes." And then, like an hour later she hated us.
We couldn't understand how can somebody be so happy, and then be so mean and so rude an hour later.
There was some tough times you know us as a children not necessarily understanding just the whole concept of it,
but at the same time
you know we are family.
And the reality is that you got to stick together.
(Singing)
Today is my grandson birthday.
I'm really happy because I like to get my family together.
She has helped us out as well, at the same time that she is really helping herself
and that has given us the confidence to really be there for her as well.
If somebody wants to help you and you are not ready to be helped it doesn't matter what they provide you with.
And she said, "I guess you walk out one day and say you know what?
Enough is enough, and I'm gonna take control of my life, and I'm gonna show my kids that I love them."
And she did everything she needed to do.
You know, depression doesn't go away at all, you know.
You think you are done, but no.
It's something stay in the way for a little bit,
but it comes in front of you.
"Hey, I'm here.
Don't forget I'm here."
And then you have to use
what you learned.
"Our first certificate goes to
Miriam Sanchez."
(Applause)
She has absolutely blown me away.
I see her you know being this really shy person a while back
to now being really open and really going out there
and giving talks to other people.
That's just amazing!
It's a person that I did not know that existed.
"Thank you very much everybody."
(Applause)
Going to trainings,
conference
helped me understand what I have.
It's amazing, it's amazing.
Two completely different people from the time that she stepped in through the door to the person she is today.
I'm a half-staff, I'm a half-member.
When somebody is on vacation and then she needs some extra help, she just calls me,
"Hey, you want to work today? Come on!..."
And then I come. And then that day, I'm a staff.
My goal is to learn more than I can over here
and that way when I go back to Dominican Republic
help people over there.
Try to help people
who I know they go through a lot of situation
and they don't know how deal with that, you know.
Give them some tools that I have helping me.
Give them the tools to break that wall
everybody have on front.