A Haitian migrant once aiming for the US decides to stay in Tijuana for good.
Jerome and his wife journey from Brazil heading for the US, but realize they can have a good life in Mexico, dutifully saving and leveraging Jerome’s skills in repairing electronics. “I’ve decided to stay in Tijuana for the long-term...I refuse to go the U.S. I would rather stay here in Mexico. People don’t think about it that way, though. They see the United States as the most powerful country in the world. They have to go there, so they can say, ‘I live in the United States.’ I don’t live to keep up with big names. I live so that I can achieve something in life.”
My name is Jerome, and when I was in Haiti, I was a college student and I repaired cell phones. I didn’t have a formal job; I would just take broken phones from people in my neighborhood and repair them. I also worked at a rice distribution company. It wasn’t a steady job at all. I only worked when they had a shipment of rice they needed help unloading and distributing. That was what I did until I finally saved up enough to leave the country.
It took me up to a year to save up. I began planning to leave [Haiti] in 2015 but ended up leaving in July 2016. I was always motivated to leave Haiti to go to Brazil. What finally pushed me was meeting a guy from Mirebalais [a town in Northern Haiti] who started talking to me about making the trip to Brazil. He said a lot of people were making the journey. This was a guy whose family had land and other assets. I was born in Port-au-Prince and didn’t grow up with parents who had those sorts of things. It was up to me to get out of the situation I was in. A guy from Hinche had a family member who was a smuggler. This family member lived in Ecuador and the way it worked was that you would give him about $2,000 to buy you a plane ticket to Ecuador. When you arrive in Quito, you must hand him another $1,000 to help you get through the rest of the route. At the time, I had $1,500 and I sent $1,000 to the smuggler. I had $500 left and needed about $1,000 in pocket money, plus another $500.
I saved up the money with the help of my girlfriend at the time, who worked as a nurse. She was financing me without realizing it. We were both young, and she had a salary. Whenever she got paid, she would take out some money for us to spend. I would always try to save some of the money she gave me. Looking for a way out, I always made sure to put some money away. For example, she would give me $79, and I would try to only spend $37 and make sure to put $42 away. At the same time, if I was working and made $105 to $158, I would only spend $26 to $105 of it and save the rest. I had an aunt give me $500 and I had $500 in a bank account. Then my girlfriend, now wife, gave me $400 on top of that. I saved all those sums until I was able to leave the country in 2016.
I first went to the Dominican Republic and spent fifteen days there, until the smuggler bought my plane ticket to Ecuador. I spent a day in Ecuador and then I made my way to Peru with the little bit of money I had left. From Peru, I went to Brazil and stayed there for about two years.
There, I found a telecommunications company that was hiring. At first, I was doing mechanical work, but my boss announced that he needed someone with skills to install cameras. I told him I could do it. They gave me sixteen cameras to install to make sure I could do the work. When I installed everything correctly, they gave me the job. They changed my uniform, they gave me a promotion, and they increased my salary. They were supposed to pay me even more after I got promoted to supervisor, but I was the only supervisor who didn’t end up getting that increase. The company also gave us a place to stay. While working there, I found out my mom was in a very difficult situation back home. I asked to borrow $500 from the company and sent it to her to help her resolve her issue. I stayed at the job for three months before I left their housing and found a place to rent with another person. After that, I ended up renting my own place for $113 and then brought my girlfriend and little brother to come live with me in Brazil. I eventually got married to my girlfriend and throughout those two years, I stayed with the same job.
My wife became unemployed and spent nine months unable to find a job. So, I made the decision to quit my job and come to Mexico with the hope of getting into the U.S. I spent about six months saving to make the trip to Mexico. The pay I received after I left my job was a little over $2,000 and then my mom sent me $500, so that came up to $2,500. Then I decided to sell my furniture and other household goods, and that came up to another $500 or so. In the end, I ended up with a little over $3,000.
When I finally got to Mexico, I only had $100 in my pocket. I called an uncle of mine, who lent me $50. I called an aunt, who sent me $100. My mom sent me $350. That came out to about $500. I saved up all that money because when we arrived, my wife and I stayed at a shelter that provided food two times a day. Both my wife and I quickly found jobs. She was making $50 and I was making $76. Every time we had to buy something, we made sure to spend $25–$35, and then save the rest. We saved and saved!
After three months, we left the shelter and rented our own place. Unfortunately, I rented a place that was too expensive for us to afford. It was $200 a month, and I wasn’t making a lot of money. I rented it because I really wanted to get out of the shelter. After three months living there, I realized we simply wouldn’t be able to afford the place, so we moved to one that was cheaper. I explained to my wife that we had to move to a cheaper place in order to save and be able to achieve something here in Mexico. Even though we didn’t like this new place and it was uncomfortable for us, I promised her that we would move to a nicer place once we had the money to do so. I found a place for $100 and rented it. I asked my wife to pay the rent from her salary so that I could save mine up and get into soldes [informal savings group]. And so, we saved up to $1,500 by doing this.
Then I got the idea to start an electronics repair business. My mom told me that she would send me $1,000. You know mothers. I give her everything I have so when she can give me something in return, she spares nothing. I didn’t want her to give me money at first. I hate borrowing money from people. When I borrow money, it always stays in the back of my mind that I owe that person, and I don’t feel good about it. There was also a Mexican who was working at my job who lent me $250. Another Haitian guy lent me $250. Then a friend, who had asked me to be the best man at his wedding, lent me $150. But I didn’t ask any of these people for money. They knew what kind of man I was and wanted to support me and help me create the business. They said, ‘Jerome, we want to help you. Here’s some money.’ They know what kind of person I am, they appreciate me, and they chose to help me.
It’s with that money that I rented my first electronics repair shop space. At first, I just rented space and didn’t put anything in it. I just bought the minimum materials I needed to work but nothing else. It was completely empty.
When my wife got pregnant, I told her she didn’t have to work anymore, and I focused on growing my business. As soon I started working and making some money, I made sure to pay everyone back until I no longer owed anyone anything. It was a pleasure for me recently that the same Mexican who had lent me money ran into a problem, asked me to borrow $500, and I was able to help him out. I’ve been running the business for two years now. The business has really helped me become who I am today. I’m even able to employ someone to work for me. It has allowed me to provide for my needs. I send money home to Haiti and I support two families financially: my family and my wife’s family. My wife and child no longer depend solely on me, and that’s a huge burden lifted off my shoulders. All in all, I’ve been able to achieve a lot and I have even more projects in mind.
To build my client base for the business, I have to have confidence in myself and my abilities. I always make sure to do a good job for clients and to be honest with them. I will never steal parts of one client’s electronics to repair the goods of a different client. I’m a person of integrity. If a client’s phone has a specific problem, I tell them exactly what that problem is. I do this because if I lie to a client today, it will cost me heavily in the future. I get referrals all the time and people have started to recognize me and my work.
I’ve opened another electronic repair business for my wife. So, one business covers our expenses and the other one allows us to save money. I have a bank account, and I’m also in a soldes. I’m currently in a soldes where I’m paying $200 a week, and when it’s my turn to get the money, I get up to $2,000. I either choose to put that $2,000 away at the bank or invest it in buying more equipment. It took me about a year and seven months to open the second shop, and even with all I’ve accomplished, I don’t feel like I’ve integrated into Tijuana. I just live here. Integrating is a whole different thing.
To give an example, on the street where I live, a neighbor was celebrating her birthday. She invited all the Mexicans, but she didn’t invite me, the only black person. To make a point, when I celebrated my own birthday, I chose to invite everyone in the neighborhood. I also invited Haitians. When they got to my house, I arranged different tables for Mexicans, Haitians, and the Haitians and Mexicans who wanted to sit together, especially the Haitians who came with their Mexican girlfriends. I wanted to show them that I treated them differently than they did me. But when I saw that this effort didn’t change their attitude towards me, I chose to distance myself from the [Mexicans]. I’ve had to act just like I see them acting towards me. They keep me at a distance, as I now keep them.
“I’ve decided to stay in Tijuana for the long-term. The only reason I wanted to go to the United States is to make money, but here I’ve found 90% of what I wanted. I have a stable income, I can provide for the needs of my family, and I can save money and progress in life. In the United States, you may get there and make $1,000, but how much more will you have to spend out of that money? How much will you get to save? You have to think of what your annual expenses will be. For example, what if you make $50,000 a year but end up spending $48,000, with only $2,000 to save? What is that? I’ve calculated how much money I make here and how much money I would make if I went to the United States with the extra expenses I would have. I refuse to go [to] the U.S. I would rather stay here in Mexico. People don’t think about it that way, though. They see the United States as the most powerful country in the world. They have to go there so they can say, ‘I live in the United States.’ I don’t live to keep up with big names. I live so that I can achieve something in life.”