Manzara

=Manzara=

Interview with Manzara
media type="custom" key="8199898"

Geography/Biography
Ivory Coast is in the Northwestern part of Africa above the equator. Because of the location of the country, it is very hot year round. Ivory Coast is a rather rich country in Africa.

During the interview, I learned about the Ivory Coast from Manzara. She came in 1992 and she was 15 or sixteen. She recalls playing with dolls made out of banana skins and stalks, which they decorated with materials from her grandfather’s tailor shop. She also recalls her grandmother who lived in her village with her and practically raised her since her mom was in the Peace Corp. had a cat and dog. It was very hot where she lived considering she lived near the equator. She remembers having to speak French and going to a private school in her home country. Ivory Coast is in the southwestern part of Africa and is the lead producer of cocoa in the world.

Creative Writing Piece
New By: Kayla Rolfe

This is all New to me.

The plane Was exciting.

The cold Was not fun.

The buildings Were clean And were so tall, They seemed to touch the sky.

 The store  Was overwhelming.

 It is all so new to me-  A girl, only 15 from  Ivory Coast.

 As I learn these customs  And adapt to my new home,

 I always remember:  The country is  Not new,  I am new to it.

Transcription
This is an interview with Manzara Reed. The interview was conducted on 12/31/10. The interviewer is Kayla Rolfe representing the Dayton Regional STEM School.

**//Kayla://** OK, so I need your name for the recording.

**Manzara:** OK, I’m Manzara Reed.

**//Kayla//:** OK. Where are you from?

**Manzara:** I’m from Ivory Coast in western Africa, right above the equator.

**//Kayla//:** OK, so why did you decide to come to the United States?

**Manzara:** I came here because my mom, she’s been traveling with the Peace Corp for a very long time and then she decided that I should come here to pursue my education.

**//Kayla//:** OK And what is the Peace Corp.?

**Manzara:** It’s an organization where, um, I’m not really sure what it is (laughs when says this)but I think that she said that it’s an organization where people go to different countries and then help the people will live in the country by any means necessary.

**//Kayla//:** That’s pretty cool. So how did you get here?

**Manzara:** I came here with my uncle. He works for BP and they were having a meeting here in New York so then we came he was coming to his meeting so I came with him.

**//Kayla//:** That’s cool. So what was your journey like here?

**Manzara:** Can you say that again?

**//Kayla//:** What was your journey to the United States like?

**Manzara:** Well getting on the plane, it was my first time so it was kind of strange and seeing different people from different parts of the world was different to me.

**//Kayla//:** Yeah. Were you probably overwhelmed a little bit?

**Manzara:** I was more excited than overwhelmed, you know? I was ready for the adventure really.

**//Kayla//:** Right. So could you tell me a little bit about your country?

**Manzara:** Well I grew up in the small village. It’s called Bungacul. It’s right up north in Savannah. And I had a really good childhood. I went to school there until I was seven years old. And moved in the city with my parents and my uncle who came to this country with me. And I went to attend a private school and made friends. I made different friends from all over the world really. And well I had a really good childhood.

**//Kayla://** That’s good.

**Manzara:** Yeah.

**//Kayla//:** So was the schooling really good you think?

**Manzara:** What’s that?

**//Kayla//:** Do you think the schooling was pretty good?

Manzara: Over there?

**//Kayla//:** Yeah.

**Manzara:** Yeah. The schools really good. There was a French school.

**//Kayla//:** French is the main language there right?

**Manzara:** Yeah. I speak French. That’s my main language. And then I have a dialect. You know, French, so.

**//Kayla//:** Yeah. That’s very cool.

**Manzara:** Thank you.

**//Kayla//:** So do you like living here or do you kind of wish you could go back?

**Manzara:** You know, I don’t know what to say right now. I feel like I live in two different worlds. You know?

**//Kayla://** Yeah.

**Manzara:** I don’t think I can quite fit over there and I’m not sure if I fit here that much. You know what I mean?

**//Kayla//:** Yeah.

**Manzara:** I would like to go back just visiting and then coming here and visiting. You know? That’s like what my mom does. She goes back and worth all the time.

**//Kayla//:** So did you adjust pretty well over here or did you have a hard time? What was that like?


 * Manzara: ** At the beginning I had a hard time, you know? Because when I came here I only spoke French and I had to go to school and I had to start 9th grade in that language over here and I had to go to some ESL classes and the language barrier was difficult for me. But now I’m fine.

**//Kayla//:** So were you discriminated against when you came here because of your language and culture or was it not that bad?

**Manzara:** Can you say that again one more time please?

**//Kayla://** Were you discriminated against when you came here because of your language and culture or was it not that bad?

**Manzara:** Not all. I don’t think so. I think people were more curious about where I was from. And no I don’t think I had any discrimination problems at all.

**//Kayla//:** That’s pretty good. So do you attend college here or have a job?

**Manzara:** I have a job and I’m also attending college.

**//Kayla//:** Could you tell me about your job and college?

**Manzara:** Sure. I am doing culinary arts and I have my own bakery and I work for an adoption agency.

**//Kayla//:** Oh. That’s really cool.

**Manzara:** Yeah. Thanks.

**//Kayla//:** You’re welcome. So do you think your journey here was similar to others from your country?

**Manzara:** I’m not sure but I don’t think it would be the same because everyone has their own experience. I’m pretty sure it had to be different on some level. My mom she came here. She went to France first and lived in France for a very long time. And she decided to come here so she had a different experience than I did because she lived in France and she spoke French sop the language wasn’t too much of a problem.

**//Kayla//:** So what were the conditions of your home country like? Was it a poor country or was it all right?

**Manzara:** My country is not poor. We are actually one of the number one producters of cocoa in the world. We aren’t poor per say. I mean the United States has a lot of money obviously but we did really well over there.

**//Kayla//:** So did you have some of the same objects like electricity or the television or was it new to you?

**Manzara:** We had television and before we came here I knew we had two channels and all of our stuff was European. We watched mostly European things and then our own TV shows we had those like American Idol. We had something like that over there. That’s when I was over there, maybe fifteen years ago. So I don’t know but they probably have different things there but I’m not sure what it is.

**//Kayla//:** So did you have an idea of what the United States would be like before you came here and did that kind of change when you got here?

**Manzara:** You mean the way I was thinking about it?

**//Kayla//:** Yeah.

**Manzara:** Um, gosh. To tell you the truth, I really didn’t want to come here ok (laughs). My mom, she decided “you should come” because there’s better education here and better opportunities and I know that’s true because you can get anything here you want like you can get any job if you go and look for it.

**//Kayla//**: Right.

**Manzara:** Yeah. So that’s why I came. I didn’t want to leave cause I had all my friends there that I really liked it over there but you know when I came over here one of the differences was I had to stay in the house. In Africa it’s not the same. The only time you go in the house was sleeping, everything else was outside, you know? And it’s summer all the time. And here it’s different. You have winter, you have fall, you have spring. So it’s different. It was a little strange to me so.

**//Kayla//:** So do you like that it’s cold every once in a while or is that different for you?

**Manzara:** I don’t know. I mean I can cope with but I don’t think it’s my favorite weather. I’ve never really liked the cold but I can just wear something and go outside and I enjoy it a bit but I don’t really like it but oh well.

**//Kayla//:** Your mom encouraged you to come here but do you have any family left in Africa?

**Manzara:** Oh yeah. My whole family’s back there. My mom’s the only one here really.

**//Kayla//:** So is that hard for you? **Manzara:** Um, yeah it is and we do communicate a lot. We write to each other and I have families and friends as well. And we tell, get giggly so we do communicate. We don’t see each other but we stay in contact.

**//Kayla//:** That’s good.

**Manzara:** Yeah.

**//Kayla//:** So how old were you when you came over here?

**Manzara:** Fifteen or sixteen.

**//Kayla//:** Oh.

**Manzara:** Yeah fifteen or sixteen.

**//Kayla//:** So how long ago was that?

**Manzara:** I was here since 1992. It was kind of strange to come here as a teenager you know?

**//Kayla//:** Yeah. That would be kind of hard,

**Manzara:** Yeah.

**//Kayla//:** So what was your favorite food in your country?

**Manzara:** I like chocolate. I don’t know if that’s food or not but we make really good chocolate over there. And I also like, we eat a lot of rice, it’s a staple over there. And we eat fish. My favorite is fish and rice with a sauce that they make out of the whole crop. And I like palm oil as well. It’s more like a red oil we use to cook everything with. So those are my favorite foods.

**//Kayla//:** Yeah. And you said that you had a bakery so did all those foods in your country persuade you to open up your bakery?

**Manzara:** Yeah. Yeah. Exactly (laughs). It’s very exciting to have that and I make the French bread the baguettes so. That’s something that I loved eating when I was back there. My grandfather used to bring it all the time. Every morning on his motorcycle he brings French bread so that’s something I incorporated in my bakery so it’s nice.

**//Kayla://** So how much longer do you have in college until you graduate?

**Manzara:** I’m actually going because I wanted to learn something. I already know what I want to do. I just wanna cause there’s always room for improvement. I wanna learn something. Maybe. It doesn’t matter. I can just learn what I want and get out so I can say maybe a year and a half.

**//Kayla//:** So having been here for a while, do you have a favorite food you’ve grown to like here?

**Manzara:** I like to eat kale; I eat a lot of vegetables. I like um, buffalo meat, I make burger with it. I still eat rice here. I get to eat whatever I ate back there here. My favorite food, um, I like to eat stir-fry.

**//Kayla//:** Oh yeah?

**Manzara:** Yeah, stir-fry is my favorite. It’s pretty simple and it just reminds me of home and I get all the vegetables in there so that’s my favorite.

**//Kayla//:** That’s cool. So do you like the fact that the United States is really diverse?

**Manzara:** Oh yeah. I do like that fact a lot. It’s very interesting (laughs).

**//Kayla://** So what was your reaction to life here when you first came here?

**Manzara:** When I first came out of the plane it was pretty cold out. It was November and the cold just hit me in the face like “whoa what is this” (laughs throughout). I was pretty shocked to have the cold. And walking down the streets, all these buildings, you know there huge and all together. I mean were talking about New York City all the skyscrapers scraping everything so it was overwhelming to me. And then we went to the grocery stores, they had food sections. Sections upon sections of different types of food, all packed. And then over there in Africa it’s different. Whatever you get, you eat it that day, you store things, you just go get the things and use it right away so that was another shock. And then they have food for animals and all the pet shops. It was just too much for me.

//Kayla//: Do you have any pets then?

//Manzara//: Pets? Um, I don’t have any pets but I’m thinking about getting a cat one day.

**//Kayla//:** Oh that’s cool. I have a couple pets myself.

**Manzara:** Do you have a pet?

**//Kayla//:** Yeah. I have a cat and a dog.

**Manzara:** Aww. (Laughs) Yeah my kids really, really love animals so one day we’ll get them.

**//Kayla//:** Yeah their very fun to have around.

**Manzara:** Yeah, I bet they are. We have friends who have animals and we get to play with them sometimes and we want one of our own. What are pets, your cat and dogs name?

**//Kayla//:** My cats name is Harley and my dogs name is Durango.

**Manzara:** Aww. How cute. (Laughs)

**//Kayla//:** Yeah. Did you guys have pets back in Ivory Coast?

**Manzara:** Our neighbor had a cat. And then my grandmother used to have a dog and a cat. But they usually don’t stay in the house. Well the cat does, but not the dog. They normally stay on the porch because it’s not even cold so they can just stay outside. So yeah we did have pets but not as much as here.

**//Kayla//:** So is there anything in particular that you miss from your old country?

**Manzara:** I miss the beach and I miss the different types of food over there like the cashew and mango. I do get some mangos here but it’s not the same. There are a few things I miss over there. I miss the people, you know. I miss being over there, it’s just another air, I don’t know how to explain it.

**//Kayla://** It’s just kind of different, because that’s what you were used to?

**Manzara:** Right, exactly.

**//Kayla://** Yeah.

**Manzara:** ‘Cause it’s part of me, you know? It’s kind of like you leaving your hometown and going somewhere, you always feel like you want to go back. That’ how I’m feeling.

**//Kayla://** So you’ve been here a while, so you’ve probably transitioned pretty well over here.

**Manzara:** Yeah, I guess so, [laughs] there are times where I don’t feel like it, you know. There are times where I feel like, oh, yeah, every thing’s fine so, I can’t say it depends on the time frames.

**//Kayla://** Right, so, when you were back in your country, were there any wars going on or hard times?

**Manzara:** No, there wasn’t any wars going on, no, it’s just recently that the President who is now supposed to be the President, he has to leave the power, so there is a little bit of animosity going on right now. So we didn’t have any war when I was growing up there.

**//Kayla://** That’s good.

**Manzara:** Yes.

**//Kayla://** When you got here, did you come to-you came to New York, right?

**Manzara:** Yes.

**//Kayla://** So you took a plane and besides your mom, did you know if anyone you knew was going to be here?

**Manzara:** No, I didn’t know anyone who’d be here, just my mom. That was kind of strange too. One person when you’re used to being with everybody outside, you know?

**//Kayla://** Yeah. **Manzara:** It was okay though but you know at the same time, I didn’t really grow up with my mom, you know, I grew up with my grandmother. She was kind of a stranger to me too in a way. But we got to know each other, so everything’s better.

**//Kayla://** So how did you decide to come move here to Ohio? Does your mom live here?

**Manzara:** Um, no. my mom does not live here. She lives in Alabama and she goes back and forth between there and Africa. But I met my husband in college in Atlanta, Georgia and he is originally from Wilmington, Ohio. So he went to college there with me and that’s how we met and then we decided to move to Yellow Springs. You know where Yellow Springs is?

**//Kayla//:** Yeah.

**Manzara:** Yeah. So we always used to visit there because we liked the town and then one day we were like hey, why don’t we move there since we like it there and your family is really close, like 20 minutes so that’s why we came here to Ohio.

**//Kayla//:** And you said you had kids there right?

**Manzara:** Yeah.

**//Kayla//:** So how many kids do you have?

**Manzara:** I have 3.

**//Kayla//:** And how old are they?

**Manzara:** 11, 9, and 6.

**//Kayla//:** Ok. So you’ve got a nice family than? Don’t you?

**Manzara:** Yes. (Laughs) I think I’m trying to replicate my family back home. (Laughs) Like a whole village. Just kidding. (Laughs)

**//Kayla://** So you like big families than?

**Manzara:** Yeah, I do.

**//Kayla://** So do you go to the stores there because I know there’s a small part of town that has a bunch of little shops so do you go there often?

**Manzara:** Um, it’s strange, you know. I mean you go there when you don’t leave. People like to visit there but it becomes a common thing.

**//Kayla://** It’s just like another store there?

**Manzara:** Yeah. So we don’t go there much. We go to places like John Bryan park where the kids can play.

**//Kayla://** Do you like the fact that your village is small?

**Manzara:** Yeah, it reminds me of my village.

**//Kayla://** So are you a citizen here?

**Manzara:** Yeah. My mom was a citizen before I moved here so I had citizenship when I was back home before I even moved here.

**//Kayla://** So what is your favorite type of entertainment?

**Manzara:** Well I take jujitsu with my friends and my husband son and I all play soccer. Were all big soccer fans. We play on coed soccer teams. And then my kids, they do whatever. Walk around or whatever kids do. (Laughs)

**//Kayla://** So your kids have grown up here all their life right?

**Manzara:** Yes they have.

**//Kayla://** So have you told them anything about your home country?

**Manzara:** Oh yeah. They know. I think they feel like they’ve been there. I tell them all kinds of stories about how I grew up and where.

**//Kayla://** So do you kind of wish your family from Ivory Coast could come here with you?

**Manzara:** Um, no. I think I would like for them to visit but wait for them to go back. I think it’s good to be where we grew up and leave that to go explore you know but at the same time you should always go back.

**//Kayla://** So what religion did they have in Ivory Coast?

**Manzara:** There were Catholics, Christians and Muslims and there were some other smaller religions.

**//Kayla://** So which religion were you?

**Manzara:** I am Muslim. I was for a while. I still am but I’m not practicing it.

**//Kayla://** So what was your favorite thing to do when you were over there?

**Manzara:** I used to climb trees with the boys and I would play dolls that we made out of banana skins and stalks. And then my grandfather was a tailor so we would go get little pieces of material and dress them up.

**//Kayla://** And you said you play soccer right?

**Manzara:** Yeah.


 * // Kayla: //** So how long have you been playing soccer?


 * Manzara: ** Um, 12 years.


 * // Kayla: //** And do you enjoy being able to do that together?


 * Manzara: ** Yeah. And then my daughter is on swim team. But unfortunately I’m not playing soccer right now because I tore my ACL. So it’s healing and I’ll start playing next season.


 * // Kayla: //** Well that’s all the questions I have for you and I want to thank you for letting me interview you.


 * Manzara: ** Oh. Well it was nice talking to you.


 * // Kayla: //** It was nice talking to you too.

Analysis
We learned many things about the immigration experience in class, for example, the immigrants who came through Ellis Island. We learned about the chalk markings they received and their meanings. They also took physical tests to see if they were in good enough condition to enter the country. After all of this, it still did not guarantee them citizenship. In addition, many of them faced discrimination based upon their origin, religion or customs. After the many things we learned in class, I thought I knew what to expect from the interview, but I was wrong. No matter what you learn about the experiences or how much you prepare, you never know what their story is going to be and you never know what to expect. My interviewee didn’t come to Ellis Island; she flew into New York with her uncle. She didn’t have the same journey that immigrants almost a hundred years ago experienced, like: crowded ships, no room to lay down to sleep, and worst of all, disease. She simply got on a comfortable airplane and flew straight here. As for citizenship, she said “My mom was a citizen before I moved here so I had citizenship when I was back home before I even moved here.” She didn’t have to work hard to get the right to live here like the immigrants of Ellis Island; it was practically given to her. Overall, I learned that an immigrant’s story may not be what you expect it to be. So don’t assume you know their story, ask them about it and you may learn something you never would’ve known.