By Henri Oziel Andrade Machado
Roaring Fork High School (RFHS) Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Education (CLDE) students share personal narratives based on the prompt, “Where I’m From.” Their stories take place in lush gardens in Mexico, volcanic lakes of Guatemala, quaint parks in Honduras and olive orchards in El Salvador, as well as right here in the familiar mountains of the Roaring Fork Valley and the Town of Carbondale. Thank you to RFHS, Eric Lamb and Amanda Martinez for their support in the creation of this special student edition of VOICES Radio Hour: “Where I’m From.”
Henri Oziel Andrade Machado was born in Pajigua Arriba, El Salvador. He moved to Carbondale in September of 2021 and graduated from RFHS in the spring of 2024. Oziel loves biking, playing soccer and working on cars. His favorite type of car is a Subaru. He’d like to send a special thank you to his dad, siblings and grandma for always being there for him.
I am from a small house in El Salvador. My grandmother and my grandfather, Candelaria and Julio, were the ones who raised me as their own. They are like my parents. My grandmother, Candelaria, always helped me with my chores and my grandfather, Julio, always worked very hard farming.
During the fall and winter, every day after school my sister, Xenia, and I collected olive pits with my grandmother and grandfather. After keeping the olive pits out for a few days, we cooked them. I can remember the fresh and earthy smell. We all helped prepare and cook the olive pits: my grandmother, my sister and my grandfather. After cooking the olive pits, my grandmother made soap balls to sell and help pay for my studies.
My family has many important things that remind us of our ancestors, such as photo albums, old watches and telephones, and many coins originating from El Salvador. My grandparents keep these items to show my cousins, siblings and me because, otherwise, I wouldn’t know anything about the original currencies of El Salvador called the colón and peso.
My grandfather died eight years ago and after that everything changed. The house with my grandmother and sister felt lonely without my grandfather. I still remember my grandfather singing along to music on an old radio.
I remember when we collected olive pits. I hated it at the time because it was after school and I just wanted to go out and play and spend time with my cousins and friends. I also didn’t like collecting olive pits because we had to bend down for hours and hours until it got dark and we couldn’t see the olive pits anymore.
But what my grandparents did was help me achieve my studies, and made me a good person: respectful, educated and a good cook. I thank them very much for what they did for me.
Sometimes we don’t fully appreciate what we have until we lose it. Appreciate and care for every moment and every person in your life because you might realize their true value when they are no longer by your side.
VOICES Radio Hour’s RFHS Student Edition: “Where I’m From” will air on KDNK on Friday, July 12 from 6 to 7pm. You can listen to past episodes of VOICES Radio Hour at voicesrfv.org/voices-radio-hour