Two Boys, One New Home

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Joel Bejarano Alanis

Eliceo and his Elias are still getting used to life in the United States.

Eliceo and Elias Vasquez Lopez have come far from their hometown of San Miguelito in the region of Quetzaltenango, a section of the country of Guatemala. It was a small town and the brothers came together to the United States to take advantage of the opportunity to study.

In addition to speaking Spanish, they both speak Mam, too, a dialect that is common in the region that they grew up in. As they are here in the United States, they are learning a third language, English. With all of these languages, they hope to go on to college after they graduate.

The brothers live with their older brother, but they had to leave the rest of their family behind, and that hasn’t been easy. They miss their other relatives but they are unsure about whether or not they will return to Guatemala.