NARRATOR: New immigrants and refugees face steep challenges coming to the U.S.

Rarely, though, do we hear from the children of immigrants.

Next on: "Our Time," Filmmaker Allyson Peña De niz crafts a deeply intimate portrait of first generation daughters from Mexico.

And then, Rose Nseya recounts the harrowing odyssey that she and her grandmother faced becoming refugees in the U.S. [upbeat music] BOY: Why don't people understand me?

BOY: I'm tired of running so fast.

GIRL: I want to be heard.

BOY: Why are people afraid?

I'm ready for change.

I hear you.

I see you.

GIRL: My time...

BOY: My time... Our time is now.

NARRATOR: Major funding for this program is provided by: The Russell Grinnell Memorial Trust, Steve and Mary Anne Walldorf, and Betsy and Warren Dean.

Additional funding is provided by: Arts in Society the Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation, the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, The Buck Foundation, The Calm Foundation, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, and Will Stoller-Lee.

[upbeat music] [conversation in Spanish] ANGELA: I don't know, I think I'm just tired.

ALLYSON: My older, oppressed sister!

- Oh yeah, real oppressed!

My mom wanted to show off her beautiful pieces of art.

- Embroidered.

- She made them in Mexico, but she doesn't really use them here But she knows how to embroider, and everything like that.

They're pillowcases.

My name is Allyson Peña De niz.

I was born and raised in southeast Colorado Springs.

My mom and dad, they're both from Jalisco, Mexico.

My dad came over to the United States because my grandpa was here, so my mom followed him.

A lot of immigrants in the United States that don't have papers have like the constant fear of migration coming to them, especially after they have like a stable... like, life here.

And fortunately, my parents don't have that same fear because both of them are documented.

ALLYSON: ¿Y por qué vinieron a los Estados Unidos?

Por una vida mejor, Por una vporque hay más oportuni aquí que en México, porque yo quería que mis hijos nacieran aquí en Estados Unidos para que no tuvieran problemas.

Que el gobierno no fuera corrupto en México como es, nadie se viniera para acá.

Pero pues, desgraciadamente es u gobierno corrupto haya vendido.

Entonces, ¿qué vas a morirte de hambre?

Pues no.

Como quiera que sea, como vivimos en un pueblo chiquito, en un rancho chiquito, no hay tanta ahí.

Y sí fuera muy diferente.

odían enseñarse, por ejemplo, a lavar ropa a mano, a hacer tortillas, a ordeñar una vaca, a criar gallinas, puercos.

Y aquí la vida, a lo menos en una ciudad, es muy diferente.

- Es más pobre, pero es vida mejor, duras más.

- Como una vida más rica, pero- - Espiritualmente, es más y aquí no aquí yo trabajo a veces 12 horas al día y ni las miro, y llego y me acuesto estresada y enojada otro día es lo mismo y lo mismo.

Es más pobreza, pero es menos estrés.

Vives más, disfrutas más.

Partidas con los vecinos, aquí el vecino ni sabes cómo se llama, ni quién es, ni de dónde vino.

- Pero no me quejo de aquí- -Yo tampoco, me llevo muy a gusto.

Aquí es un país que vienes, trabajas tienes muchas oportunidades pero hay que trabajar todos días y vive la vida más carreriada.

The first time I went to Mexico, I was three months old.

[speaking Spanish] ALLYSON: Immigrant parents want their kids to have the roots that they grew up with.

And yeah, that's definitely the case with my mom.

When we go to Mexico, she encourages me to dance, but I don't know how to dance.

And I don't like really dancing [singing in Spanish] And we were going to visit our family in Mexico.

My dad was like, Baby, you have to speak Spanish.

And then I was like, No, I'll teach them my language Like, it's so easy.

Who did seven year old me think that she was that I could proficiently explain the English language, but I didn't even know how to spell so many words.

I feel like I'd be totally different if I wasn't a child of immigrant parents.

I don't know.

It's hard to imagine my life like that, but... Who would I be... without the trials I went through, if that makes sense?

DAISY: I really, really want to close to my Spanish speaking cuture, but at the same time, I'm like, But I wasn't really born...

I like a lot of the American stuff.

In America, I'm very... Like everyone knows I'm Mexican, but in Mexico, I'm very white over there.

And it's just like, well.

ANGELA: You're too American for the Mexicans and you're too Mexican for the Americans.

Like, what the heck do you do?

DAISY: And I think it's actually really frowned upon in our culture when we see other people who should speak Spanish and they don't.

And I think that also makes us kind of be like, Oh, well we should be speaking Spanish.

But then it's hard.

So it's like a whole-- ANGELA: Feels a like a shame thing, low-key.

Like mom knows she's like-- she can clearly understand English She just, like, sometimes can't fully say what she wants.

So I remember growing up... especially with like court paperwork or whatever She's like, "What's this word?"

And I wouldn't even know because it's like, I don't know like a really big, like, lawyer term.

- Don't you know English?

They're like, Why am I sending you to school if you don't know?

Like, aren't you learning?

As soon as I see, like, a person who speaks Spanish, like, struggling to, like, tell someone something like, I run over and I'm like, "I'll help you."

because, like, I feel like over the years I've gotten, like, whitewashed, like Like I started, like, getting, like, traits that, like... Like white people do.

And, like.

It makes me feel like I'm losing a bit of, like, my culture.

[somber music] ANGELA: Growing up as the oldest daughter of an immigrant household was...

Interesting, to say the least.

You have to learn how to do everything.

I'd come home, read ten pages.

Help do the dishes.

Help with the cooking, help with the cleaning.

Whenever we got a new TV, I would set up the TV.

I think my stress mostly came from trying to do so many things at once.

I definitely think I was more independent, because while other people can rely on their parents for fractions, I had to do it myself I got really good at it, and I feel like that's what helped me to be so academically successful in school.

You know, sometimes you carry this... like a weight on your shoulders.

like I have to be fantastic, or else why-- Why did they, like, uproot their whole life, you know?

KARINA: Financially, we haven't necessarily been the most stable Like, we still live paycheck to paycheck.

Like, I remember all throughout middle school We'd go clean these houses that were like huge, like... three floors, two floors.

And we wake up at like five in the morning and sometimes we wouldn't be back until eight.

And we would always complain, and like... we don't want to this but we had to.

So that's like kind of my push to go to college and do like computer science because it's like a well-paying job off the bat to get her to stop working, like, as soon as possible because she's getting tired.

DAISY: My family is lucky enough to, like, they're citizens here.

They can live here and there.

So I'm really grateful for that But I've seen the fear and like other people in my family and my friends who, like, they do have to, like watch their back all the time and just like watch what they're with what they're saying or how they act with other people.

-I mean, my dad, I never really have to like, fear that ICE would ever detain him because he's a citizen.

But my mom, like, sometimes it crosses my mind, like -- My mom, she's everything to me.

Like, I know, like, sometimes I just want her, like, to give me space.

But, like, even now, like, I don't know what I would do without her.

Like, I need her.

And I feel you in that.

My mom, like, we were worried for a long time if she wasn't able to get her papers because she still doesn't have it.

Like, yeah, she has her work permit and everything.

But -- our only fear we have right now is that if she doesn't get her residency in November, like, what happens to her?

Even though I don't...

I really don't want to join the military or anything Like, I would do it for her so she could get her residency and, like, so she can go back.

I know what you mean My mom hasn't been back in 20 years, and she's always talked about how she wants to see her family, how she wants to see her aunt, because they all getting older too, like she wants to spend time with them.

- Cause there's only so much you can do on the phone.

Yeah!

[upbeat music] Peter Piper picked a pack of pickled peppers DAD: Estoy orgulloso de ustedes también, orgulloso.

Muy orgulloso porque ustedes estudian, son niñas inteligentes, tienen buenas calificaciones y si no las tuvieran, las buenas calificaciones, aun así sería orgulloso.

Las regaña a veces -- Si volviera a tener hijos... si volviera a empezar de nuevo, me gustaría que ustedes fueran mis hijas otra vez.

- Thank you.

ANGELA: I'm gonna go hug you.

I don't even care.

What's going on?

- Group hug!

[laughter] - I love you.

- I love you too.

NARRATOR: Films in this series are made by teens in partnership with professional filmmakers in the Youth Documentary Academy.

Young people in the program are empowered to locate and craft their own stories through the art of documentary film.

[thunder and rain] [solemn music] My name is Rose Nseya Kasal.

I was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

At age two, I moved from there to Zambia.

I lived in a refugee camp from 2 to 12.

We moved because my grandmother was an activist in Congo.

There was a threat to our family so we had to flee.

I was just young and I thought everything was ok Now I'm like, actually, people suffered to get to where they are now.

ROSE: Okay, how does that sound?

FILMMAKER: Sounds very good.

Okay [laughter] My name is Odette Kasal It's my dad's name.

Here, where the parents encourage all the kids to go to school to get an education.

In Africa, the boys are encouraged to go to school, but the girls are encouraged to- To get married.

But, my dad was an educated person.

He really... fought so that we could dream big.

ROSE: You told me before that you were an activist in Congo What...what was the motivation to be an activist?

ODETTE: Oh, that's a great question.

This is not only in the Congo, but Generally speaking, it's in Africa Especially Sub-Saharan Africa.

Where women are denied a lot of rights.

If a woman is married, she has to have the authorization from the husband, Otherwise, no one is going to hire her.

She can't even own a property, she can't buy a car, She can't buy anything without her husband authorizing.

And, to me, that was unfair.

I belonged to Confederation Democratique du Travail.

Like, a union.

ROSE: Yes.

ODETTE: Defending the rights of workers was not that dangerous.

But, when the war started...

I ended up doing what the government doesn't like: Human rights.

We have new pictures tonight.

In Rwanda, History is being written in blood.

One of the worst atrocities in modern history, the systematic murder of 800,000 people, most of them from the minority Tutsi tribe.

The genocide lasted 100 days.

[tense music] REPORTER: With the savagery reaching unimaginable proportions.

Now, the roads leading out of Rwanda have become rivers of humanity.

FEMALE REPORTER: There were by then 2 million Rwandans living in vast refugee camps in the Congo.

ODETTE: I just wanted to be a voice of the voiceless.

That's when I HAD to step in to help.

And that's why my life was in danger.

My entire family was targeted.

[tense music] [light city traffic] WOMAN: Okay, "Uh."

ROSE: Uh.

Okay, "U" says "Uh" TUTOR: Good.

Short "A" says what Do you remember now?

ROSE: I think it says "Ah" TUTOR: "Ah."

Right.

Short "o" says?

- Aw.

TUTOR: Short "u" says?

- Uh!

TUTOR: So this is like at the doctor BOTH: Ahhh!

I think when I first met you, Rose, it was very hard for you You didn't know me from a-- You didn't know me at all.

And of course, starting with a 12-year-old was very different from starting with a 6 or 7-year-old.

ROSE: Death defying...

It was hard to figure out what I needed.

You know, a kid being 12 and not knowing even the alphabet Not even a single word.

TUTOR: Also, it can go...

BOTH: Lob-ster So I worked hard to make sure I could do all those things and not be embarrassed.

So like, oh, my goodness, that kid, that girl can't read, you know?

she came from Africa, she can't read And she lived in a refugee camp.

[dramatic music] We moved because my grandmother, when she was fleeing for her life we also had to flee.

You were still two.

It was hard.

You eventually go sent to Meheba and to the refugee camp.

Life in a refugee camp was very different from life here.

We don't have clean water.

We don't even have the Internet.

Everything is just difficult there.

You know, sometimes I remember when it would rain.

There was always like a leak.

I have to bring a bucket to, like, cover that leak so it doesn't ruin clothes doesn't ruin the bed.

To me, that was normal.

I feel like I didn't see the struggles adults were going through.

For me, I just saw joy.

I mean, it's a refugee camp.

But every time I saw somebody they were just smiling [upbeat music] ROSE: I remember my mom, she was a business woman, and so she was always selling all kind of merchandise.

I feel like she also made sure that I was fed and she'd always bring us food.

ODETTE: She was an amazing human being.

The boys were scared to face a big snake.

She was not scared of anything.

And when giving stuff away, she thought first about the others.

then about herself.

ROSE: When I was little, I thought it was just permanent When I started growing up, I started understanding, like-- Oh, we're actually getting a resttlement.

for us to be sent where our grandmother is.

[contemplative music] ROSE: my mom told me, like, we're actually leaving.

We left and got a taxi and went to a capital city.

We would go to, like the immigration office She ended up getting sick.

I was like, something is wrong.

As a kid, you can tell when your parents are not feeling the same.

They ended up taking all sorts of tests, and finding out that she was actually really sick.

My uncle told me that she passed away.

And so I just sat there and just cried like everybody else because...

I'm sorry.

[somber music] Yes.

[music continues] ROSE: I never even got the chance to, like, see her in the hospital or even say anything.

But I ended up actually flying myself from Zambia to the U.S..

Instead of flying with my mom.

Yeah.

Alright.

When we left and we headed to the plane, I was sitting next to the window, and I looked outside I could see all these lights.

I was just like, okay, when am I getting there?

When am I getting there?

We got to the airport here.

From where the plane landed to where you guys were... it was so long.

And I was like, this is a very long walk.

And we finally got to the room where you guys were waiting and I saw you and I was like, I recognized her ODETTE: That's my grandma.

[laughs] ROSE: So I just ran and hugged you.

You kust jumped on me, and we fell.

[upbeat music] Some very thin eyebrows.

Mm hmm.

Hi.

[laughing] Ok, I think I'm set.

[school band plays] Congratulations, everyone.

TUTOR: When I saw you coming out of the tunnel at the stadium, I literally had goosebumps.

FACULTY: Rose Nseya!

[cheering] STUDENT: We are now officially graduates!

Congratulations and good luck.

[cheers and applause] [upbeat music builds] WOMAN: You did it!

WOMAN: Yay, Rose!

You did it!

WOMAN: Here's your card.

I love you!

ROSE: Thank you!

I want to go into the army.

WOMAN: Oh, the army!

- Yeah!

Yeah.

[laughing] There we go.

I think my mom would be very proud to just see the woman that I've become today.

I wish she was there.

You know, tell her I did it.

You know, I finished high school I got my diploma.

TUTOR: Balloons are fun, huh?

ROSE: And some days I see in grandmas eyes, just seeing how proud she is of me.

Just, you know, sometimes I hear telling people that: I'm so proud of her.

ROSE: I was supposed to leave some food for you, and I ate everything!

It was a lot of food!

[singing in French] [laughing] When we started interviewing...

I was a little scared, I was a little nervous.

You know?

I was like, okay... We're going to talk about my family in front of a camera!

[calm music] But after -- I was like, you know... this actually helps.

Because not everybody sits at the dinner table and talk about their family.

My mom has been gone for 9 years now.

And it is a great gift to be able to talk about her.

I wish she was here to see it.

But, that part of her life, and her passing...

Played a really huge part in my life.

I view my parents with a lot more respect now.

I've heard these stories before.

But not to the extent that they we sharing them with us.

My mom told her entire family in Mexico I made a film, they were in it, it was about immigration, and I felt really, really, really proud.

I never thought I'd be able to create something like this.

And especially in this manner, like a documentary.

That's something you watch on Netflix you know?

I never put too much intention into like... What could my story be to somebody else?

What could it MEAN?

You might not have ever lived with anybody that has ever been in a refugee camp.

But, somehow in life -- We somehow always end up having similar struggles as somebody else.

I want this film to be hope.

Life is hard, but I can make something out of it and I am willing to try.

[upbeat music] NARRATOR: Major funding for this program is provided by: The Russell Grinnell Memorial Trust, Steve and Mary Anne Walldorf, and Betsy and Warren Dean.

Additional funding is provided by: Arts in Society the Joseph Henry Edmondson Foundation, the Bee Vradenburg Foundation, The Buck Foundation, The Calm Foundation, the Kirkpatrick Family Fund, the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, and Will Stoller-Lee.

For more information, additional resources, Or to watch Our Time films, please visit: www.youthdocumentary.org