Written by retired journalist Anna Marie Kukec Tomczyk, the book artfully weaves stories of struggle and success in “We Are Eagles: Inspiring Stories of immigrant Women Who Took Bold Steps in Life through Literacy.”
The title comes from Isaiah (40:31), where it says in
part, “They will soar on eagles’ wings;
“They will run and not grow weary, walk and not grow
faint.”
The women – Maribel, Juanita, Blanca and Teresa – all
came to the Aurora area from Mexico. Tomczyk tells their stories – and explains
the role of the Dominican Literacy Center in Aurora in their lives – in five
sections of the book.
Each section leads to flight: In the Nest, Leaving the
Nest, Choosing to Fly, and Soaring Above the Clouds.
It is easy to read the book from start to finish, but for
those anxious to learn the fate of the five, it is also possible with the
printed edition to follow each woman from her start in Mexico to where she is
today. (Unfortunately, it’s not available in an audio version.)
Sister Kathleen Ryan, OP, who founded the DLC, said,” As I
met with Anna Marie it became clear to me that the story was really with the
women who come to the center, rather than about the center itself. So Anna
Marie began to interview some of our very early students who came to the center
in our early days.
“Anna Marie spent a lot of time interviewing these women
here at the center but also at libraries and other meeting places,” Sister
Kathleen continued. “She would check in with me periodically to confirm
the information that she had received, all of which was correct.”
One of those women was Teresa, who grew up on a farm in
Mexico, where she worked from her childhood. She want to school as often as she
could – bad weather and a swollen river sometimes kept her from completing the
hours-long walk to school – until fifth grade.
She married young and started a family with her husband,
Miguel. He eventually made his way alone to Aurora, where he found work and a
place to stay. Although he returned to his home in Mexico, the separations were
hard on their growing family of a daughter and two sons.
Eventually, Teresa and the children managed to follow Miguel
to Aurora. But Teresa felt isolated.
And here’s where her story, and those of the other four
women, intersect with Sister Kathleen’s and the center.
Sister Kathleen had heard about a similar center run by
another order of women religious. She knew there was a need in the Aurora area
and, after discussion with the sisters she lived with in Aurora, and then with
the leadership in Springfield, she got the go-ahead to start the Dominican
Literacy Center.
Teresa heard about the DLC at Mass, enrolled and was
assigned her own tutor, Judy. The two of them worked to help Teresa learn
enough English to get along in the U.S., and eventually become a citizen, like
her husband.
But the details of Teresa’s and the other women’s stories,
as well as that of the center, are much more fully and artfully described in “We
Are Eagles.”
“When the book was ready to come out,” Sister Kathleen,
said, “most of the women wanted to come to the center and be together during
the Facebook Live event (to launch the book). It was wonderful to see these
women again, and to see how excited they and their families were about the
event and about the book.”
A portion of the book sales are being given to the Dominical
Literacy Center to continue their work.
The book is available at online retailers. A portion of the proceeds from each sale helps the Dominican Literacy Center in Aurora.
“We Are Eagles: Inspiring Stories of Immigrant Women Who
Took Bold Steps in Life Through Literacy” by Anna Marie Kukec Tomczyk. (Fig
Factor Media, LLC, 2021). 272 pp., $21.97.
