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By Kira Roybal, Staff Writer
FAMILY: Keiry Orellana and her family added a new member to their household by adopting their cousin.
What does it mean to change the world? Is it joining the Peace Corps or volunteering with Habitat for Humanity? What about donating money to organizations such as World Wildlife Fund or the United Nations Children’s Fund? Sometimes, when it seems as though the whole world needs our help, we forget that those in need of our help may not be very distant from us. Sometimes our donations are needed only an arm’s length away.
Keiry Orellana (11) is your typical high school student: she hangs out with her friends, complains about her schoolwork and has chores to do at home. She is not, however, your typical teenager. Orellana and her family have recently adopted their cousin (who wishes to remain nameless), a former Honduran turned American; they aim to change the world by building a strong family.
The Orellana family adopted this young man because he is family. Orellana explained that when her cousin had no one else to turn to, her family was there to give him support, love and guidance. Now he is officially a member of their family.
But how does it feel to open your family’s doors to new people? “It was a little shocking because I had only met him once before and really didn’t know him,” Orellana said. For her, it was a learning experience to invite a near stranger into her home and then watch him bloom into a nuclear family member. “I was excited to get to know him,” Orellana said. Adding her cousin to the family was a task welcomed with warm ambition because the Orellanas are already an extensive bunch.
While being embraced into the family was a small step, adjusting to the new environment was more of a hurdle for Orellana’s cousin; this is understandable as it may be overwhelming to assimilate into the American culture of Coca-Cola, football and reality TV. According to Orellana, these new experiences made him act “quiet” at first because it was “different out here.” In the beginning, Orellana’s cousin would only speak to his uncle, Orellana’s father.
Lightening up the situation was one way that Orellana helped her cousin become more comfortable in America. When the family went grocery shopping together, Orellana decided to pull a harmless prank on her cousin. As Mr. Orellana, her father, was finishing paying for the purchase, her cousin started to push the shopping cart out of the store. Then Orellana stopped him and warned that he could not do that until her father finished paying or else he would be given a ticket. Her cousin felt “so scared.” We all realize that this is not true, but for new residents American culture can seem quite confusing.
Eventually though, he emerged from his shell. Orellana now describes her cousin as “funny, chill and caring.” She and her cousin usually tell jokes, talk, watch movies and, of course, laugh when they hang out together. Adjusting to a new environment is not very difficult after all when one has the support of an entire family.
Mr. Orellana and his nephew have a close relationship too, Orellana explained. “My dad considers him as a son […] because he never had a boy,” Orellana said.
Orellana’s cousin is not just in America to experience the culture and live with his family. He will also take up a valiant occupation; he plans to join the United States Army. While he tackles the opportunities of America, his family can gladly say that “he’s not shy anymore.”
Photo Contribution by ezilon.com