Situation of Nicaraguan people in Costa Rica

Nowadays, immigrants go to another country to look for a better quality of life. However, that is not too easy; they think that it is, but being in an unknown country involves a lot of things and situations for example: new home, a low-paid work or unemployment, new traditions and customs, a process of adaptation, new food, and discrimination. Those things make their life more complicated and they have to make a lot of effort to survive. An example of this is the situation of Nicaraguan people in Costa Rica.

When the Nicaraguans come to our country, they face the first problem; if they don’t have a place to live, they have to look for one and some of them live in suburbs, in a little room with all their family and in very poor conditions with a lot of necessities. Also if they are lucky, they found a job, but sometimes a low-paid work, so they work a lot of hours and the money is only for basic things. Others are not lucky, and they face another issue they become unemployed, and life for them and their families become more complicated than ever. 

The process of adaptation is difficult because they are in a new country. Specifically for children that attend to school, and sometimes they suffer discrimination and also they have to get used to receive subjects that are not easy for them, for example social studies or history include matters of Costa Rica not Nicaragua. Also, Nicaraguan people have to get used to new customs, traditions, people, and even food. 

They deal with discrimination every day. Here in Costa Rica we talk a lot of Nicaraguans; we make jokes every day, and it is very common to hear someone making fun of them. So they not only have to worry about their difficult situation, but also of people that discriminates them. For us it is also a difficult situation because in my opinion we react and feel that Nicaraguans are invading our country, but we should think why? Why they come here instead of working in Nicaragua? The answer is simple in Nicaragua there isn’t any job, so they come here to look for a job and a better future for their children and family.

We should analyze these questions: What would we do if we were in the situation of these people?, Should we do the same?, Should we like the discrimination of Costa Rican people?. Before judging we should answer those questions and think that we all fight for the security and peace of our family, so why shouldn’t they do the same? They are human beings and suffer a lot in their country.