Voces of a Pandemic

The Voces of a Pandemic Oral History Project was part of an institutional partnership with the Voces Oral History Center at the University of Texas at Austin. It was designed to document challenges to food security and safe and secure employment among Spanish-speaking community members, contacted through the regional mutual aid organization Casa Latina. The interviews were archived with the Voces Oral History Center at the University of Texas at Austin, and are also made available online here.

The COVID-19 pandemic affected people of color disproportionately due to preexisting inequities. Because of restrictive healthcare policies and lack of access to multilingual and digital healthcare services, Spanish-speaking (and especially black Latinx) individuals were more likely to fall ill and die of COVID. Spanish-speaking individuals were 10% of Virginia’s population, but by August 2020 accounted for half of the state’s coronavirus cases. Once contracted, research suggested that Spanish-speaking youth, nursing home residents, and pregnant women were more likely to suffer serious symptoms and fatalities. One key structural factor was “essential worker” employment in environments with a high risk of exposure. In July 2020, 56% of meatpacking industry workers in 21 states affected by COVID were Spanish-speaking. While the number of cases and fatalities drew media attention, less well-understood was how the political and economic fluctuations caused by the pandemic affected family life and community economies among Spanish-speaking people in the state, and in the Blue Ridge Mountains specifically.

This project focused on food security working with Casa Latina, a longtime mutual aid organization located in Roanoke that has, since the pandemic, distributed food and information to the area’s Spanish-speaking communities. Casa Latina worked with the research team to identify and approach oral history narrators for the project. The oral histories gathered help document the experience of the Spanish-speaking community in Southwest Virginia during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Marisa Benavidez

Marisa is a stay home spouse, mother of 5, member of the Catholic church, born in Mexico. Her family has slightly felt the impact of the pandemic, but it’s been manageable compared to others who have lost jobs or family members. Their Catholic faith has helped them stay positive during COVID-19 and become closer to each other. They have decided, based on their Catholic faith, they won’t be getting the vaccine.

Maria Cantanero

Maria is originally from Honduras but has lived in the area for several years. She is currently a stay-at-home spouse, a mother of 4, and a member of the Jehovah’s Witnesses Church. Once the pandemic hit, she decided to quit her job and be home with her children while her husband continued to work. Although she, her husband, and children have been safe during the pandemic, she has lost 2 siblings and other family members and friends to COVID-19.

Johan Castañeda

Johan Castañeda, 21, is a student at New River Community College and an activist from Colombia. His grandfather died of COVID and his mother was laid off from Phoenix Packaging in Pulaski, VA. He has suffered mental health repercussions due to the pandemic.

Jae de la Mora

Jae de la Mora is an artist, translator, and single mother from Mexico who acquired her green card at the beginning of the pandemic. She is a (possible) COVID survivor and has been active in mutual aid before and during the pandemic.

Dulce Díaz

Dulce Díaz, 30, is a single mother from Honduras who moved to Roanoke, VA a year ago from New Jersey. She lost her father to COVID-19.

Sandra Escobar

Sandra is originally from Bogotá, Colombia. She currently lives with her husband and son in Blacksburg, VA and has no other family in the US. She lost her father to Covid last year and several family members got sick as well in her native Colombia.

Carla Finkelstein

Carla is an associate professor and director of the Virginia Tech Molecular Diagnostics Lab. She works at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC (Virginia Tech Carilion) in Roanoke, VA. She is originally from Argentina, where she earned her Ph.D. in Molecular Biology at the University of Buenos Aires. She was fundamental in the process of developing a COVID-test that has enhanced testing capabilities not only for the Virginia Tech community but also for the whole Southwest Virginia region.

David Hernandez

David is originally from Mexico. He is married with children and his family was affected financially by the pandemic. He had 2 different jobs and lost one during Covid.

Pablo Isaza

Pablo, 21, works for an engineering firm while working towards his BA degree. The pandemic has affected his employment, finances, and political involvement.

Andrea Mosquera

Andrea, 30, is a single mother from Colombia seeking a degree in public administration. She, her mother, and her two children remained healthy in the U.S.

Yuliza Otanez

Yuliza Otanez, 21, is a retail worker and a student at Liberty University. Her parents in Roanoke, grandmother in Mexico, and extended family in South Carolina and New York City contracted COVID and one cousin died from COVID in New York City. She has suffered mental health repercussions due to the pandemic.

Edward Pineiro

Edward was born in Brooklyn, NY to a Puerto Rican family. He is now the cleaning staff supervisor for the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC (Virginia Tech Carilion campus) in Roanoke, VA. He has not had Covid but knows plenty of people who had it. As a matter of fact, he lost one brother and two high school friends to Covid. He has pretty much stayed in Roanoke during the pandemic and plans to get the vaccine.

Brigitte Sanchez Robayo

Brigitte Sanchez Robayo is an instructor for public school math teachers and very active in the Colombian community in the New River Valley. Her mother and sister in Colombia contracted COVID. She is currently pursuing an advanced degree.

Carolina Smales

Carolina Smales, 40, is a healthcare analyst originally from Venezuela with several family members who have died of COVID in Venezuela.

Thania Torres

Thania Torres, 32, is the volunteer coordinator for Casa Latina in Roanoke, VA. Casa Latina is a non-profit social service agency that addresses the needs of the local Spanish-speaking community in the Roanoke Valley. Thania is originally from Mexico and has lived in the US for 2 years. She is married and has not seen her parents or other family members in Mexico since September of 2019.