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Ahead of the start of Hispanic Heritage Month on Friday, KSHB 41 News heard from those forced to leave their native-countries and start over.
Artists and poets told their stories at an event called "Returning to the Root" hosted by “A Nation in Exile."
Three people, all from different countries, have something in common — finding belonging.
"I'm a first generation American — Haitian and Cuban. For a long part of my life, I didn't feel like I could call myself Cuban, because I'm Black," said Melissa Ferrer Civil, who organized the event. "That invalidation and impostor syndrome."
Pedro Molina, a journalist and cartoonist, said it his native country is something he'll always keep close to him.
"It doesn't matter how long you've been out of your country, the idea you're not from the place you're in now never leaves you," Molina said. "It doesn't matter how much you suffer in your home country, the good things there have more value."
As a poet from Colombia, Jose' Faus, came to America at 9 years old.
"At first, I thought, am I in exile? Technically, I'm not," Faus said. "It's not defined in that way, but I've always felt a stranger in a strange land."
He has written two books and read a poem called "Tango" from his book "The Life and Times of Jose' Calderon."
"That last line talks about exile and that longing for something that's different than what you knew as a child," Faus said.
The poet was forced out of one culture only to have to adjust to another.
"Color for a lot of immigrants coming from a multicultural country, I didn’t know color was a thing honestly," he said. "I didn't realize [being] brown was something that made you stand out."
Molina is a journalist who immigrated from Nicaragua and his cartoons speak louder than anything he can write on paper.
"It's disappointing to find out between my first and second exile, 30 years passed and very little changed," Molina said. "It's a challenge to keep hope for yourself and give it to other people who are still in Nicaragua and want a free country."
Bringing them all together is the idea that being exiled doesn't mean you can't find home.
"You are not alone. The hard things you've been forced to face...you're not the only one going through that kind of stuff," Molina said.
Event organizers will donate all the proceeds from tonight’s event to Advocates for Immigrant Rights and Reconciliation.
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