Text Constanza Mazzotti
Photography Manuel Ortiz
They stare at the camera as if waiting for their portrait, some of them have been working for more than fifty years in houses or doing maintenance work in water plants so that they can drink the vital liquid without toxins.
Others are ensuring that cities stay connected via the Internet to a population that, since the early 2020s, has taken refuge from the COVID-19 pandemic by working remotely from home.
Some have been working in the field since they were eight years old, while others are in charge of maintaining the respirators used to treat patients intubated as a result of the pandemic.
These are the stories of migrant workers from San Mateo County that, in the framework of International Labor Day, documentary photographer Manuel Ortiz, and photography curator Pablo Corral of National Geographic, make visible through portraits that show the day-to-day life of these forgotten voices.
The photographic work was done with support from the Redwood City Parks and Arts Foundation and the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative.
Mele Baihola
Tonga /Household worker.
"We don't leave our family members behind, we take care of them."
She arrived in the United States on May 20, 1962, and her main occupation is and has been since then that of a domestic worker. With this activity she managed to bring her ten sisters and brothers, most of whom are also dedicated to cleaning homes, among other trades.
Contrary to what people might think, Mele Baihola says she enjoys her work because, in her words, "if we don't do this work, I don't think people would like to clean their houses."
Coming from a culture that attends to and cares for the elderly, Mele Baihola mentions that in the homes where she works, she also tends to care for the elderly as if they were part of her own family.
Gerardo Ramirez
"Our work is behind the scenes but fundamental to hospital operations."
A specialist in the disinfection of medical instruments, including the one used on COVID-19 patients and the ventilators used to care for those who need to be intubated, Gerardo Ramirez has been a member of Kaiser Permanente Redwood City Medical Center since 2014.
The health sector in times of pandemic, one of the most affected by the saturation of patients in intensive care, is sustained by work such as that performed by Gerardo, a specialist in disinfection of medical instruments at the hospital.
From a Mexican family but born in Redwood City, Gerardo mentions that his work includes disinfecting basic instruments used in routine checkups to the more complex ones used in operating rooms. To this end, he has specialized and professionalized in medical instruments.
He is also specialized in the use of flexible endoscopes - an instrument used to observe inside a cavity, duct or hollow organ at the time of surgery - and is in his last semester of his Bachelor's Degree in Data Analysis thanks to the support of Kaiser Permanente and his mentor Margarita Lopez.
Eulalia Natividad Mendoza
Mexico/Campesina
"All my life, since I was eight years old, I've worked in the fields."
"I am from the state of Oaxaca, from a small town called Guadalupe Nundaca," says Eulalia, who has been a farmer since the age of eight.
In Oxnard, California he has been working in the strawberry field for fourteen years.
"This is the work I do every day, from the planting to the canery, which is the last thing to go up."
Reenu Ramana
Fiji Islands/ food service worker
"My work has been instrumental during the COVID-19 pandemic."
Reenu Ramana works at the San Mateo County Jail in Redwood City, California.
Their work became indispensable during the COVID-19 pandemic, producing and distributing food to the incarcerated.
He was born and raised in the Fiji Islands, but since 1996 he has worked in food service at the Redwood City, California, jail.
Koorinne Nickens
California/ Psychologist and nanny
"I try to integrate my work by guiding and supporting the kids I care for."
Born in California to a Panamanian mother and Nicaraguan father, Koorinne Nickens is a nanny and psychology student.
He has been working with three students aged 12 and 15 for three years now.
"It's common for people to think of my job as 'just being a nanny,'" says Kooeinne, who believes it is important to be able to combine her profession as a psychologist with guiding the children she works with.
Koorinne believes that it is necessary to create healthy scenarios in young people where they can be heard and seen, nurture their world with which they can interact with the best tools and become better people.
Cesna Too
Descendant of Italian and Maltese grandparents / FedEx delivery person
"I think my job is essential because people need products they can't buy directly from stores. Delivery work has been critical during the pandemic because there has been an increase in online orders."
Marcello Anjos
Brazil/Canine esthetics
An accessible and essential work
Although at first glance it might not seem so, Another key job during the pandemic has been caring for pets, who also suffered, in their own way, from the drastic changes in their owners' habits.
Marcello Anjos is Brazilian and has been working in the United States since his arrival in 2010 in a dog grooming salon beautifying dogs. He loves his work and takes care of the pets as if they were his own. The pandemic did not affect his work because it is an activity that is done with social distance, since he only interacts with the pets. This type of work, he says, is "accessible and essential for everyone".
Steve Silva
Son of Mexican migrants/Technician for ATNT, works in fiber optic maintenance in Redwood City.
"If the system goes down we all run out of services."
The son of a father originally from Chihuahua, he is the youngest of five siblings and the second generation of union workers on his father's side.
He works to improve technology and telecommunications services. "Everyone has their cell phones and they always need more data, more streaming." That's what his job is all about, he says, making sure people stay connected. During the pandemic, work never stopped because the community must always stay connected.
Gurpal Sandhu
India/ Silicon Valley Clean Water Technician
"Improved water treatments provide greater safety for users."
He came to the United States in 1999, after finishing his formal education, he started working in different agencies. Since 2013 he works as a technician in Silicon Valley Clean Water handling automated systems controls, schematics, networks and everything that is involved in the process.
As technologies are changing day by day to improve the automation of water cleaning, production costs are rising.
International Labor Day
It should be noted that in the framework of International Labor Day, around 40 actions will be carried out this May 1st by unions and political organizations to make visible, throughout the United States, the presence of immigrants and thus point out the need for action in Congress and the executive branch for immigration reform.
According to the March 2021 Public Policy Institute of California report, California has more immigrants than any other state and has a total of 11 million immigrants, with the counties with the largest immigrant populations according to the report being: Santa Clara with 39%, San Mateo 35%, Los Angeles 34%, San Francisco 34% and Alameda 33%.
With information from EFE and Public Policy Institute of California
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