This guerrilla group was infamous for funding itself through kidnapping and extortion. But Rodriguez’s family did not have the money to give to the man; they were running a restaurant at the time and did not have endless income.
That’s when the threats began.
“He started saying, ‘I know where your children go every day after school. They take this way. Your son goes to football in the afternoon. Your other son is doing music.’ So he started to describe everything,” Rodriguez said. “And he said, ‘if you don’t give us the money, something will happen with your children.”
It was this that compelled Rodriguez’s family to leave. And quickly.
Rodriguez’s family came to Dayton in the early 2000s on tourist visas to stay with relatives in the Dayton area.
Her family applied for asylum, an arduous task. Rodriguez and her husband were required to show immigration officials paperwork related to her father-in-law’s kidnapping, reports from the Gaula military division that assists families of kidnapping victims and letters of recommendation from their church and schools. That, paired with multiple interviews to confirm the family’s background and vet them for security risks, was overwhelming.
So much was at stake for the family. If their application wasn’t approved before their tourist visas expired, they would be at risk of having to face danger in Colombia. And there was no knowing what would be waiting for them.
But then a “miracle” happened, Rodriguez said. Her family’s asylum applications were approved by the U.S. government — one day before she would be required to return to Colombia.
“I always believed that it was God that brought me here,” Rodriguez said. “So I think my purpose in my life is to help others.”
Now a U.S. citizen, she uses all of the lessons she learned during her initial years in the country at her job at Welcome Dayton, which helps immigrants in their transition to a new life in Montgomery County.
Taking on a new language, a new city, a new set of rules was difficult for Rodriguez. And she had to juggle those things with work and raising children — she said she’s not alone in this, but she encourages any person taking root in the U.S. to learn English.
“If you learn the language, you have a better quality of life. You have a better job. You can do a lot of good things here if you know the language,” she said.
Rodriguez also communicates with her community through her art. Clay is her preferred medium. In her Welcome Dayton office sits a Rodriguez-original: a small statue of a man and a woman, embracing, faces touching. This is a nod to both her culture’s warmth and love for dancing.
But she’s also been known to paint mystical-looking landscapes. Some of Rodriguez’s artwork comes to her as visions when she sleeps. One painting shows a vibrant, gleaming butterfly landing in the palm of her hand.
In a way, Rodriguez feels like a butterfly. And her metamorphosis was completed in Dayton.
“I feel that I cannot come back to Colombia, because my country now is the United States. I learned culture here and I immersed in that,” she said. “I have connection with the people — the love that I received, the support that I received.”
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