Juanita Pha

A girl sits before me with wrinkled brows in wonder of how different her life might be. Her life and that of her family was changed by a simple move from one side of Bakersfield to the other.

Bellete Gashaw is the only man Pha’s memories hold as ever being with her mother, Phan Phin. Although he did not live with Phin, Gashaw cared for his long-time “girlfriend” and her children by supporting them financially, and then in greater ways when Phin became pregnant.

Pha’s mother told her young daughters that they were going to have a younger brother, and he would be named Michael. Shortly after his birth came news of a sister, Annelyse. “After nine years I get a little sister”, Pha marveled. She, along with her mother, aunt, older sister and two new siblings all cramped into a small, two-bedroom apartment in the east part of muggy Bakersfield, California. She and her sister often ran around their petite apartment playing restaurant in the tiny kitchen or playing PlayStation games in the modest living room. Despite their fun, Gashaw deemed the air in their overcrowded apartment not quite good enough for the precious lungs of his infants.

Pha’s face lit up once again as her mother explained to the children that they would be moving into Gashaw’s house temporarily, while he had a new house built for her and her expanded family in southwest Bakersfield. Their fun, she knew, could continue elsewhere. Time in the transitory house flew by, as a brand new home appeared fifteen minutes away, reserved just for Pha’s family. Pha bubbled with excitement just imagining a home in the nicer, richer part of town where she and her siblings would all attend better schools and have, essentially, a better life. All of this, she knew, was being handed to her and her family. 

At last the day arrived when the freshly built house of opportunities would be unveiled to the exhilarated 10 year-old, Pha. She grinned and fidgeted looking out the window of the back seat of the navy-blue Toyota her mother drove, while her older sister and half-brother Daniel patiently awaited the end of the drive.

When the house became visible Pha’s only thought was “it’s amazing”. She proceeded to skip alongside the few members of her family toward their new home as the smile broadened on her face and her stomach filled with butterflies. Her mood was only slightly dampened when Daniel, in his excitement, put a dent in the wall after opening the door a little too enthusiastically, causing her mother to yell for a minute. The happy atmosphere quickly restored as they continued in through the house, to Pha’s great relief. She and her sister pranced throughout the house carefully examining each room. When she found one to her satisfaction she quickly called out that it was hers. She could hear her sister doing the same in the next room. With this accomplished the three kids went on to play hide-and-go-seek castle-sized house.

That same look of wonder still imbues her face as Pha looks up at the immense gift of opportunities that is embodied by her home. She muses on how much better of an education she is able to receive at Stockdale High, the high school that neighbors her current home, than she might have dreamed of if she’d never made that simple move across the town of Bakersfield.

-Phylicia Hisel