Family

He is an extraordinary and a wonderful man he is a, husband, friend, brother, son and father. His name is Omar Pineda and was born and raised in El Salvador on September 9, 1977. He is the oldest out of his four brothers. He always mentioned he never enjoyed his childhood because he always had to take care of his brothers. Among his four brothers two of them are deaf. He was bullied and made fun of in elementary school for having deaf brothers. He was teased in elementary school and was called “ el Niño que habla manos” which means in English the boy who speak with his hands. He once told me he used to hate when they called him that because there is nothing wrong with being different.
My father had a miserable childhood, but her overcame being bullied around and defended himself and his brothers. When the civil war began in El Salvador my father’s family was forced to leave the country and came to the U.S. Once my father arrived to the U.S they settled in Hollywood California; where he would start the next chapter of his childhood on Normandie Street. My father tells me stories on how Normandie Street made him change into a man.
My father spent the rest of his childhood on Normandie Street, were he spent every afternoon selling fruits on the fruit truck in which my grandfather owned. My father loved that fruit truck because it taught him responsibility. He once said that my grandfather taught him valuable lessons on that truck on how it is important to take care of our family. My grandfather appreciated my father because he knew he was going to be a great man one day because he always defended his brothers and made sure they were well taken care of.
On Normandie Street no one teased or bullied my father or my uncles because no one on Normandie Street thought that being deaf was not something to make fun of. My father loved that his brothers were finally going to live a life without being bullied or teased by. He always looked out for his brother when they were in need, and that’s what I think made him into a man taking care of his brothers.
After living only a few years on Normandie my grandfather died when my father was only fifteen years old. Although my father was still a teenager he became a man when he arrived to Normandie Street. Although I still do not know what type of conversations my grandfather and my father had on that fruit truck I know that those few conversation he had made him change into a man. I know my father was not able to enjoy his childhood, but I admire the fact that always defend his brothers, and when he moved to the U.S he became a man because he always cared for others and grew stronger into a man when my grandfather passed away.