Immigrant stories will cover the Purple People Bridge this fall

Henry Berganza didn’t know he was seeing a glimpse of the future when he took a chance photo of his family.

They were vacationing in El Salvador when their trip turned rough – beset by car problems, money problems and other obstacles. Berganza, his wife, her mother and sister, and the couple’s two children moved together to return home to Guatemala.

Berganza says the experience foreshadowed another difficult journey the family would later make when they fled Guatemala for Northern Kentucky.

“The strange thing is that the same six people came,” Berganza said of their immigration to the United States six months ago. “I think (the photo) is a premonition of this journey.”

The snapshot and story of the Berganza family will be on display this fall along the Purple People Bridge.

They are part of a FotoFocus exhibition called “More Than Meets The Eye.”

RELATED: Miami University unveils Leonardo Drew sculpture on Western Campus

The community storytelling initiative A Picture’s Worth is currently putting this together. Executive Director Elissa Yancey says it’s a good way to broaden people’s ideas about immigration.

“There are a lot of stories about immigrants and refugees that are in the headlines,” she says. “We understand that these are not complete stories and that there is much more to the immigrant and refugee experience than what people are exposed to.”

Berganza’s wife was a prosecutor in Guatemala. She tried cases involving government corruption. Some people involved in these cases have recently gained more power.

“These people have taken control of the country and that is why our family feels it is in danger,” he said.

So they fled, sought asylum in the US and ended up in Latonia.

Kentucky Refugee Ministries helped create the Fotofocus project.

Jarret Lopez of the ministry says an important part is telling stories around the photos. Each photo is accompanied by a QR code that links to audio of people like Berganza telling their stories, with translation if necessary.

“Whatever voice they felt most comfortable using,” Lopez says. “Whether that’s the language they grew up with in their country of origin, or some choosing to do their interview in English. And some jumping back and forth, we’ve seen it.”

RELATED: Immigrants have always been an integral part of Camp Washington. This place wants them to feel welcome

Another participant in the exhibition, Muhamed Hassan, fled his native Syria for political reasons.

“When your country is in crisis, you lose some people who are very close to you,” says Hassan. “Maybe you’ve known them since the first year of your life. We had some problems there with some top people in the government. We had to flee the country.’

Hassan and his siblings have not all been together for over twenty years due to the political climate in Syria. When one of them died two years ago, Hassan lost the opportunity to fulfill a long-cherished wish: to have a photo taken together. But he is hopeful for the future. He contributes a photo of his three children holding hands.

“I’m glad I had the chance to take at least one photo of them being physically together,” he says. “Because I don’t have that picture of me and my siblings. We never thought we wouldn’t have the chance to take it together.”

Hassan and Berganza are two of four immigrants serving on an advisory board for the project. The project organizers wanted people who have lived the immigration experience to drive the theme of the exhibition. The board urged an uplifting message that emphasized resilience. That was a great idea, according to Yancey.

“They took us in a completely different direction,” she says. “They said, ‘No, we want to share photos of peace, photos of hope, photos that show the resilience of our communities and our families.’ ”

Berganza was a web developer in Guatemala. Now he is working to obtain the certifications he needs here. Hassan says that despite the challenges, he is adjusting well to Northern Kentucky, which in some ways reminds him of home.

“The first time I set foot here, in Park Hills, it strangely reminded me of my hometown. The same height, the same greenness of the area, even the same design of the house. I thought, ‘They’re building a replica’ of my hometown,” he laughs.

LISTEN: Top storytellers visit Kentucky in May

Work continues on collecting stories ahead of the Fotofocus exhibition that starts on September 10. A related exhibit on young immigrants will be on display simultaneously at the Walnut Hills Library, and the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra will perform a concert in October featuring music composed by immigrants.

Berganza says he hopes when it’s all over, people walk away with a better understanding of his family and others who had to make an arduous journey to Greater Cincinnati.

“We are people who work, who care about our families, our neighbors, our cities,” he says. “We want to share that. We want people to see that we are what they are: good people.”