Zashira Meléndez: Aspiring Nurse, Florence Survivor
“We’re good people, and we accept people from the U.S. here, and we don’t discriminate toward them.”
San Juan, Puerto Rico
Zashira Meléndez is at the beginning of her senior year at a vocational high school in San Juan, Puerto Rico. She was born and raised on the island, where her mother is a nurse and her father is a refrigeration technician.
Medium: What do Americans from the mainland get wrong about Puerto Rico?
Zashira Meléndez: Maybe in some cases, people from the U.S. think that youth here don’t set high goals for themselves and sometimes they act, like, racist, or discriminate. I think they’re wrong. We’re good people, and we accept people from the U.S. here, and we don’t discriminate toward them.
What was it like for you after the hurricane?
It was scary. I didn’t know what was happening. I mean, I did, but I didn’t understand it. After it happened, I only stayed here for three weeks, but my mom stayed [the whole time]. It was hard for everyone, but we helped each other with food and everything.
