‘Patel Motels’ spreading Indian entrepreneurship throughout the U.S.

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When Paklal finishes his breakfast bowl of cereal, he quickly cleans up his area, slips on his tennis shoes, picks up a broom and a jug of Clorox and rushes to join his parents to help clean some 30 rooms in a San Antonio hotel. The 19-year-old native of Surat, India, and his parents earn three dollars for each room and doing the laundry brings in some extra money. On rare occasions if the hotel is very busy, they average about 70 rooms a day. In addition to their pay, they are allowed to live for free at the hotel, which is also owned by a native of India. Their dream is to join him and the thousands of other Indian entrepreneurs and own their own motel.

El Pasoans with Cuban roots skeptical about business opportunities as U.S. renews ties

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Every Friday, Helio Gonzalez and his wife Sunny Sapien load their yellow food truck with homemade Cuban empanadas and ‘cafe Cubano’. They park on Remcon and Mesa in West El Paso. Their truck, emblazoned with a the sign, “Sunny’s Cuba Rican Empanadas,” does brisk business all weekend, especially during the lunch hour. Gonzalez, 28, a law enforcement officer in El Paso, was born in Miami of Cuban parents. As a child, he traveled to Cuba twice to visit his grandparents and extended family in the east side of Santiago.

Dehumanizing women is a global problem

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Growing up in a borderland community, I had two options in my life – pursue a college education or start a family at an early age. As a young Hispanic aspiring journalist I know my purpose in life is to obtain a degree in hopes of continuing on to graduate school. I feel saddened that for the most part many women around the world do not have this opportunity in life. Men dictate their lives and say what route they should take in their careers. I have been doing a lot of research on human trafficking, and I have come across many stories about young women in search of a better life who are lured into that dehumanizing situation.