The Immigrant Dream of Building a House in the Motherland | Architectural Digest

During the day my dad works a maintenance job and my mom works at a tortilla factory. But their evenings are reserved for chatting with Javier, their architect. (They also call me almost every day, asking for my opinion on roof tiles, flooring, wall colors, and appliances.) I’ve never in my life seen them this giddy about anything, but it makes sense: This is the creative project they have been waiting for their entire lives.

As my parents have described it, the immigrant dream is moving to the United States, saving up money, and building a house back in your home country so that you can eventually return to it. In most Hispanic families, this is the ultimate sign of success—bonus points if one of your kids ends up becoming a doctor or entrepreneur and helps you build said house.

I asked them why they wanted to build this house. We had family in El Salvador that we could stay with, so did we need a house? And after all these decades, it was finally financially possible for them, but still a bit tight, so I started sending my parents a small amount of money every month to contribute towards the construction of this house. (The eldest daughter of immigrants urge to help out the family.)

While I was obviously happy to help out, I also wanted to make sure they were making the right decision. But after speaking with them, I could tell that they had never been so sure about anything. They wanted to build this house and know that it was their house, and no one else’s. To them, the house symbolized their hard work, and aside from raising children, it was their next biggest accomplishment together. Because they hadn’t been able to pay for our college or pass down generational wealth, they felt this was their last chance to leave something behind for me and my siblings.