Liam Franco 0:05
Good afternoon. My name is Liam Franco. I'm a student at Virginia Commonwealth University. Today is Saturday, April 5, 2025, the time is 3:55, no 3:53. This interview is being conducted at the at the household of my dad and family. And I have the privilege of interviewing my dad, Rodolfo, who goes by Rudy. Thank you for allowing me to interview for this project. Okay, so to kickstart, I got a few basic questions for you and our family, and I'm going to be going to be jotting the questions and asking for our background. To start, could you start off by sharing where our family is from?

Rudy Franco 0:50
Okay! So we are originally, your-your grandma, was born in the Amazon of Peru, between the borders of Colombia, Peru, and Brazil, which is known as the trapezio amazonico. That's where she's from. She was born there, and your grandpa was born in Lima, in the capital of Peru. So we are Peruvians.

1:16 Liam Franco

Thank you. Do you have any siblings? Do I have any uncles or aunts?

1:20 Rodolfo Franco

Yes, yes, we have. I am the youngest of four, so you have, I have two older brothers and a sister, and they all live in Peru.

Liam Franco 1:33
Alright, tell me about your childhood and where you grew up.

Rudy Franco 1:38
So I was born in Lima that, you know back in 1972 and I grew up in the city of Lima. Okay, so I went through my entire childhood and all the way to the age of 17, I lived in Peru and live in the city, always.

Liam Franco 2:03
And the district you live in from?

Rudy Franco 2:07
Yeah, it was Pueblo libre, what it's called, yeah, in Lima.

Liam Franco 2:10
And you were there for your entire elementary school?

Rudy Franco 2:14
Yes, yes. 

Liam Franco 2:18
Alright, Let's jump ahead. Tell me about what school you went to during your time in Peru?

Rudy Franco 2:23
I went to, like everybody else goes to Catholic school, public school, and, you know, went through elementary, you know, primary school, and then you went to high school, but I didn't finish because I came here when I was like, like, 10th grade.

Liam Franco 2:45
I see, yeah, to this date, could you share with your highest form of education that you've achieved?

Rudy Franco 2:53
I went to school here in Frederick, and I graduated from the with a degree of HVAC and building trades.

3:06 Liam Franco 
Outstanding. So this question now revolves around growing up with religion and Okay, case from you said you went to school into a Catholic school. Was religion a a primary set faith in your household?

Rudy Franco 3:23

No, I mean Catholics. We're all Catholics in Peru, pretty much everybody. That's basically the, you know, we have that from the Spanish, you know, they brought Catholicism, and everybody's Catholic at one point or another in Peru when you're when you're young. So it's a normal part of
living now, going to church, same thing, you know, we used to go to church when I was young, but to say that we are like followers into religion, or go all the all the time, to church. Now that's not the case.

3:56 Liam Franco 
In your opinion, would you still call yourself Christian?

3:59 Rudy Franco 
Yeah, yes, even though I'm not, I don't go to church, you know? I don't do that like I used to when I was younger, you know. But yes, I am still a Christian 

4:12 Liam Franco 
Alright, so I'm taking you still believe in a higher, a higher being, but you don't follow the faith?

Rudy Franco 4:18
Yeah? Well, I don't follow the Catholic or any other religion. Yeah. Thank you for sharing.

Liam Franco 4:24
So I'm going to move on ahead in the direction of your journey to the United States. Tell me what was the journey like?

Rudy Franco 4:33
Well, it was uneventful, to say the least, because when I came here, I, unlike a lot of other people. I actually came in fully legal. There was no point in time through the process of coming to the United States of of any issues. You know, my father living here because of that. You know, I didn't
grew up with him, so he came here in the United States in the early 70s, when I was a little child, and here I was a teenager, and he asked me if I wanted to come here and talk to my mom. And my mother said, Yes, why not go there learn new ways? You know, it's a good thing for you
to go to United States. And my father started the process, you know, to ask it to become, you know, to come to United States for me, because I was young, right? I was still a minor, so the process was relatively easy at that time. So I came, I went through the entire process of
immigration over in Peru, did all that, got approved with an immigrant visa, came to United States as an immigrant with my papers and everything in order, from the get go, as soon as I got here following week, I ended up in the school. So it was like it was seamless when it comes to
that part, immigration was not an issue.

Liam Franco 6:03
I apologize for interrupting. You agree that your mother was a huge contributor and encouraging you to travel and yes, to learn new experiences and go into new places.

 

6:14 Rodolfo Franco

Yes, that is correct.

 

6:16 Liam Franco

Alright. Thank you for sharing. Let's jump ship and talk about when you came to live in Virginia. Do you remember when you arrived here in Virginia?

6:27 Rudy Franco 
Okay, now you're more jumping a lot here. Okay, we came to Virginia because we had the opportunity to purchase a house here, and this particular part of Loudoun County was your mom's. I never heard of this area, so I didn't, I know Virginia, but I didn't, I didn't know anything
about Virginia per se at that time. So your mom was the one that wanted to live here. So we were able to to find a place in 2004 this home and and this is the home she wanted, and this is what we ended up since then.

7:09 Liam Franco 
Let's circle back and would you share where you live before coming to Virginia?

Rudy Franco 7:14

Well before we came to Virginia, we were living in Maryland. That's where both of you and your sister were born in Maryland, different areas of Maryland.

Liam Franco 7:27
And for reference, we are living and currently been living for upwards of 20 years in Loudoun
County.

Rudy Franco 7:33
We've been living in Loudoun County, Virginia since 2004 so that that will make us 21 years
here.

Liam Franco 7:39
Thank you for sharing. When you came to the US, especially as a minor, at age 17, what was
your first experiences and adapting to a new life?

Rudy Franco 7:54
It was like, like any other teenager. You know, it was it was different. It was new. You know, a lot
of ways of I had to learn the culture back then, you know, like it was, it was totally different from
mine. Obviously, there was a culture shock, definitely, you know, but, but I understood that, that I
was coming here to a different world. You know, that was the first thing I understood that and I
had to learn. That was the thing I knew that I had to learn new ways, learn on your feet. Well,
yeah, but I knew that there was a learning thing. I had to learn the ways of the United States to
live here. So having that said, in in mind, I would think that it wasn't very hard for me to adapt.
As opposed to other people, I was able to adapt.

Liam Franco 8:53
I see, I see. Thank you for sharing. So after coming into the United States and beginning a new
journey. Do you still keep in touch with your family down in Peru?

Rudy Franco 9:08
Yes, yes. Always have. I mean, I have a lot of even though my mother has passed away and now
my father has passed away few years back, it doesn't change anything in terms of the family in
Peru. I have a lot of family in Peru, right? Bro, obviously, my brothers and sisters still there, and
my cousins, you know, people that I grew up with, still there. Now, do I talk to them? Yes, I talk to
them all the time, not every week, but yes, we do talk every so often. And, you know, going to
Peru, I tried to do it every few years, maybe every four years or so, depending on, you know,
when we can.

Liam Franco 9:50
And you grew up with your mom, yeah?

Rudy Franco 9:53
Yeah, because my father wasn't there, you know, he was here. I grew up with with my mother. Yes,
she, she's the one that you know, took care of us when we when I was young, yes.

Liam Franco 10:05
So, you mentioned that you're still close with your relatives and your siblings, and you keep in
contact with them. A steady, "yes," to check up on them.

Rudy Franco 10:16
No, we're not checking up on them. We're just, just like any other family you know, you do talk to
them. I it's just because I'm here doesn't mean that I don't talk to them. Yes, we, we talk like any
others. Yeah, we keep in touch. Yes, that is true, okay?

Liam Franco 10:30
And we don't have any relatives from Peru live in Virginia?

Rudy Franco 10:34
Do we from my family? No, no, not that I believe, no.

Liam Franco 10:41
Okay, moving on. What was the first city when you moved here to United States?

Rudy Franco 10:54
Well, when I first moved to the United States, believed, with my father and his wife at that time in
Baltimore. How long did you stay with them? Well, stayed with them through the time that I was
in high school, probably for the first four years that I was in the United States.

I lived there, yes, in Baltimore, and you were 17 when

I first came Yes.

Liam Franco 11:20
What was it like in living in a brand new nation and different from Guru?

Rudy Franco 11:27
The one thing is that, yeah, the difference first was the language, obviously, the people you know,
different customs, different way of doing things, you know. But mainly, I would say the
transportation was a big issue, because in Peru, I could move on, on the busses, anytime,
anywhere, you know, it was a simple way of transporting yourself. Here it was hard because the
you couldn't go places. This is a big country, first of all, and going from one place to another,
you had to have a car. Yeah, that was the one issue. You have to have a car here. It's just the way
things are. But in Peru, you don't need a car.

Liam Franco 12:15
So that change from the city to suburban to country was well known.

Rudy Franco 12:19
Not necessarily countries, city, too, Baltimore City, but it's just that there is transportation is
notgood here, like public transportation that is so that's the one thing I didn't have a car. I was
young, and if I wanted to go somewhere, I had to wait for either my stepmother or my father to
take me places or, you know, to do anything.

Liam Franco 12:37
It was like that a lot more difficult than me.

Rudy Franco 12:40
Yeah, going to school, you had to take, that's the one thing. Going to school here, I had to take
the school bus, right? So that was the way in Peru. You didn't have to you. There was no school
busses. You you go to school, take the bus, the public, you know, transportation. You get to
school. No problem.

Liam Franco 12:59
In your opinion, you think that this nation has changed drastically since when the time you
showed you came here?

Rudy Franco 13:03
Oh yes, a lot of things have changed in many ways. You know, there's a lot more people here now.
Obviously, you know, the whole nation has changed in many ways, for good or bad. You know
that that's a matter of opinion. But yes, the changes are Yeah, the way things are done today are
a little different than they were back then. But yeah, obviously, yeah, it's changed. Let

Liam Franco 13:30
me elaborate more on that question. Okay, do you think that there's a stronger presence of the
Latino community here than it was when you showed up to the nation? Oh yes,

Rudy Franco 13:37
oh yes. Much, much bigger, very noticeable. Now, more people, more more Spanish Hispanics,
per se, are in this in Virginia, you have a very big Hispanic presence. Now, it's not all over
Virginia. It's in certain areas of Virginia here where we are in Loudoun County. Even in Loudoun
County, you have, you know, over towards the Sterling and all that area, you have a strong
presence of Hispanics, right? A lot of them. But in this part of the county, Western Loudoun
County, very small, still very small. When I got, when we got here for the first time in 2004 I was
the only one there. There was no he's in the school. I was, I remember, I was the only, only
Hispanic parent in the school. I remember in elementary school, when you went in there, really
the only one. There was no, there was none, nobody, okay, you know, but it did it make a
difference to me? Did it? Did it affect me, or did it affect you guys? No, not at all. No, no, was it
difficult for you to learn English? No, no, it was not. I think you caught it. I went to it. Like, I like
I told you before, I knew that I had to learn, okay. I knew that coming here, I had to learn my
language, a new language. I had to learn new, you know, the the the whole culture, and I was
interested in it too. It wasn't like I didn't want to, or I wasn't, no, I really wanted to.

Liam Franco 15:23
You were curious, yep, and that's what, that's what excited you to

Rudy Franco 15:27
To learn more, of course, yep.

Liam Franco 15:33
Let me jump ship on to the next question. Tell me about all the jobs you've worked while
employed here in the nation.

Rudy Franco 15:43
Okay, first, when I got out of high school, I didn't go to college. I went to work for the ports of
baltimores for a little bit over two years. I did that. After that, I did auditing jobs. You know, went
to California, moved over to the other side of the country to learn a little more. Now, why just,
just be there, you know. And work there, went to school there too, you know. And that's when, you
know, after four years, four or five years being out of high school, I decided to join the army at
that time, and then I went into the service for about eight and a half years, something like that.
Got out of the service, you know, in 2006 with my, you know, my full service commitment
fulfilled. So got my benefits from the government, from being in the military, and was able to go
to school, and, you know, got my degree in building trades early childhood education as well. So
I did all that. And then, you know, got into this, into the HVAC trades

Liam Franco 16:58
On top of the military benefits. Have you ever had to use any of those social services?

Rudy Franco 17:03
No, no, really, never, actually, I'm not gonna say I was lucky, but I'm gonna say that I really
never had to use any social services, per se, for for assistance programs. You know, any such
things never, never had to use them. Never needed them. I always have work. I always, I have
always had work.

Liam Franco 17:30
There's always work. Yeah, you've always picked up on the job or it was easier. Would you say
when you're applying for a job of compiling your resume and speaking to be interviewed. Did
you face any prejudice, any racism?

Rudy Franco 17:47
Yes, you it would be like to say no, yes, I understand

Liam Franco 17:50
This is a very mundain question. No, it is curious at the time, because over the years, you have...

Rudy Franco 17:56
Look that happens everywhere, okay, have I encountered racism everywhere I went here? Okay,
but it's how you approach it. You know, it's how you handle yourself, and it is all about, you know
what kind of person you are. You know if you are gonna feel like a victim every time, you're
always going to be a victim no matter where you go. You see, I am a firm believer in your
abilities as a person. You know, I have always cultivated, I have always been a proactive person
where I'm not. I'm the kind of person that that, if I'm in search of something, I want to do
something, I will research about it. I will work on it. I will get to know what that is, you know. So
for the most part, you know, I have never had a situation where racism has stopped me from
doing a job, or doing or getting a job. And yes, you know, I've been, I'm going to jobs, you know,
where was very obvious that they weren't going to hire me because I was Hispanic now, because
I didn't know the job. But like that, there were other 10 jobs that I could get, you know. So you
got to be able to to navigate those things. And that's just the nature of how life is in this country,
at least, you know, from my experience and again, you know, it boils down to the kind of
character of your character, you know, if you are the kind of person that because somebody
doesn't like you because of your color your skin else, and you're gonna just, you know, lay down
and let it be then, you know, that's, that's you. But I never been like that. If, like some people
would say, if you have a door that closes on you here, there's another one's gonna open over
there. You know, I always been that kind of person, and it has worked for me, you know. I have
always been employed, you know, I have, especially today, you know, with everything that is
going out there in the political and social environment, you know, I'm not, I don't have no
problems

Liam Franco 20:13
Along that same token, you think you've applied those principles and that character into the work
field. Yes, have you inspired? Yeah, you think, in your opinion, have you inspired the next
generation of workers to have that same mindset? Well,

Rudy Franco 20:26

I tell all my new guys, all the all the trainees, you know, they learn your Learn, learn your field,
you know, learn your profession. That's your first thing, right? And, and you want to learn it, you
want to like it, right? You I like what I do, okay? I enjoy what I do. So some people would say it's
not a job for me. It's what I like. This is what I do. You know, I That's my thing. You know, it
could be my hobby or my work. I enjoy doing what I do.

Liam Franco 21:05
Needless to say, it has also trickled down to the household.

Rudy Franco 21:11
Okay, so that's, that's how, you know, we gotta approach things you can and again, going back to
the young generations, you know, you have to work on your trade or your profession first, right?
But that's not all, yeah, okay. You also have to work on your personal, your character as a
person, a man or woman, doesn't matter. You have to work on that, and that's that's where we are
lacking today, right? You see a lot of young men and women, no matter what ethnic background
you have, they they are not developing those characters for whatever reason you know, develop
developing your character as a person. It's important your ability to speak, your ability to to
express yourself without using, you know, less than formal language. It's important you know. It's
not what you know, it's how you apply exactly that's that's important. It is not so much what you
know. You see a lot of people, a lot of young Hispanics, a lot of young men and women feel some
sense of entitlement, because, you know, they come from a poor family, or this or that.
Unfortunately, the war is not doesn't work like that. Nobody cares about your your your
background, if you don't know the job and you cannot communicate properly, you know, there's
so much you're going to be able to do.

Liam Franco 22:44
These next set of questions are revolved around the pandemic. Okay, to start off, were you living
with? Where were you living when the pandemic began?

Rudy Franco 22:54

Yes, I remember when the pandemic started. You know, obviously we were here at the house, and
everybody shut down, right? The entire country pretty much it down and well, fortunately for me,
the pandemic actually made us work a lot more than before, because remember being in this
industry, primarily in the in the residential part of this industry, we were tasked with providing
quality of air. So we all had to become experts in air quality control, air quality, you know,
management. So that's what we did. You know, I specialize in, in in a lot of these different
technologies that were coming out to to make sure that the homes, residential homes were had
good, good, clean air. Needless to say, you were busy. Yes, I was busy. I was not at home at all.
And

Liam Franco 23:52
Would you, would you agree that a lot of businesses and people who are laid off because of the
pandemic, your job was somewhat secured? Yes,

Rudy Franco 24:00
I was super secure. I didn't have I actually didn't want to work, but I had to 100% Yeah,

Liam Franco 24:09
More on that same token. Needless to say, did we have any family members that were affected by
the pandemic?

Rudy Franco 24:17
Yes, yes. Oh yes, yeah. I mean, the pandemic affected all of us, right, in one way or another. Now,
financially did not affect us as as bad as older people. It affected us too, but yeah, we had lost
our family members during that time. Yeah, I lost a cousin of mine at uncle and couple of other,
you know, family members, yeah, yeah.

Liam Franco 24:43
How did it affect your children? And what have you seen?

Rudy Franco 24:47
Oh, yeah. I remember during that time, you know, obviously the complete change up in school,
where you had to stay home and do everything from home, right? Yeah. So we went into that
online learning thing by. Force. Basically, online learning was already there, but it wasn't really,
like mandated, or it wasn't popularized, or, you know, like it was not at the thing back then,
right? It became all of a sudden mandatory period that you didn't have a choice anymore. So it
definitely affected your, you know, all of you social, you know interactions, because now you're
by yourself at home and trying to learn and trying to do your schoolwork, definitely a big
change, not for the I don't think it was, it was great. I think definitely affected the family many
ways, you know, and especially the kids you know, for good or bad, but we all had to deal with
that. All families had to deal with with kids not going to school. A lot of social issues that arise
because of that. But you know, we had to go through that. Yeah, everybody got affected, you
know, the kids, especially, you know.

Liam Franco 25:59
More on that, our family and yourself had to follow the CDC guidelines. So that means
vaccination.

Rudy Franco 26:05
In our particular instance, I'm a firm believer in science, okay? I believe in science. I'm not a
doctor, okay? And this, this CDC has the CDC has been in place for a long time, and they have,
for the most part, always been, right, you know, I never seen anything that the CDC has never
done, you know, with the social benefits, you know, as their primary goal. So I never questioned
that. So we did follow full the CDC, full guidance, disconnected, right there. Lee, it's okay, but
it's disconnected.

Liam Franco 26:50
It's fine. I got battery power so you can continue the interview.

Rudy Franco 26:53

Plugging All right. So yeah. So as far as that goes, we follow that. We all got vaccinated, as
required by by by law. Yeah, we all were vaccinated. We all follow that stuff. And that was, that
was, yeah, that was the case.

Liam Franco 27:11
And during the pandemic, our family was supported by the by the, by the county, and within our
business, would you say that we've got the benefits from like, packages and incentives from the
government over the years?

Rudy Franco 27:26
Well, during that time, because your mother run the daycare, you know, she was this particular
in the state of Virginia, they were very supportive, and they gave her everything she needed. Oh,
well, mostly, you know, to support, to be open. You know, that was important, and that was great.
You know, that was great in itself, and and me, you know, I being at work. I was busy, so it wasn't
like I was not working. I had plenty of work.

Liam Franco 27:57
I see, I see this question next revolves around a much broader take. But I'd like to ask you on
what you think of this question, how do you think Latinos were impacted by the pandemic
overall?

Rudy Franco 28:09
I don't. I couldn't elaborate a lot on that, because I really don't know every person's situation
was different. You know, I cannot speak for a broader community, because I never been part of a
community of Latinos, per se. I never, never been part of that. So I don't know. I don't know. I'm
assuming that, like anybody else that work out there, you know, they were impacted one way or
another. That's as far as I go with that. You know, I can't speak for for everybody I see.

Liam Franco 28:47

You take at face value, you, like you said before you would you want to study and learn about
something that's happening that will greatly impact our family? So you're automatically on top of
that. And this kid, particular case, when talking about a community, you were never really
involved. No a Latino or Hispanic.

Rudy Franco 29:06
No group never, never being involved in any of.

Liam Franco 29:10
Those kept in the household, just helped out in the house of the family, yeah.

Rudy Franco 29:15
I mean, I never saw the necessity of being part of any community involvement in, in a group of,
per se, Hispanics, or any other one, you know, I'm not part of any clubs or social, you know,
groups of any sort of that. No, no, I never, I never look into that I never, never really felt the
necessity of be part of that.

Liam Franco 29:46
So I'm gonna end the interview up with the with this last section. Uh huh, I know you've talked
very specifically and very wise about the message you would take to your new apprentices. Was
worth getting into the trade. But more on the broader scale of the youth these days, what was the
message you would convey to, let's say, your youngest daughter's generation, the next one
coming forward, like, what would you try to inspire them to think about from our story, from your
story in particular? Well,

Rudy Franco 30:20
The main I would think that, you know, with all that social and economic changes that are
happening to so fast, you know, everything is happening fast. I would, I would say that the main
thing, one of the main things is, you know, to learn, go to school, find something that you enjoy

doing, okay, first, okay, I'm not gonna tell you, you know, I mean, depending on what your
aptitudes are, but you have to find something that you like in life, even, I mean making money,
you know it's important, and that's your your your whole ultimate goal, right? You gotta live off
something, but with that, it's gotta be something that you are passionate about. Okay? You gotta
find that passion, because if you don't, you're gonna be miserable all your life. You know, you're
gonna go work nine to five in a job that you hate? And if that is the case, you know, I don't know
about that, but that's just not the way that I would think. You know to spend your life doing first
and then you know, once you have determined what that is, you know, then you have to develop
yourself as a person. You know, you have to do that and enriching your your your character. It's
one of the most important things that you can do. That's an investment that will carry you over
everybody else, meaning learning about culture of not just yours, but everybody else's, you know,
learn about different people. Why do they think that way? Instead of judging other people, learn
understand. Why do people of different backgrounds think that way, or, you know, live in certain
way? That's important, because that that will tell you, it will teach you a lot about other cultures.
It will teach you how to approach different people of different backgrounds. Okay? And it will
allow you to succeed, because when you have a conversation like I do with people from the
Middle East, from China, from Japan, I know I read a lot about different cultures all the time,
ever since I was young. Because you your grandpa was good at that, you know, he always told
me that thing, you know, learn about them, learn about everybody else. I can sit with anybody of
any background and have a conversation about their country, their background, and they are
amazed, you know, see that me, you know, sitting there and talking about Africa, South Africa,
talking about, you know, countries in Africa, like Ghana, for example, I know a lot about Ghana,
you know, because I have my good friend from the army. He was from Ghana. My good friend
from Afghanistan, you know, Urdu. He spoke Urdu and we always talk about that, the food and
all this stuff, and people are amazed India, same thing you know in Europe, just about everybody
in Europe, I know a little bit about every country. So that allows you, as a person you know, to
talk to other people, and those people will be interested in what you have to say when they
understand that you are, that you know a little bit about them, you know. And that's important,
you know. I think you know, developing that as a person, you know, it's gonna get you places. It's
gonna allow you to get to, you know, to be a better person, first and secondly, you know you're
gonna see that things are not as what you know you see on TV. You know, that's what I'm that's
the only thing I can say about that, you know, cultivate, you know, your character, learn about
other people, learn about other cultures, learn about the world.

Liam Franco 34:25
It's important you've always inspired me to network and reach out and try new things, especially
by going to VCU and living in an entirely different world than I grew up in, and embracing that
just to remain curious and learn on my feet, yep, and I take a lot of it from that, and that's why I

wanted to ask you for this interview. Well, good, good. That's all the questions I have for you
today. Thank you so much for speaking with me.

Rudy Franco 34:53
Alright, good. Good job. Good job. Liam.