BY TERI R. WILLIAMS
PHOTOS BY RUTH ENGLISH
the gold coin standard
Mauricio Ibarra's coin is a reminder of the hardworking spirit of the hispanic people and the courage to let go of the past for a brighter tomorrow.
Sixteen songs and top-shelf tequila. There is a good reason why the title of so many songs and the name of Mexico’s #1 tequila bear the name “Centenario.” It is the same reason Mauricio Ibarra and his wife Elizabeth chose the name of the Mexican gold bullion coin for their restaurant in Vidalia. Centenario is the Spanish word for “the 100th anniversary of an important event,” and commemorates the 100th anniversary of Mexico’s independence from Spanish rule in 1821. For Mauricio and Elizabeth, and many others, the coin is a symbol of the heart and soul of the Hispanic people. It speaks of both remembering the past and the courage to let it go in the hopes of a better tomorrow. Mauricio was only ten years old when he and his eight-year-old sister came to America. His father had come first and eventually sent money for his mother to follow. For months, the children had lived with their maternal grandparents in a two-room hut. The money his father faithfully sent from the pay he received bailing pine straw covered the cost of basic needs. When their father had saved enough money to pay their way, he sent for his children. Mauricio did not know the people who drove him and his sister across the border and to his family in Toombs County. But he stayed focused on the promised bicycle his father told him he would get, a luxury they could never have afforded in Mexico. There are programs today for non-English speakers entering the public school system, but in 1999, most schools were not yet prepared for the influx of migrant workers and their families. With no understanding of the language, Mauricio spent a frustrating 5th grade in the back of the classroom playing games on a computer. The following year, the school promoted him to the sixth grade. Halfway through the school year, he said, “I told my dad, ‘I don’t know what they’re saying. I just go to school and play games. I could do more good by helping you.’” At eleven, he was raking straw from sunrise to sunset. Within a couple of years, young Mauricio was in charge of his own pine straw crew.
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