LYNN — A local family has found a unique way to tell the story of its journey to live in the United States.
The Vasquez Trochez family published a book “Más Que Un Sueño Americano: La Fortaleza de una Familia” (More Than an American Dream: The Strength of a Family), which tells the story of why and how they pulled up stakes in Ecuador and moved to the Boston area.
“All of us have chapters where we talk about how we moved here to the United States and how we faced the problems related to that,” said eldest son, 20-year-old Carlos Vasquez Trochez.
The matriarch, Anna Trochez, is originally from Honduras, while the patriarch, Carlos Vasquez, is originally from Guatemala.
They were living in Ecuador, running multiple successful businesses when a series of events led them to the decision to start over in the United States.
They had a perfume business that Anna led and a leadership conference and development business led by Carlos.
The COVID-19 pandemic hit their businesses hard. Then in July 2020, their place of business was looted and vandalized, but they vowed to rebuild.
The following month, they were robbed by two armed men on motorcycles while they drove to work.
The robbers told the couple they knew where they lived and where their children went to school.
“This was not a simple act of robbery; we were being targeted by a well-organized criminal group,” Carlos wrote in the book.
Those events led to their decision to move to the United States in 2020.
Also, in the book, Anna wrote that the transition was not easy.
“Going from being owners of our own businesses to becoming employees and occasionally facing humiliating situations was a significant challenge,” she wrote. “I vividly remember how, at moments when no one saw me, tears welled up in my eyes due to the pain in my hands. Still, I had to keep working.”
Now, three years later, the family members are taking turns telling their stories and sharing encouragement with others.
They held a book launch celebration at the Lynn Museum on Sunday afternoon.
“This is to let the world know that we are here, and we’re here to have a good time with our acquaintances and friends,” 15-year-old Jonatan Vasquez Trochez said.
The third son, 11-year-old Angel Vasquez Trochez, said creating the book was a joint decision.
“The book was made for family union and teamwork,” Angel said. “I hope the readers who are immigrants who are having a hard time – I want them to just step out and get to action. Families, especially, are one of the strongest forces in the world.”
He added that his eldest brother, Carlos, wanted to incorporate some of his computer talents into the book.
“My brother wanted to make QR codes for some other stuff,” Angel said.
The book indeed has QR codes that readers can scan, taking them to various animations about family members.
“This book is like our first step to all the stuff we want to make,” Jonatan said. “We want to make them more active in our social media. We’re going to make more animation with more tips on our web page and TikTok. This is our first step to show this to the world, and we want people to take action.”
The family donated copies of the book to area schools, libraries, and churches.
The book is available in Spanish and English and was published by Revive Editorial. It is available on Amazon.
