Who are we?

In the car next to you at the traffic light, walking toward you on the hike & bike trail and picking from the same vegetable bin at the grocery store - look around and you might notice the faces in the Rio Grande Valley are beginning to change.

No longer is the local population defined as a vast sea of Hispanics with a spattering of whites.

People from Asia, the Middle East, and in some rare instances, from the United States' traditionally black regions, are coming to the Valley to live and work.

"The Valley's a very different place now from when I was growing up," said Juanita Garza, a 67-year-old history professor at the University of Texas-Pan American who grew up in Weslaco.

"There's new people coming in and that's a good thing for us. It means different ideas and a different way of life."

Breaking down the numbers

The McAllen area - which national studies often define as including Edinburg and Mission or Pharr - has consistently ranked as one of the fastest-growing metropolitan areas in the country in the last 15 years, nearly all thanks to NAFTA's implementation in 1994. And Hidalgo County's population is projected to be double its 2000 count by 2030.

The lack of home-grown skilled labor to accommodate burgeoning industries such as health care and higher education has pushed local leaders to draw from communities around the nation and world.

So while most of that growth will be among Hispanic and white populations, groups too small to appear in official statistics are having a disproportionate impact on the area's cultural diversity.

A once-homogenous, settled population is today enriched by an influx of international residents - from as close as Mexico and as far as India - as well as African-Americans, that create an area that is more varied and transient than ever before.

Statistically, the new ethnic groups' numbers are difficult to surmise.

But in a time when it's clear racial relations are still a hot point of debate - even taking center stage in this year's presidential campaign - the McAllen area's growing diversity is particularly relevant.

According to U.S. Census data, the number of Asians in Hidalgo County grew from 3,375 in 2000 to 5,350 in 2006, a 59-percent increase.

Over the same period, the number of blacks grew from 2,807 to 3,783, a 35 percent increase.

And the overall population grew 23 percent during this six-year period.

But unlike the Census years in which every household is polled, the 2006 data is based on a relatively small sampling of the overall population. So, the exact numbers of ethnic groups' populations are hard to pin down.

"When you talk about sampling error and population measure, (the less-represented ethnic groups) don't really leave a trace until the next Census, if they're still there," said Karl Eschbach, a demographer with the Texas State Data Center in San Antonio.

"They're harder to identify when you're not going door to door."

While the proof might have to wait until the release of the next set of Census data in 2010, there is enough anecdotal evidence to suggest the region's ethnic make-up is shifting.

Garza, for instance, said that when she arrived at UTPA in the late 1960s as a student, the campus was almost totally made up of white students and faculty.
Gradually, it became more Hispanic, and now she sees more students and faculty of Asian and Middle Eastern heritage.

Havens of diversity

The overwhelming factor bringing these new groups to the Valley is the demand for trained professionals within the medical industry - doctors, technicians and overwhelmingly nurses.

"There was a shortage (of nurses seven years ago) and there's a shortage now," said Marissa Aldrette-Garcia, the nurse recruiter for South Texas Health System.

"You think you're going to breathe and you're still dealing with it the next year. The (local) universities are graduating more people, but it's still not enough."
A look inside the area's hospitals certainly reveals a global village.

"We are actually quite diverse here," said Kathy Dassler, chief nursing executive at Rio Grande Regional Hospital. "We have a far higher number of foreign nurses than American or Hispanic nurses.

"India, Pakistan, Philippines, Canada - it's who is able to get visas and get processed through," she said.

For that, the hospital's corporate parent runs a staffing firm that guides applicants through English proficiency and American licensure and helps new nurses get settled in new and very different environments.

South Asia is one of the primary places where staffing agencies search for workers.

Educated health care workers in India are more likely to know English and have been trained to U.S. standards than workers from some other parts of the world.

Programs that offer visas and green cards in exchange for working in McAllen and other "underserved" regions draw in doctors and other health care specialists, especially those that need additional training to gain U.S. certification, he said.

Assimilation

For Delphy John, a 29-year-old nurse at Doctors Hospital at Renaissance who arrived from India two and a half years ago, the transition to life in the United States was not without its challenges.

Language was a problem, particularly at work. She didn't speak any Spanish, and she still doesn't, though she says she intends to learn. Even more, her English was flecked with British phrases, because India is a former colony of the United Kingdom.

At Rio Grande Regional Hospital, misunderstandings can stem from small differences between British and American English, although supervisors go through some training to bridge the gaps. For example, Dassler said, a supervisor's garbage may be a nurse's dustbin.

Drugs, equipment and procedures can also have different names in India and the United States. And U.S. nurses are expected to be much more autonomous than those in India.

Language was not the only stumbling block.

South Asian communities in South Texas have grown enough to support grocery stores, like McAllen's Universal Market, that sell spices and other ingredients unique to their cuisines. But when John arrived, she found she and her husband could not stomach the food in local restaurants.

"We could not find the spices or the food stuff. We used to get the stuff from Houston or Dallas - we used to drive there to get things once a month," she said. "Eventually, we got an Indian store here. Right now it's not a problem, I love cooking."

Besides, "now we're adjusted to the Mexican food, and we like it," she said.

Economic opportunities

While this new class of medical employees might hail from around the globe, they have found common ground with the local community.

Whether they're from Manila or Bombay, the Valley's emphasis on family has struck a resonant chord with many new immigrants.

"It's very close-knit and family-orientated. We like that because that's how we live our lives," said Aster Vargas, a Filipina woman and owner of a McAllen medical recruiting business.

As more and more foreigners move to the Valley, often with their families in tow, their role in civic life is increasing.

They are opening ethnic stores in strip malls and enrolling their children in college, changes that only look to heighten their visibility in years to come.
"It's across the board," said Steve Ahlenius, president of the McAllen Chamber of Commerce.

"There's more diversity, as far as people coming to the community. And I think its being driven by economic opportunities."

James Osborne covers McAllen and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach him at (956) 683-4428.

Sara Perkins covers Mission, western Hidalgo County, Starr County and general assignments for The Monitor. You can reach her at (956) 683-4472.