The Contribution of Frittz and Lidia Lazo to Madison and Beyond: From La Paz to Madison (Part 1 of 2)
For the sake of their children and Lidia’s health, Frittz and Lidia Lazo forsook their comfortable professional careers in Bolivia to start over at the beginning in Madison.
by Jonathan Gramling with contributions from Fabiola Hamdan and Rissel Sanderson
Frittz and Lidia Lazo and their three children, Fabiola, Rissel and Jessie, had a comfortable middle-class life in La Paz, Bolivia. Frittz and Lidia were well-educated. Frittz was a school principal and Lidia was a school teacher. They owned their own home and other assets. There was no reason to go anywhere.
But then Lidia got sick. She was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor and needed to come to Madison, Wisconsin for the operation to try to remove the tumor. Complications came with it. They weren’t able to take the whole tumor out, but enough to stop the growth. That’s why she was in and out of the hospital for treatment and physical therapy. Even now, decades later, she is in treatment.
Frittz and the oldest child Fabiola stayed in La Paz while Lidia and the two youngest, came to Madison. While Lidia was receiving treatment and therapy, the family needed to support itself and begin to establish roots in Madison.
“Centro decided to lend us a hand,” Rissel said. “It was during the summer and so my brother and I weren’t going to school. My mom had one job and then they helped her get another job. She was working two jobs. And then they said that I had to go to school. They signed my brother and I up to East High School for summer school. Ilda Thomas (founder of Centro Hispano), Juan José López, and Teresa Tellez were there, worked at Centro Hispano back then. Centro Hispano was located in the Madison Community Center on Fairchild Street. We were looking for a place to stay. We went to Bayview Apartments. For some reason, they didn’t accept our application. Then we went to Wexford Ridge Apartments. So we moved from the east side to the west side. Somebody from Centro put all of this together for my brother and I. We went to Memorial High School. That’s where we graduated from high school.”
Lidia had gotten cleaning jobs. And since she didn’t want to leave Rissel home alone in the apartment — Jessie was old enough to work — Lidia brought Rissel along with them.
“We used to clean offices,” Rissel said. “My mom and my brother were hired. And I was the extra. We worked at the Lorraine Building. We would take the bus. The manager asked how old I was. ‘Since she is going to be here everyday working, maybe she could be hired.’ I was hired.”
As it became apparent that Lidia would require routine health services in Madison, the family had to make a decision.
“To keep the family together, a sacrifice was made,” Fabiola said. “Piece by piece, assets in Bolivia were sold. One by one, the family reunited in Madison—first the children, Jessie and Rissel, and later, Fabiola and their father.”
There was a lot to give up, especially for Frittz. While they were recognized as educators and had earned the education and credentials, moving to Madison meant leaving all of that behind. Their credentials were not recognized in Madison or anywhere in the United States. They would literally have to start over and depend on each other to survive and eventually to succeed.
When Frittz and Fabiola moved to Madison, life was hard, but this route was needed to preserve Lidia’s health.
“It was totally hard for us to establish ourselves in a new culture,” Fabiola said. “We didn’t have health insurance. After we moved selling some assets in Bolivia to come and take care of my mom’s medical condition, it was hard. We’re very, very lucky to find lot’s of angels around us who helped us. We ended up working in all kinds of different jobs, cleaning offices, restaurants and houses, babysitting, all of that. We lived in a two-bedroom apartment at first and then we moved to a three-bedroom apartment. Both of my parents worked really hard. We didn’t know English.”
It was especially hard for Frittz, going from school principal to the position of janitor. All five of them ended up in the cleaning business at first.
“When they came, I was making more money than my dad,” Rissell said. “And so it was the five of us who went to the same building. My mom cleaned the bathrooms. Jessie and I did the garbage and vacuuming. Faby and I did everything. When we got our first paycheck — it wasn’t a lot, but I was making more than him — it was a big change for him. We gave my dad and my mom our entire checks. My dad said, ‘We’re not going to be working like this for the rest of our lives. We need to save every penny so we can have a family business.’ At that moment, we didn’t know what the family business was going to be. Between the five of us, we saved every penny. I did everything I was told because I was young.”
