The Dignity of Work
Photos by Sonia Gurrola
The Inspirational Life of David Ramos
Davis Ramos, custodian, outside of CSUN campus store. (Sonia Gurrola | Scene Magazine)
Poverty, drugs and alcohol led Doroteo “David” Ramos Linares, 46, to migrate to the U.S. 30 years ago in hopes of a better life. After accepting God into his life, Ramos dedicated himself to volunteering at a church and working at several companies – including The University Corporation at CSUN for the past 24 years. Ramos now finds himself facing yet another challenge: getting the love of his life back.
Ramos was born in Chihuahua, Mexico, but was raised in the state of Zacatecas. In Zacatecas, his family worked in mines in a town called Sombrerete. Ramos, on the other hand, worked the countryside and cattle. According to him, growing up in Mexico was tough. Although he came from a hard-working family, income was low, so he did not have the opportunity to get an education.
“My family was very poor. I lived with my parents and my 13 siblings in a small house made of cardboard,” said Ramos.
In addition to economic challenges, Ramos was engaging in behavior that worried his mother. He would go out with friends, party, and drink alcoholic beverages that would lead him and his friends to behave undesirably. According to him, this unwanted behavior caused some of his friends to go to jail.
“My mom would always worry about me. Seeing her cry and worry about me and telling me to take it easy broke my heart. So I decided to change my life and allow God to be part of it,” said Ramos. “When I crossed to the other side, I started going to a church called Victory Outreach in El Paso, Texas.”
“I’m very proud of myself for being able to give back to people that helped me when I need it the most.”
According to its Facebook page, Victory Outreach El Paso is not just a church, but a family that welcomes people from different parts of the world. Its mission is to empower individuals and help them control their lives by placing their future in the hands of God, which is exactly what Ramos did.
Studio portrait of David Ramos (Sonia Gurrola | Scene Magazine)
When he arrived in the U.S., Ramos had many fears. Not speaking English was his main concern. Ramos remembers thinking that finding a job and communicating with others in a new country would be impossible for him to achieve. However, his strong belief in God gave him the strength to push forward and search for jobs.
“When I came from Mexico, I was money hungry,” said Ramos, “I started off by working in the fields in Northern California and saw it as an opportunity to give back to my people in Mexico. And I did. I don’t have a family of my own or a girlfriend, so the money I was making was all mine.”
His time working at the fields did not last very long since it was seasonal employment. Ramos later got a job at a laundromat and a pizzeria where he met The University Corporation's (TUC) facilities supervisor at the time. He offered Ramos a job as a maintenance worker at CSUN. Ramos accepted and has been working for the TUC at CSUN ever since.
According to TUC Associate Director of Facilities and Operations, Michael Lennon, Ramos is one of the two maintenance workers working for TUC.
Initially, Ramos would work the morning shifts, which implied arriving to campus at 6 a.m. Though his schedule has changed, his responsibilities remain the same: giving maintenance to the Arbor Grill, the bookstore and the Sierra Center, the main building under TUC. He starts his shift by cleaning the bathrooms – sweeping and mopping the floors; stocking up on toilet paper, paper towels, soap and hand sanitizer; and sanitizing frequently touched areas. From there, Ramos moves on to inspecting the buildings for any issues concerning the air conditioning.
In addition to indoor maintenance, Ramos is also responsible for the buildings’ outdoor appearance. As a result, Ramos does not have the same routine every day he comes to work. Some days his focus is on indoor maintenance, and other days his focus is on landscape maintenance, which includes blowing the leaves around the building and mowing the lawn.
“I don’t supervise David directly,” said Lennon. “But I’ve known him since 2021 and would say he is a hard-working, responsible and dedicated employee.”
In addition to working for TUC at CSUN, Ramos does volunteer work at The Church at Rocky Peak in the city of Chatsworth. According to their website, the church’s mission is to create “a movement of passionate Christ-followers who are pursuing God, loving people, serving sacrificially, and sharing Christ.”
After falling in love with God at Victory Outreach and moving to California, Ramos began attending services at The Church at Rocky Peak to maintain his relationship with God. His volunteer work at the church consists of setting up tables, chairs and umbrellas before any service and putting them away at the end. Additionally, Ramos helps fix any broken machinery.
“My work at the church is completely voluntary,” said Ramos. “I don’t get paid. One day, the pastor came up to me and the other volunteers and said our work was worthy of a salary and we all laughed.”
David Ramos and his friend Martin Carillo at The Rockey Peak Church (Sonia Gurrola | Scene Magazine)
Martin Carillo, has worked at The Church at Rocky Peak for 32 years and has known Ramos for about 15 years. In fact, Carillo is also from Zacatecas, Mexico and says he and Ramos “go way back.”
“David is a great person,” said Carillo. “He’s very humble, very caring and is always helping me even when I don't ask him to. He's someone who likes to give. He's always wondering who he can help and give to.”
Carillo said that he was impressed by Ramos’ personality and work ethic and offered him a job at the church a while ago, but Ramos refused.
“He told me he already had a job and he's very faithful to what he does,” said Carillo. “He's a workaholic – for him, it's all about work, work, work.”
According to Ramos, being a workaholic has allowed him to do something he considers to be one of his greatest accomplishments: giving back to the people back home. As a child, he said, many women in his town would call him “Nene” and would offer him food when they saw him.
“I’m very proud of myself for being able to give back to people that helped me when I needed it the most,” said Ramos.
In addition to helping his childhood neighbors, Ramos is proud to have been able to purchase a home for his mother back in Mexico. Not to mention, he also purchased a house for himself and hopes to share it with his future wife and kids someday.
But finding love is something that Ramos said he has struggled with. When he arrived to the U.S. his focus was on making money, and though he achieved his goal, he says he deprived himself of other experiences like going out with friends and dating.
David Ramos, custodian, waters the plants at CSUN. (Sonia Gurrola | Scene Magazine)
“I’ve always been busy with work and volunteering at my church, so I didn’t have intentions of meeting someone, let alone falling in love,” said Ramos. “I would frequently visit the bank to deposit my checks and one day, one of the tellers came up to me and said she would see me come by often. From that day forward, we started talking during my visits to the bank, and soon after my love for her started to blossom.”
According to Ramos, he met Veronica Ruvalcaba, a bank teller, a little over two years ago. Though their relationship seemed promising at the beginning, third parties managed to drift them apart. Ramos admits that he has never felt the way he feels about Ruvalcaba before. He says what made him fall in love with her were her eyes and her kindness towards others. In fact, he says he spoke to her about marriage and having children several times when they would meet at the bank.
“He’s someone who likes to give. He’s always wondering who he can help and give to.”
“Prior to meeting Veronica, I had never had a girlfriend, so I didn’t know how to go about it,” said Ramos. “I would visit her at the bank and spend a long time talking with her, but that was it. We never went on an actual date – and that’s where I think I messed up.”
Ramos is certain that Ruvalcaba’s friends at work envied her and the relationship she was starting with him. He said that every time he would go to the bank he would feel them staring at him and feel their negative energy. Moreover, he believes that her friends convinced Ruvalcaba to believe that he was not the right partner for her because of his occupation.
“My intentions with her were serious. Even though I never took her out on a date, I made sure I was a gentleman and treated her with respect,” said Ramos. “My goal was to get married to her, have our honeymoon in Hawaii, and have children.”
Ramos said that the last time he spoke to Ruvalcaba, he still felt the connection between them. He also stopped going to the bank where she works because he would always feel the tension between him and Ruvalcaba’s co-workers. And though he has yet to see Ruvalcaba again, Ramos said he strongly believes and prays to God that he and Ruvalcaba will be together again soon.
Ramos hopes to continue working for TUC at CSUN until he is 62. Once he retires, he hopes to travel with his wife to places like Zacatecas and Hawaii.
David Ramos, works at his second job at Lucky Coin laundromat (Sonia Gurrola | Scene Magazine)
