Euker Keller never planned to live on a farm in central Iowa, but fate had other plans.

Make that 2,740 miles to be exact. That is the distance between Webster City and Caracas, Venezuela.

Euker Keller never planned to live on a farm in central Iowa, but fate had other plans.

Keller grew up in Caracas, the capital city of Venezuela, the youngest of three children. She recalls having a normal, peaceful childhood until the change of government in 1999, when Hugo Rafael Chavez became president.

She recollects being robbed walking home from high school and it is then that she realized that things were changing in her country.

There was general instability beginning in 2002.

By 2014, students were protesting against high inflation, urban violence, persistent shortages of staple foods, and the continuing instability within the country. During this time, more than 4,000 students were arrested and 43 were killed.

Throughout the chaos, Keller persevered in her studies at a university to become a teacher.

After graduating, she found it difficult to find work in the public school sector because teachers were striking; the government ceased paying the wages of the teachers.

Eventually, she found work in a private school where she used her degree to work as a high school science teacher.

Fast forward to the fateful Zoom call.

During Covid in 2021, Keller’s International University Church hosted activities via Zoom to offer a chance for members to connect during the worldwide lockdowns. During that first Zoom activity, Euker met Andrew Keller, from Blairsburg, Iowa, and their fate was sealed.

They talked daily for almost a year before the couple was finally able to arrange a meeting in Argentina. Due to strict visa requirements and the withdrawal of the American Embassy in Venezuela, meeting in Caracas was next to impossible.

Serendipitously, Andrew’s mother had an upcoming meeting with the U.S. Grains Council in Argentina and she was able to help arrange the accommodations.

After spending one week together in Argentina, the couple became engaged to be married.

They began what they thought would be a long and arduous immigration process, but a new policy was introduced soon after their engagement and the couple was able to file for a humanitarian parole(e) visa.

Seven months later Keller arrived in Iowa and the rest is history — or at least history in the making.

Since arriving in January of 2023, Keller diligently practiced her English at Iowa Central’s English Language Learner classes and within a year and a half has landed herself a job as a paraeducator for the English Language Learners program in the Webster City Community School District.

She hopes to gain experience in the American school system to become a high school science teacher in the future.