'If we left, risking the safety of our children, it is because the situation in our country made us do that,' says Janet, a mother of three from Honduras. (keranews)
The migrants shared about the families they miss, what prompted them to make the dangerous, exhausting journey north and the people they met along the way.is about 20 miles south of San Diego, Calif., 10 are from Honduras, two are from El Salvador and one is from Nicaragua.Most cited fear of reprisal by gangs in their home country as the reason for wanting to withhold their last names — reprisal toward family left behind and toward themselves if they end up having to go back.
"I ask God, I have faith in God that one day I will fulfill my dreams. I don't plan on breaking the law and crossing illegally. I want to cross the border legally. I don't plan on bringing violence or doing things that are bad for me and my family. The only thing we ask is for work opportunities for us.
"We were in a lot of danger there with my sons. I was afraid that I might lose one of my sons, because — I have one son that is 12 years old, and another that is 11 — they were always having problems at school. When they would leave class, sometimes they would get beaten. So I decided that it would be better to bring them and to try to start a new life with my children.
"I don't care if I have to sell candy on the street, or whatever it is, because the true mark of a person is what is inside their head. Every head is a world of its own."Credit Dylan Hollingsworth / Special to KERA "There are moments I get disappointed, that I wish that everything would end. … But like I said, there are things that motivate you. Sometimes I felt like I was going to give up. But most of the time I'm good and I'm not going to stop until I accomplish my goal, to have a better future for my kids.
"We continued walking, him pulling and giving me support and encouragement. We finally had to stop to rest. My daughter was getting sick. Nobody had any water. Luckily, the sun was not out. He and another boy made sure we would rest.It was so sweet, too, because he reminded me of my son back home, same height.
"We know we will all go our separate ways. We don't know what is going to happen to each of us, but I will always remember the good in each person. While crying and feeling so homesick after talking on the phone with my mom and husband, El Negrito hugged me and said, 'Don't cry mamá, everything is going to be OK. Your family is far away, but you have one family right now, and we all love you.
"Later on, I came back to my mom's house, and the gang came back again. So my mother told me to go to Mexico. She told me to be very careful with who I would walk, because there's good and bad people all around. 'Yes,' I told her. 'I'm ok.' "I was forced to do things I did not want to do. They killed my husband, so after that I hid in a house for a month."
"In my country, everything is difficult. So much corruption — the police, the judges, the government are in partnership with the drug traffickers. There is a war on drugs.I don't understand, either, why in my country, being so poor, police kill innocent people instead of doing what they are suppose to. They are crooked, corrupt.
"Just to see how the government does so much damage, it hurts to see that there is no justice, no future for me, for my brothers or my future children. The country will be destroyed that way. I don't understand, either, why the president does nothing to help the people experiencing so many economic needs and problems."Credit Dylan Hollingsworth / Special to KERAevery time I think about it just makes me ill.
They would stop and call mostly the women, the mothers, and give money we could use for food along the way. "Like they say, don't forget what has happened, but take what has happened and don't use it as a weakness, but as a strength instead. Of the experience that one has had. The strength that I take is that God has given me an opportunity. I need to take advantage of it.I know if God didn't allow it, it wasn't for me.
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