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A Difficult Journey
(In the following narrative Jacobo Velasquez recounts his story of the hard obstacles he encountered on his way to the United
States in search of a job and a better life than the one offered in his country.)
I was born in El Salvador on November 28, 1963. I was born as one of the oldest and into a family of nine children. My daily
routines consisted of herding, feeding, and milking cows. My parents were not poor but they never gave us any money for us
to just enjoy ourselves. If we earned any money it was going to be very well earned. My parents didn't believe in allowances
or taking their children out to tour different places. They saw that as a waste of time and money. I never received a good
education because my parents never encouraged us to go to school; instead they encouraged us to work from sunrise to sundown.
A saying that went around in our home was, "if you don't work you don't deserve to eat either," so whenever we came home to
eat it was because we had actually worked hard for it. Fruits, such as bananas and oranges, were like a dessert for us, because
we rarely had any, and when we did we only got a little piece because there wasn't a lot to go around for everyone.
Once I ran away from home and I stole my parent's entire money and I left. I only enjoyed it for a while because it didn't
last and then I was sleeping under trees or at a friend's house because I was afraid of going home. But one day I decided
to return. My parents punished me and I lost all the trust they had for me because they thought that I would run away again
and take all their money. But I proved to them that I hadn't come back to take their money. I worked hard and I earned everything
back and on my decision to emigrate to the United States my parents supported me and my dad even paid for the guy who was
going to bring me. It was about ten thousand dollars and my dad didn't hesitate to pay for me.
On the journey to the United States, we traveled by land and we had to cross the borders of Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico
to finally get to the United States. The journey was not pleasant. It was a rough road and harsh conditions. I was loaded
into a truck like I was a package; one on top of the other. We had to drink river water and rarely had anything to eat.
At first I wanted to be very close to the driver, so when it was time to hit the road I was the first one in. That was a big
mistake, because I ended up at the bottom. We were piled up one on top of the other; someone's feet would be in your face
and sometimes it was difficult to be comfortable. It was a miserable trip, but on the road something miraculous happened;
the tire exploded and we had to change it to the spare one. This time I was the last one to get in.
When we got to the border between Mexico and the United States, we had to swim across the Grande River. The current was swift
and it was getting very difficult for us to get across. Fifteen minutes had gone by, my muscles and my whole entire body was
aching, and I was still not on the other side. I still hadn't lost hope so I kept on going. When I did get to the other side,
I felt a relief and a gratefulness at God for helping me achieve my dream of coming to the United States. I had made a promise:
if God helped me make it safely to the United States, I would surrender my soul and body to his solemn worship.
To this day I have kept my promise and have never lacked anything; everything I have needed I have and everything I have wanted
I have achieved to get. I give a special thanks to God for helping me on the difficult journey, to my parents for supporting
me in everything even though now they have already passed away, and to my family because they are always there for me, in
good or bad times.
Sara Velasquez
Houston, Texas
Published:
May 31,
2006
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