Day 53: Details of the Journey

I spoke to a 31-year-old woman today from El Salvador. She told me that I asked questions like a journalist, and that she herself had dreams of being a journalist when she was young.

She talked openly about the violence and gangs in El Salvador. She and her husband are going to Oregon with their two daughters, where she hopes they'll be able to avoid a life of danger. The family has been traveling for two years. 

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I asked her how she'll take her migrant experience into her life, and she said it's taught her how to live. She told me she learned how to get along with people, how to help and be helped in return, and how to have hope. 

When the four entered Guatemala, they were immediately robbed. They had no place to stay and no food, so they slept on the street. Their youngest daughter had just turned one. They managed to hitchhike and cross into Chiapas, Mexico where a kind man bought them dinner—chicken, beans, and soda. The woman told me he was a fellow migrant. 

It was small acts of generosity like these that helped them survive on their long journey, she said. 

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Her parents and brothers still live in the small pueblo in El Salvador that she grew up in. She said she'll miss them more than she can express. 

When I asked her if she had any advice for me, she said that humans are always making errors. She told me to not be hard on myself or others, and to instead try to move forward and to forgive. 

(The woman walking through the dorm.)