At the beginning
of the novel, before Enrique leaves Honduras to journey to the U.S., he feels
lost and abandoned. After his uncle is shot and he is kicked out of the house, Enrique goes to stay with his grandmother. However, he begins spending time on the street
and eventually gets involved in drugs like glue and marijuana. Enrique sees
many kids in downtown Tegucigalpa who “sleep by trash bins… Some can barely stand.
The acrid smell of the glue fills the air” (Nazario 36-37). Enrique realizes
that if he does not make a change in his life, he could end up like these
addicts. He decides to go to the United States, mainly to see his mother again,
but also to escape the poverty and danger in Honduras. Many children just like
Enrique, with situations even more drastic than his, have escaped their home
countries to come to the US..
When I went to
Honduras this summer, I met some of the street kids just like the ones Enrique saw.
I met a girl named Belen, who sleeps in an abandoned industrial building,
spending her days begging for food and money and getting high off glue. The
people at the ministry I was working with told me that she had been abused
by members of her family and did not have anywhere to go for help. For the rest
of the day, Belen decided to tag along with us, while we walked around downtown and
handed out food to street kids. When was time for us to leave, Belen climbed
into our van and refused to get out, even when we tried to pull her out
forcefully. Finally, we managed to coax her out of the van, but we knew she was
scared to go back out on the streets because she did not feel safe, even with
two older boys taking care of her. Belen’s fear is understandable, because of
the level of corruption and violence in Honduras. After seeing their situation firsthand, I can understand why many
children flee to the US, hoping for not only a better but safer life. Because
of this, I believe that one way to solve the immigration crisis is to begin at
the root cause, and help bring change to the immigrants’ home countries by
increasing the availability of educational and job opportunities, give more
donations, and try to combat corruption and violence to make the countries safer. This is
clearly easier said than done, but I believe that it could work. How do you
think the U.S. should deal with the immigrants? Do you believe there is
anything specific we should do to help them?
I agree wholeheartedly with your idea that improving living conditions in the countries from which immigrants come should be a priority. I also spent some time in Honduras on a mission trip last year, working almost exclusively at local schools, and we heard several stories about students who eventually went on to successful careers after being supported through their education. The most powerful moment of our entire trip was when unfortunately, one of our team members came down with kidney stones and had to visit a clinic in a nearby city. After talking with the doctor some, they realized that she was once a student at the same school we had just handed out clothing donations to the day before. That event made all of us realize that with a small amount of effort, we were able to positively impact the well being of an entire community- just through supporting education. If we can achieve that type of effect on a country-wide scale, then poverty will gradually melt away and reduce the need for illegal immigration in the first place.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your thought that we should try to improve the poor conditions that some of the immigrants coming to the United States live in. I have traveled to San Pedro Sula, Honduras for the past two summers. While I am there, we go to an all girls orphanage. This home, called Our Little Roses, helps girls who have been abandoned on the street. While the girls are at Our Little Roses, they are able to be in school, be fed and clothed, and have good relationships with each other. It is amazing to see the impact that Our Little Roses makes on the girls there. The girls that have grown up in the OLR home have achieved great success. For example, Jensy is a woman who grew up at OLR. She is now a dentist. Without OLR, she would not have been able to go to school, and most likely, she would still be living on the streets. This shows how much OLR has helped, and changed their lives for the better. I believe, like you, that if these children's living conditions improve, that the need for immigration into Honduras will decrease.
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