Selfless Acts in Enrique's Journey

In Enrique’s Journey by Sonia Nazario, I really loved reading about the people who generously give the little they have to help migrants along their journey.  People such as Olga, Padre Leo, Francisca Aguirre Juarez, and many others donate food, money, and their time, to help injured, sick, and hungry migrants. For example, the priest Padre Leo gives up his priest apartment so that migrants can sleep there. He risks his own safety by crossing the Rio Grande into Laredo Texas to buy clothes for migrants, and when he runs out of clothes to give them, he gives away his own. Three days a week he goes to Nuevo Laredo to collect food so he can feed over one hundred hungry migrants that come to the church each night to eat. One of the church volunteers, Pedro Leyva said “He saw that these people are the most vulnerable, the most disliked by the local population. So he gave himself to them” (Nazario 172). Padre Leo and many others are selfless and give all they can to help the migrants in need.

  The kindness and generosity that Padre Leo exemplifies is also shown in the poverty stricken towns of Encinar, Fortín de las Flores, Cuichapa, and Presidio. In these towns, the residents have little money and food, yet they still find a way to aid the migrants along their journeys. People race out of their homes with bundles of food or clothes to throw to the migrants every time they hear the horn of a nearby train.  One of these food throwers said “If I have one tortilla, I give half of it away, I know God will bring me more” (105). These people share what they have with migrants because they know the migrants are in greater need.  Some give to the migrants because they once had or knew a child that died during the journey, some give hoping that if they ever need help in the future, someone will lend a hand, and some give because of the teachings of Mathew 25: 35 and the goodness in their hearts.  One migrant from Honduris named Fernando Antonio Valle Recarte said, “We could never keep going forward without people like this.” (104-105). Many of the migrants are on the brink of starvation, so a bundle of bread and some water could be enough to keep them alive.

    Enrique’s Journey inspired me, particularly through the selflessness of the gift givers, and the stories about people such as Padre Leo who dedicated their lives to the well-being of migrants.   Has there been a time in your life (big or small) in which you acted selflessly to help someone else?