FROM HELL TO PARADISE By Hugo Hanriot Without education, lack of work and responsibility for a young family of four life couldn’t be any bleaker. Juan lived in a shanty town, controlled by gang violence, with no running water or electricity, unsanitary conditions, high youth mortality rate – and worst of all, no chance of a better existence. Suddenly, a ray of hope emerged; a few young courageous American missionaries opened a branch of their mission in the squatter settlement. Juan was hired to work for them. They were nice “gringos” with diplomacy skills that enabled them to operate free of gang violence. The missionaries meant well, but they couldn’t keep up with the magnitude of the squatter problems. The perpetual abandonment of the poor, general corruption, and power abuse by the government in favor of their small elite class, weighed heavily on Juan’s shanty town as well as the entire city of squatter settlements. “How is life in America?” Juan asked Peter, a young missionary who, after his university studies, joined the mission that operated in Central America. “It’s not perfect,” Peter answered, “but we have a system where there is always hope for a better life.” “Is it hard to get a job over there?” “You can always get a job; it may not be the one you desire, but it is there.” “I wish my two children would have been born in your country.” Peter admired and liked Juan’s drive to improve his family life; he was hardworking and honest. Although they were almost the same age, their futures could not be more different. Peter would return to the states with command of a foreign language, and a vast knowledge of Central America. That, in addition to his degree in sociology, should land him a good job in a federal government agency. Juan, no matter how hard he would work, was condemned to a miserable life that would be later perpetuated through his children. “Do you think I can go to America to work?” Juan anxiously asked Peter. Peter had been asked the same question by three other young family men. Peter’s idealistic big heart drove him to disobey his country’s immigration laws. He privately took up a collection among his fellow missionaries to help Juan and the other three men to enter the U.S. illegally. The men reached Mexico traveling by land. There, other young missionaries met up with them and helped set them up with the right contacts to cross the border. They waded across the Rio Grande, and thanks to Peter’s arrangements, found the American contacts that helped them to disappear among the illegal workers in California. After a few months of work on California farms, they moved to Plainfield, New Jersey. Juan and his other companions, thrilled by their good luck, lined up every morning on West Front Street near Madison Avenue, among a group of other illegal day workers, waiting for a pick-up truck or a wagon to hire them for the day. Soon they realized they could earn in a single day the equivalent of a week’s salary in their country. “Hey, guys don’t get too excited,” an older illegal worker cautioned them. “In winter there is not much work.” The older man was a member of an informal, yet tightly knit group among day laborers. “Also be prepared to suffer wage theft, accepting dangerous jobs and being ordered to do them with unsafe tools, and even on some occasions be assaulted by your bosses if they don’t like you or your work. Try to accept jobs together in groups, to protect each other from abusive employers. Remember, as an illegal worker you cannot complain to the authorities; they will deport you.” He also taught them how to send money to their families safely. Their adventure turned out even better when Juan and his three companions learned about a Latin American pastor in New Brunswick that could help them to obtain legal residence in the U.S. and work permits. The pastor was charismatic and deeply spiritual. He convinced them to pledge him one third of their weekly income to pay lawyers who would be working on their cases. “The church is powerful in this country. Once I get your working permits, we will apply for your American citizenship. After that we will file claim for visas for your wives and children to come to live here. You are good Christians; this is the way God helps people like you.” One of Juan’s friends found a weekend job in a banquet hall as a dishwasher, to cover the cost of the added expense of the pastor’s fee. During a weekend night, walking back home from the banquet hall, he was assaulted and robbed by a gang who suspected he was an illegal worker, an easy prey with no recourse to denounce the mugging. He was badly beaten and discovered dead on the street next morning. Meantime, Juan’s other companions, feeling deceived by the false promises of the pastor, had found women with American citizenships willing to marry them for a fee and later claim their legal residences. The pastor’s prediction that Juan’s family would soon join him collapsed when the pastor was arrested and sentenced to 18 years in state prison for scamming for years groups of illegal immigrants. Juan clenched his teeth and kept working harder, hoping immigration would not catch up with him. He was now alone in his dream of “paradise”. He needed more time to save enough money to buy a home in his country, in a safer neighborhood, and return to enjoy life with his wife and children. He even considered earning enough cash to start a business. I’ll see you next week with a new story. TO READ MORE OF HUGO’S STORIES GO TO amazon/author/hugohanriot TO GET OUR NEWSLETTER VIA E-MAIL FEATURING OUR WEEKLY FREE NEW STORY, GO TO THE RIGHT HAND COLUMN OF STORIES4REAL.COM AND USE THE “REGISTER” OR “SUBSCRIBE” BUTTON. TO SEND A COMMENT ABOUT THIS STORY VISIT facebook and search for Hugo Hanriot
Posted on: Sat, 06 Jul 2013 14:21:57 +0000
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