Peace Corps Guatemala: An American's First Footsteps

I recently read the book Solito, which is an autobiography about the journey of Javier, a 9 year old boy from El Salvador immigrating to the United States. I knew that boy. Well, not him exactly, but I could see him in my students and the way he idolized a projected image of the United States. Streets free of trash, houses with pools, iPhones everywhere. I could  also see Guatemala in the way he described the tortillas, clothing, and communities of  El Salvador. A few weeks later, I watched the movie Harriet, which is a Hollywoodized movie about Harriet Tubman. Although the stories are set in different time periods and places, there are many parallels between the  clandestine movements.

Javier covered a few thousand miles on his journey and Harriet, a few hundred, but the ultimate goal for both cases was to move North. Javier rode on buses, trains, and boats in addition to walking, and Harriet rode on a wagon or walked. Javier dodged helicopters and heat-detecting night vision goggles, and Harriet dodged hunting dogs and horses. The technology has changed, but the story hasn’t. They relied on churches, the kindness of strangers, and luck. Their own people attempted to sabotage their trip and food was scarce. They don’t know where they’re going or what they’re getting into: the United States is not all pools and iPhones. There is an underlying need to find a better life, and the only way to move up is to immigrate.