Many new students at our school have recently immigrated to the United States and are ready to share their important and difficult stories.
A few days ago a new student arrived at EHHS. The girl is from Guatemala, she explains her experience, how she came to the United States and what her experience was like. She came to have a better life and a better future, she was very strong and very brave during the process. She had a very hard road. It took her a month or more to reach the United States. She had to go through many things that could affect a person who is not prepared to experience these types of things. The way she came was very complicated. She explained, “The road is very dangerous and the way they take us to the points where we have to get to.” Luckily they had transportation, partially, but even so the walk on foot was very long. She says, “In my case they didn’t treat me badly but there were moments that were very hard.” As for food and water, there was, “the food wasn’t the best but we had it” She says the worst experience was transportation. “Transportation was the hardest because they were closed trucks and we were very suffocated and during the trip and you couldn’t see anything, you couldn’t see where you were or where we were going.” The reason why she came to the United States was because of school when she was only 16 years old, she also came alone across the border. She managed to arrive alone and be with people she doesn’t know without knowing what could happen. She claims that she is where she needed to be. She says, “I see everything very differently, the system is much more different from my last school, I don’t know much but I think that as time goes by maybe I learn English more easily.” This is not easy for someone to talk about because it can bring back a lot of bad memories for a person but she was strong and spoke about her experience. The last thing she explained was what she wants to do after school, “I want to finish school, be able to finish my studies and work at something decent and get ahead with my life.”
Two years ago another girl arrived from Honduras and began attending EHHS. She was 14 years old when she came from Honduras. The girl explains her trauma, experience, and how she made all this sacrifice to arrive in this country alone and pregnant. She not only came for herself, but for her baby and to have a better future for her and him. She made the decision alone to come from Honduras and on her own, she didn’t tell anyone. She came alone with nothing at the age of 14, her experience was very difficult. She explains, “it was quite complicated, like leaving the country and leaving my parents with nothing was a bit complicated.” She did not tell anyone, neither her parents nor the father of her baby. She continued, “the situation in my country was very bad and very complicated, I did not want my baby to go through that, I knew I had to leave there quickly before the baby was born. When she came she had to stop in different countries and went to Guatemala and Mexico, she stopped in Guatemala once and slept on the street. Another time she stayed in migrant houses; “In each of the countries there were migrant houses, you can stay there for a maximum of four days and you have to continue advancing. In my case, I only had 2 days left to continue advancing.” “When I arrived in Mexico I was also still sleeping on the streets and for some time I was working to continue advancing in status, but the other time I was also asking for money and things, and that lasted six months and I was in Guatemala for 12 days. After spending all that bad time working, looking for a place to sleep, thinking if I was going to arrive in time for the baby to be born in the United States, “I already crossed the border and found a family from Texas who were very nice to me, they helped me a lot and let me stay. There for a whole month while I was looking for a place to go and at the time I didn’t have a phone to communicate with anyone and I never heard from them again… But for the moment I thank you very much for everything you did for me and for my baby to be well.” After some time she contacted one of her sisters who was here in the United States and who lived in Connecticut, she helped her come and for her to go live with her, and after 6 months her father came. of her baby. She had many bad and good people during this whole process, at the end of all this she knew that what she was doing was all for her baby “I was doing it for her, I just wanted him to be well” she was just strong for the baby, she didn’t know the exact gender of the baby because she knew it and she knew the baby was fine. “After all, I went to the baby’s appointment, and they told me that everything is fine and that he was perfect, and I was just crying because I can finally see my baby and no longer be thinking if something is wrong with my baby, I “I was crying with happiness.” They told her that she had one month left and the day the baby was born, he came out as a boy, everything changed for her, she already had everything as a child but she knew that everything was for a reason and she continued with her life. She says, “I just pray to God that my baby was well and healthy when he was born” and that everything turned out very well for her and her family. For this girl who goes to East Haven High School, it is so that students understand that one does not know where people come from or how they get there, they do not know how those people who are not from the United States have suffered and only come here to have a better future. Many people have to be grateful for what they have. She is a very strong, brave person for everything she did just to get to the United States and to have her baby.
