Hardships, Obstacles Part of Migrant Lifestyle

By Manuel Gomez

Hardships, obstacles, and challenges are all a part of my life as a migrant student. Every season I have different obstacles to overcome.

However, every obstacle I overcome only makes me stronger, and helps mold me into the person I am and I will become.

As soon as the flowers began to bloom, I began to pack some of the only possessions I owned. My papa became excited in hopes of maybe this year he will get a job that will pay him a little more than last year. My mama becomes happy with the thought that maybe this year will be the year we will finally have an apartment of our own; instead of living in a garage that we shared with three other families.

Nevertheless, my brother and I become sad with the thought that we will have to transfer to a different school. The only hope we have was that this school would provide us with a Spanish-speaking teacher.

My parents were aware of my feelings but reminded me that, "There is nothing bad that good doesn't come from."

To our good luck we enrolled into a school in which there were some Spanish-speaking teachers and students, unlike the other schools where language was a barrier between my peers, teachers and me.

Unfortunately, however, one of the challenges that comes with being a migrant student is that I was not in the grade I was supposed to be in. I had moved from place to place, and it was a struggle to keep my grades up to my potential.

Whenever we came home from school, my mama would remind us that, "You must study so you don't have to live like this all your life." We took her words to heart, and studied all night.

That year I was enrolled in a school only enough to learn English. My teacher said I was so determined I had surpassed many of my peers. Learning English was a big accomplishment for my family and me. I then began to teach my papa and mama English every day.

My papa got a job in the orchards that spring, though summer rolled in quickly. My papa worked hard for hours a day.

However, then my papa got sick and could not work. My family did not know what we were going to do until my brother said he would temporarily quit school until my papa could work.

However, when my papa became better, my brother did not quit, and he no longer went to school. Since both my brother and papa worked in the orchards, and my mama in the warehouse, we had enough money to get an apartment.

It was not a mansion and it was not luxurious, but it was home, and home is where the heart is.

The temperature outside began to drop, and I knew winter was right around the corner.

We used to go to my parents' native land every winter, but we stopped because we did not have enough money to pay coyotes (the people who snuck us across the borders).

We had saved enough money to pay for the apartment until spring. We just would not have electricity every month until then, but I was already used to that.

That Christmas we all got new shoes, but that was not important to us because we all had each other. We even had enough money to buy a phone card to call my relatives in El Salvador. The phone calls to El Salvador always made me homesick; they made me miss my rich culture, the tropical wind that once brushed my face, and, most of all, my cousins and grandparents.

As a migrant student I feel out of place sometimes. In America I am a foreigner, but in El Salvador I am American. Everywhere I go I feel as though people are belittling me.

It seems like I am never seen as an equal, with the exception of my home and a class where my teacher tells us to be proud of our roots and ourselves.

I consider America and El Salvador part of my roots that intertwine, and I hold my head up high. Being a migrant has helped mold me as a student and as an individual.

I learned at an early age that the most valuable thing in life is your family, and that a house is not always a home, home is where you make it.

Witnessing all the workers in the field working their hearts out helped me realize that in order for me to continue to fulfill my papa's, mama's and my American dream, I must start now in school, while overcoming the challenges that come along with being a migrant student.