Sonia Nazario, a Pulitzer Prize winner for Loss Angeles Times wrote a book by the title: “Enrique’s Journey: The Boy Left Behind”. The book talks of a boy by the name of Enrique who was left in his own country, Honduras at the age of five with her relatives by her mother (Lourdes).Lourdes went to United state in search for better life for her family with an aim of coming back soon but this did not happen as life did not turn out as she thought. Enrique became impatient after waiting for her mother for a long time and risks going to look for her. His efforts failed for seven times because of the many obstacles he met on the way. However, on the eighth time, he succeeded and united with his mother (Nazario 234).
Before Enrique went to US, he had a girlfriend by the name Marie Isabel who gave birth to a daughter and kept hoping he will be able to bring his wife in US (Nazario 234).
However, this did not happen which prompted Isabel to leave her child behind in search for a better life. I strongly agree that leaving while very young to go and look for their parents is a great risk unless they were big enough and had spent ample time with their parents before they were left.
One of the key issues that make people go to the US and other developed countries is poverty, that is, they are unable to provide basic needs for their children. People migrate with a hope that they will get good jobs with good pay that will enable them to bring up their children and families in a better way. I can identify with the situation as from the experience of friends who leave for US since they feel that the money they are getting in their own country is not enough to meet all their needs. For example, from Enrique’s story, Lourdes left her very young child for the US in search of better life so that she could be able to pay for his school fees and hoped she would be back soon. However it seems that her expectations were not achieved.
It seems that people do not get jobs as fast as they expect, a good quote is, ‘’hurry hurry has no blessings’’.Lourdes struggled in US before securing a good job and she did not return as she had promised her son which made him to miss her so much(Nazario 50). This is a very regular case as many people have even stayed for as long as ten years before coming back to their country or fails to come back at all. Most of the children left are so young such that if they were left with their relatives they will consider them as their parents. Of great concern is how a child can stay for ten years and then start looking for his or her parents. Furthermore, there is a saying that says, “giving birth to a child is not a deal the deal is bringing up that child’’.However,even if the children are big enough to look for their parents they faces a lot of
problems which may even result in their death or take long before they are united with their parents.
There are many risks associated with immigration. For example, one takes a very long time before getting a visa or opt not even to look for it because of lack of funds. Another problem especially for young children is being hijacked and made to be slaves or raped. For instance, from the story, Enrique failed for seven times before he could be united back with his mother. This arose from being beaten on the way by gangsters, jailed, robbed and sometimes deported but due to his courage, the eighth time he is reunited with his mother. My concern and question is how many people will persevere for all those times looking for their people before they get them.
This is a very common incidence in the news currently about children who went looking for their parents only to become slaves.Moreover, even if these children are united with their parents, there will be no positive gain.
As clearly stated in the book, Enrique was not in good terms with her mother even after uniting as he could not respect him since during that time, his mother was not around. As a result, some resentment was developed (Nazario 312). Therefore all his efforts of wanting to meet his parent do not bear much fruits compared to the struggle he went through. Moreover, the issue of immigration in search of the members of the family just keeps on bringing a lot of problems instead of bringing the problems that excited first to an end.
Enrique had a girlfriend before he went to the US and while still there, her girlfriend gave birth to a daughter and after waiting for long for her boyfriend to go for her and take her to the US.There was no positive response such that she brought up the child all by herself. In the fourth year, Marie Isabel also thought of going to look for ways of bettering her life and went to the US leaving her son behind and I think even after meeting with his husband, they were not in good terms because of leaving her behind. In addition, their daughter who was left behind grew up without a parent and so the situation was going from bad to worse (Nazario 320). The solution to bettering our life is not migration but looking for a permanent solution.
According to the reading, it is important for individuals to fight against poverty and be willing to share with those who do not have. In addition we should examine every story before we believe it and work towards it. One of the best ways of evaluating a story is to survey a good number of immigrant children and find out the reasons of immigrations and experiences they have gone through.
In conclusion, most people move to other countries with the aim of bettering their life and leave their children behind with relatives even at a very tender age. To most extents, their expectations are not met such that they stay in the US or any other country more than they thought. As a result, some of children moved by the love of their parents go to look for them but face a lot of cruelty like being beaten, lack of food but some members of society show them some kindness.
Works cited
Nazario, Sonia. Enrique’s journey: the boy left behind. 2006. Web.