From Guatemala to Napa High
From Guatemala to Napa High
Two teens make long journey to reach for diploma
By CRISTINA DE LEÓN-MENJIVAR
Register Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
With the money collected from selling a bike and working for two days, Fredy Carrillo and Brayan Garcia decided to change their lives forever.
They would come to Napa.
Unhappy with their prospects in their humble hometown of Santa Rosa, Guatemala, they decided to find a way out. In early spring 2006, the two left their country to find more opportunity.
“I wanted to live better, there’s so much poverty, you just want to leave and find a better life,” Carrillo said in Spanish.
Both only 17 years old, they had already had experience as painters, bakers, and buyers and sellers of coffee, and the two best friends could not imagine where their five-month journey would take them. Leaving in early spring of last year, the two teens worked odd jobs all summer in Northern Guatemala and Mexico to fund their journey.
Once arriving to Napa and moving in with one of Brayan’s aunts, the two enrolled at Napa High School. Their teacher, Blanca Wellington, said they have been very successful in the school’s newcomer center.
“They put a lot of effort, I see that they try,” Wellington said. “They’re fantastic and I respect them so much.”
Both students are working nearly full-time at a fast food restaurant. Their focus is to study English so they can graduate and work to help their families in Guatemala.
Carrillo, however, knows graduating high school is not going to be an easy feat.
Carrillo is still learning very basic words, and proper pronunciation is a problem.
“It’s like I’m a baby learning how to speak — you say words wrong or backward,” he said in Spanish.
Fredy and Brayan still have their eyes on graduating in 2008.
Having come thousands of miles to get here, the two teens are not sure what will come after that. They may try to stay and work. They also said thoughts of returning to Guatemala later in life have crossed their minds. But first comes completing high school.
“Graduating is a goal I have, but I know I have to fight for it because it’s going to be hard,” Carillo said.
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