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Posted on Sun, Jul. 31, 2005

The path to a dream

For two youngsters who made the arduous, sometimes frightening journey to the United States from Mexico with their migrant farmer parents, the trip was well worth it. Effrain Perez and Angelica find life "easier" here, and certainly less dangerous. Their paths crossed this summer at the South Jersey education program for migrant children.

Effrain Perez, sixth grade

Effrain Perez, 12, an aspiring soccer player, recounted his journey from Mexico to the United States for a school project.

He wrote:

"When I came to the United States we crossed the desert. In the desert we saw coyote and cactus. I saw my family walking together with other people. We crossed rivers and arrived to some houses. There we waited for the car to take us to New Jersey. This happened three months ago. We wanted to see how it is in the United States."

The journey, made with his mother and three siblings, took about a month. They crossed a river on foot and spent an entire day in the desert.

"I was afraid I would end up lost in the desert," he said. They were aided by native Americans who arranged for them to travel to Phoenix.

Effrain said his father, who works in a Hammonton nursery, came to the area two years ago from their village in Oaxaca, Mexico. His father saved and borrowed enough money to send for his family - about 15,000 pesos, or $1,400 in U.S. dollars, per person.

Effrain misses playing soccer with his friends back home and speaking Spanish, but believes that the family will have a better life in New Jersey.

School has been difficult, he said, mainly because of the language barrier. He has made new friends and enjoys computer class.

"It's easier here," Effrain said through a translator. "You don't suffer the way you do in Mexico. Life is hard there."



Angelica Hernandez, sixth grade

Angelica Hernandez calls at least four places home: New Jersey, North Carolina, Indiana and Florida.

Her parents are migrant workers, and the family travels around the country as they seek work. Sometimes they live in a rented house, a camp or a motel room in Mays Landing.

"I've been moving from place to place," said Angelica, who at 12 is the oldest of five children.

She was 6 years old when her family and about 10 others made the illegal trip across the Mexican border. They walked in the desert for a month. She stepped on a cactus and a needle became embedded in her foot.

When Angelica and her younger sisters tired, her father carried them. "We couldn't keep up with the others," she said.

A 3-year-old boy got separated from the group. By the time he was found, it was too late.

"He was torn in pieces. Something ate him. He was dead," she recalled. "It was sad."

They eventually arrived in Florida, but had to hide for a year from immigration officials. Angelica's foot had become infected, but the family was afraid to seek medical attention. Instead, her father used a knife sterilized in the oven to remove the cactus needle while she slept.

A good student, Angelica shares whatever she learns with her siblings. She also teaches English to her parents. She wants to become a migrant teacher.

"I don't want to do it for money," she said. "I just want to do it because I know that other people need help."

Angelica left the summer migrant education program two weeks early because her family moved to their next farm in Indiana. She plans to pick peppers on weekends to earn money to help her family.



Maria Mendoza, 26

Maria Mendoza considers herself lucky.

When her parents - migrant workers - came from Mexico in 1995, they settled in South Jersey, refusing to shuffle the family from farm to farm seeking work.

Then 15, she stayed home to care for her two younger siblings while her parents worked. She sent them to school, while her own education suffered.

"I thought I was never going to be able to go to school," recalled Maria. She briefly attended a migrant-education program to learn English.

Eventually, she enrolled in Cumberland Regional High School and earned a diploma in 2000, the first in her family to graduate from high school. She attends Atlantic Cape Community College and hopes to become a baker.

Her sister, Imelda, 22, graduated in May from Pennsylvania State University with a degree in anthropology. Her brother, Gerardo, 18, will be a senior at Cumberland Regional High School this year.

"I guess this was the American dream my dad wanted us to have," said Maria, a naturalized citizen. "He wanted us to get the education they couldn't."

Her parents still work on a farm in Cedarville, Cumberland County. The family resides in the Gouldtown section of Fairfield.

For five years, Maria has been a recruiter for the migrant-education program, touring farms to enroll children in summer school.

"I was blessed that I didn't go through what they did," she said. "I feel that if I do this job, it's a way I make a difference in their lives."

- Melanie Burney