Our Stories

Profiles of our families / Perfiles de nuestras familias 

Roanoke College Spanish students interviewed several of our families; here we share some of their answers, in an anonymous fashion (if any names are mentioned they are false).   We hope that their stories will help generate compassion and understanding.  

Estudiantes de Roanoke College entrevistaron a varios de nuestras familias, y aquí compartimos algunas de sus respuestas, de manera anónima (si se menciona algún nombre, es inventado).  Esperamos que sus historias ayudan a generar compasión y comprensión. 

Family 1: 

Why did you decide to immigrate to the US? 

They killed the father of my children. I already had all of my family here [in the US]. I was only there [in Honduras] for him. And I was scared that they would do something to me. Because of this, I came. It is better. I left everything behind and came. My mom and sister live very close to me now. There are many more opportunities here for work, stability, healthcare – everything. In Honduras, you can have the best degree, you can study a lot in college, but if you do not have a person that you are familiar with, that can help you get a job, you do not work. There, your degree has no worth. 

How has the RASSN helped you? 

When I arrived in the United States, I was in Texas, and they sent people to pick me up at a hostel and bring me here. They already knew my story, because since I came here, they were focused on everything they could do to help me. The day after I came, there was already a specific person that was going to help me with prenatal care because I was pregnant. They took me to the hospital, took care of me, and were very attentive to me. And after that, they supported me with visits to the doctor and other trips. They helped me sometimes with money, or if not, with people to take me to appointments, because right now I do not have a car yet. They help me pay rent and show me places where I can go for some help. Also, they help me with my children – with clothes, shoes, diapers, food – well, with everything. We are very grateful for them. Thank God. God has put them on my family's path. 

What hopes do you have for the future? 

The main hope I have for my future here in the United States is to see my children graduate and grow up to be successful. I believe that seeing them, already being good young children, it gives me a great hope for our path. Getting where we are today is a form of fulfillment. To see them do well already would satisfy my life because, as I told you, in my country, I suffered a lot. I suffered discrimination from people, people treated me very badly. In the future, I hope that my children will understand that difficult work will take them places and that with the opportunities in the United States, with luck, it will be much less difficult in comparison to what I had to endure in Honduras. 

Family 2: 

A family - parents and a child - emigrated to the United States in 2018. They still remember the difficulty of coming in the suffocating train without food, with people dying on the way. They decided to leave Honduras for many reasons. One primary reason is because in Honduras, work is difficult to find. The mother talked about her job; she was a vendor. She sold shoes, undergarments and accessories. But in Honduras, they needed to pay the gangs an extra cost to live in their house. The money she made as a vendor went to that additional living cost. Another consideration that affected their decision to immigrate to the United States was the future of their kids. The mother explained that many kids, especially the age of her son (14), are involved with violence and gangs; it is a very grave problem in Honduras and many kids get killed or kidnapped. Also, in the U.S.her kids have a better opportunity to get an education. In Honduras kids miss many months of school for various reasons but in the United States they can go to school regularly. 

Now our interviewee is living with her family, and she has a three-year old daughter who was born here. According to the mother, it’s difficult to obtain citizenship and even asylum, and the little girl needs to wait until turning 21 (to help). In response to our question about what an immigrant like her needs to bring, the mother said that one needs food to last several days, as well as warm winter clothes. She also said that the process of getting to the US was long and difficult - it took her three attempts. On her third journey, she had to take the train, which was horrible but worth it in the end. At this point, the lady only has her immediate family in the US. There were many reasons to move, but for this family, it was a necessity. They have a deep appreciation for the work done by the volunteer program, emphasizing that the family would not have been where they currently are without the volunteer help. The family got assistance looking for a job and with English. The family strongly recommends the program to anyone in need of help to immigrate to the United States. 

Family 3: 

“To have opportunities”  

We interviewed a couple from Honduras who have lived in the United States for two years. They both have disabilities that affect mobility and therefore have faced many obstacles in their country due to lack of opportunities and resources. This couple has come to the US with the hope of having more opportunities to excel. They need asylum for a better life. 

“Why did you all decide to travel to the United States?” 

“There was a lot of discrimination and lack of opportunities for people with disabilities… In our country you can have a great academic background, study a lot, prepare, but when it comes to getting a job it is very difficult. Once you get a job within your field, because you are a disabled person, you are discriminated against too…The education system is very different and [in the U.S.] children can have a chance to have a better life, a better future.” 

“How was the journey from Honduras to the United States?” 

“We had to first make the decision both to see the situation and to see that there was no more opportunity for our children.  We decided to go on a bus, so we asked people and so we were asking and asking as we were in different places like Santa Clara, Chiapas…in Chiapas we spent seven months with a lady who gave us housing… there were programs that helped us with a little money to get an appointment (for immigration) and so people were telling us, and were guiding us…Later, we lived a month in another town in Mexico…from there we decided to continue further north to Piedras Negras asking and asking until we had to turn ourselves over to migration and it was a challenge…In our case we first went to Alabama and the truth is that we didn’t get much support there… it was very difficult for us, we lost a lot of time and that’s why we moved here.” 

“How is the process of achieving asylum or are you all still in the process?” 

“Everything is quite backed up with cases so we've had to wait a bit.  We've been making progress since we've been here, as we already managed to access services and we managed to contact a person who already had experience with a lawyer ….They recommended a lawyer to us, and once we contacted this lawyer, we started to give him the necessary documentation.” 

It is important that RASSN knows a lot about the people who apply for asylum. This information helps create many opportunities and new ways to help and give these people resources and access that they have not been able to get. As a result, RASSN creates a plan to access all needs for the future and for all families and individuals. 

Family 4: 

We went to visit a family that came to the United States from Honduras four years ago in 2019. Dulce* arrived in 2019 and her husband Pedro* arrived in 2020. We went to interview them to find out why they came to the United States and how they feel in the United States.  (*Names have been changed.) 

Dulce arrived in the United States in 2019. She worked as a housewife, but she made tortillas at home to sell on the street. She says she lived in fear of gangs. The gangs go through the neighborhood to collect “rent” to ask for money. If the families do not give the money, they kill a family member. Life in Honduras is very difficult. Dulce made tortillas to have a salary to live on and support her children. Dulce made tortillas at home, and she sent her daughters to sell them, but the gang members wanted to use the girls to sell drugs. The gang members told him to put drugs inside the baskets and sell them too. Her daughters were afraid to go out on the street so Dulce couldn't sell tortillas anymore. On another occasion, Dulce was giving her daughter money to go to the grocery store when she suddenly heard gunshots. In front of her house, they had killed someone and left him dead there in the street. They got scared and couldn't leave the house. 

There was no way to work either at home or for a business. Dulce's daughter applied for several jobs and to this day she has not received information. The government is corrupt; they do not control the gangs, nor do they have work to give to those youth who are on the streets. The family made the decision to come to the United States for many reasons, but one of them is crime and safety. 

Dulce's husband is Pedro. He has much experience working for the government in communications. He says that things enter the country secretly, and not everything is told openly to the public.  The gangs and the government have all control. Pedro decided to go to the United States because he could be another person detained by the gangs. Upon arriving in the United States, he received a call that the gangs had detained his son-in-law. They didn't know what to do at that moment; then they are suddenly informed that he was killed. They had to seek help from other people to get their daughter out of there because she could be a victim too. They worked hard here and were able to bring their daughter. 

They all tell us how difficult life is in Honduras. People live in fear in their own country and have no security because the government is so corrupt, they do nothing to control the gangs. There is no work for the youth, so they spend their time hanging out on the streets and becoming gang members. They are also forced to work with gangs because they are boys. This is a very complicated issue to resolve in Honduras because there are people who do not want to be part of it, but it is a matter of life or death: You join, or we kill you. 

As we see, Honduras is very dangerous. People have no security, and the economy is very bad. This is why people immigrate to the United States no matter how difficult their path is. They must ride the bus like foreigners in the countries they cross and walk day and night without food and water. There are people who do not survive this travel. Many die along the way or others arrive with illnesses and with little strength to continue. 

Dulce and her family are very grateful for having made this long journey and arriving safely in the United States. Their path was not easy, but it was not impossible either. They are very happy to have the security and the opportunity to work quietly.