A Long Journey Towards Hope

PIEDRAS NEGRAS, Mexico — Lizette’s journey to find a better life for her family has been very long, but even with the U.S. border so close, she and her family’s journey is still far from finished.

She and her family come from Maracaibo, Venezuela. She had a business there, working as a nail stylist. However, hunger became a familiar part of life there for them. “If we eat breakfast, we don’t eat dinner. If we don’t eat breakfast, then we eat dinner,” Lizette said, while sitting in a Catholic migrant shelter in Piedras Negras, Mexico, where she was interviewed. So, six years ago, she and her husband decided to move to Ecuador with their three children.

The first four years in Ecuador went well for them. They found work, and for once had enough food. After a year there, they had a fourth child. Ecuador had become their new home. 

But then gangs began extorting the business she worked for, demanding money. Her bosses fled north to escape, and Lizette’s family was forced to follow–Ecuador was no longer safe for them. Getting to the U.S. became their new source of hope.

Separating South and Central America is what is known as the Darien Gap, a region of very dense and inhospitable rainforest, with no roads running through it. It measures 60 miles at its shortest length. To continue north, Lizette and her family had no way to avoid going through it, traveling with their four children, who are now ages 13, 11, 7 and 4. At one point, she said they almost drowned crossing through a river. To make matters worse, she became sick in the jungle, causing her leg to become swollen for several days, to the point she could not walk easily. Her husband had to carry her through part of that stretch.

In December, they managed to reach Mexico City safely. “We want to enter legally,” Lizette said, so there they applied for asylum to come to the U.S.

Their interview with U.S. immigration was scheduled for Jan. 5. However, they were delayed by “many obstacles in life,” as she phrased it, causing them to miss the interview time by two hours. Because they cannot reschedule it, they were forced to restart the process. Volunteers in Piedras Negras said this process often takes 6-8 months.

Lizette’s family has spent the last three months staying at the Casa del Migrante, an organization in Piedras Negras focused on helping migrants. She said she feels safe there.

Even with the long wait, and a high level of uncertainty even if they get an interview, Lizette has not given up hope of starting a life in the U.S. “I want to give my children other opportunities to study and a better quality of life,” she said. She hopes to continue learning English, and to become a nail stylist again.

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This project was created through a journalism class at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s Journalism, Advertising and Media Studies Department. This work was made possible through the support of MPC Endowment Ltd., the philanthropic affiliate of the Milwaukee Press Club.