Human Trafficking..One Family's Story. 
(Take a look at this picture full screen)
This woman in the picture is working with her husband and her son all day in the fields. They are struggling to survive on a daily basis. The son is severely handicapped, he can not be left alone so despite his mental and physical conditions he works with them in the field all day long. How difficult it must be for them. They have no choice. How hard for the mother to watch him struggle. They don't have day care,there is no school for him to go to.He falls down a lot and doesn't do a good job. The other workers are fearfull of being fired if the work doesn't come up to standard so they cut through the rows from thier own to his to check on him. The mother and father do the same. The dad I am guessing to be in his very late 60's. They are struggling and work hard because there is two other children to be brought by the coyotes. They are fearfull but pray to Jesus constantly that the coyotes will bring them and not ask for more money. The mother has not seen her children for 10 years, they were 2 and 3 years old when she left.
The dad is suffering from what they call tobbacco posioning. It is worse than
poision ivy by ten times. If you have ever had that you know what I am talking about . The bubbles are huge and cover his whole back, it is itchy enough to drive you out of your mind. The sun makes the boils burst and they leak more poison over him. They are too afraid of being deported to go to the hospital although it can get extremely serious. I take him to the store and give him Beneydrl pills and teach them how to use them. They didn't know how to buy them or had even heard of them. News of this soon spread to hundreds of workers.
There were many workers with this, they just accepted it.
THEY HAVE GONE YEARS WITH NO MEDICINE FOR THIS.
So hard to believe, a simple over the counter medicine sold at most gas stations.
Sometimes when you wonder,
What is it I can do personally to help someone? Can you see how just a small exchange of information is helpful. Think about what you could do to make a difference, one person at a time. You can make a difference! They stay hidden but if you look hard enough you will see them. Our migrant workers are eveywhere, our fields,our factories, the churches when they can get there. Reach out to someone around you,give a hand,there are many ways you can help.
The mother wears a bandanna, she remains cheerfull despite the tiredness I
see in her eyes. She offers me a bandanna to put on...I didn't want to wear it at first but within a few hours I realized her cough did not come from a cold but from years of working with the dust has ruined her lungs.
Often times the coyotes bring a family member for a set price..paid in advance. The family just has to hope they get here. Sometimes they don't. Mostly 95% of the time when the coyote delivers there is an additional 5000.00 demanded, sometimes a lot more. The hope is when he is paid they will have a good life. This family has worked years so far for the mother, father and son to be here in our country.
This farmer insists they rest Sunday or this family would probably work!
I couldn't fathom the situation they were in , of course at that point I thought a coyote was something like a wild small dog .
I also didn't realize work didn't last long and it was hard to come by especially with the new laws...
Every morning I would see the family arrive,it never occured to me. I mean
THE FAMILY LIVED IN AN OLD CAR ABANDONED ON THE EDGE OF THE FIELD AND HAVE NOT MUCH FOOD. Comforts like good shoes and clothing they don't even have. I used nail glue in the field to fix one worker's sneakers that the bottom flap on both of them seperated at the same time. The other workers laughed with him, it was just thier life. I am ashamed to say my thought was" Why doesn't he just buy a new pair of shoes, surely they make enough money". I thought it was just thier choice to save money to send home to Mexico,ignorance is bliss and we live in a blissfull country.
................ PAYING OFF COYOTES....SUPPORTING LOVED ONES WHO HAVE
NO WORK!
The sneakers were still holding a few months later,every time I saw him as we worked in the fields, he pointed to them and thanked me. I later learned he had little money anyways but besides that what we take for granted. A DRIVERS LICENSE! It is with great risk that the few that drive, drive for the chances of being discovered and pulled over and deported are 100 percent greater. You don't ask someone to risk deportation for a ride to buy sneakers.
I MEAN LIKE I REALLY DIDN'T GET IT...start thinking about it...the ones that drive? How do they buy a car....how do they register it so they won't be pulled over? They don't! I just never thought about the tremendous list of things all the way down to not being able to go buy a pair of sneakers even if you had the money.
A lot of the money goes to the coyotes, the rest to support family at home where there is no work to be found! I have lost touch with this family, I never went back to the fields. I pray for them that thier children arrived safely and that they are not split up in the future.( I can't tell you how many women I have taken to the jail to visit thier husband only to find he has been deported already. I will forever remember the wails of the women as they covered my shoulder with tears. Sometimes the coyotes get more money by taking the money to bring the child and then selling the child to someone else, which I pray with all my heart does not happen to this family.
Update on this post:
One of the workers who became a good friend of mine died recently.
These people have no health care.
There was no health care for the family's son.
There was no health care for my friend.
His death was un-necessary.
In a diabetic coma ,which the underlying condition can be treated,his only brother who did not speak english was convinced to pull the plug. He was told his brother's kidneys had shut down.
Personally, I visited him and don't believe this to be true.
It is 2 different types of comas.
The hospital he was in is goverment run.
The rating is 63
My friend was then deprived of food and water in the coma and died 13 days later.
He worked hard at mechanics and made money.
He worked in our fields and made money.
I was hospitalized for 11 days with the tobacco poisioning and pnemonia
in 98 percent of my lungs from the field.
There were funds to cover my stay, I only had to fill out paperwork.
I had no income at the time I was hospitalized as the season was over.
Is there any way we can petition our government to make it easier to
get temporary work visa's? Then they would not suffer these problems.
Many of these people are un-educated. The amount of red tape for a work
visa is ridiculous. I tried to help a friend get one and couldn't understand
the whole process.
My friend went home to Mexico to see his mom, who he had not seen in
twenty years. She was old and ill and requesting to see him.
He was returning in March, last I heard he had paid the coyotes to
cross and was on his way. He has never been heard from again.
His family still calls every month to see if I have heard from him.
Since it has been 9 months myself and his other friends here in
America fear the worst. Sometimes the coyotes take the money and
then instead of crossing the people they just shoot them.
Give us this day our daily bread...thousands of these people suffer to
bring it to us, Just for the privledge to live in America.
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