Santiago's Road Home
Page 19
“Because it’s a party, a celebration. Mami and I used to sing and dance in the rain. She said it honored the rain to feel the drops on our skin instead of hiding from it. When we embrace the rain, she said, we’re free.”
Alegría snuggles closer. “Can we do that too? Dance in the rain?”
Santiago’s hand drops from her pigtails. As much as he tries to stop them, memories prey on his heart: His tía criticizing him for letting her kids play in the mud, and la malvada insulting him and his mami; the one time in the center where he got soaked to the core and almost died.
No, he won’t let those thoughts ruin things. Not anymore. “I’d like that. Dancing together will be a tremenda fiesta.” Santiago kisses the top of Alegría’s head. “If your mami says it’s okay. And if there’s a way to get dry and warm afterward.”
María Dolores turns around from the front seat and grabs Santiago’s hand, giving it a squeeze. “Of course, to all of that. But only if I can party in the rain with ustedes.”
“Me too!” María Eugenia says from the driver seat.
Another clap of thunder rattles the car. This time, Alegría sits up. “Do you think it’ll rain when we get home?”
Santiago gazes out the window. The sun behind the thunderclouds has caused them to turn brilliant shades of purple and pink.
Home, a future he’s never known.
“Yes, creo que sí.”
AUTHOR’S NOTE
At the time of writing this, hundreds of people are trying to enter the U.S. daily. Holding centers are well exceeding capacity, and cities near the border struggle to provide resources for the influx of refugees. Laws continuously change, and yet little, if anything, seems to be done to improve the lives of those held in custody. Even the deaths of several children while in these holding facilities hasn’t (to my knowledge) resulted in any progressive change in the situation. Newspapers report that it costs over seven hundred dollars per person, per day, to house the youths in immigration centers, and the government claims there’s not enough funding to provide better living conditions. Wherever all this money goes, it’s not benefiting any immigrant or refugee.
Even though Santiago’s story is a work of fiction, as is the facility where he’s detained, most of his experiences are true to past and current immigration hardships. They were taken from various accounts of youths and adults held at both temporary and long-term facilities throughout the country. A lot of children who are currently entering the U.S. are kept in far worse conditions than Santiago faced: often denied access to sufficient and clean water and food, crammed together in large “cages,” and don’t provide toothbrushes and soap or medical attention. Providing education, which a few years ago had been obligatory, has almost completely vanished from centers, and yet the government expects the youths to learn English.
Some children are still being taken from their parents; a lawyer friend really did deliver breast milk for a baby separated from her mother. Belts and shoelaces are removed from the detainees, along with anything else perceived as dangerous, leaving them worse off than they were before their arrival. A lot of youths entering the U.S. today turn themselves in at the border as they seek asylum, while others still try to enter the country illegally.
Due to the remoteness, some people attempt to cross the desert border running through New Mexico, Arizona, and California, not realizing the natural challenges they must endure. In an ideal world a person would have one to two gallons of water per day of desert crossing—a very heavy task, considering how much water weighs. There are accounts of people dying only a few hours after their vehicle left them stranded. Likewise, there are reports of people surviving four to five days of intense desert temperatures reaching well over one hundred degrees Fahrenheit, and having run out of water days before. Sometimes helpful citizens will leave bottles of water under a bush for immigrants to drink, while others deliberately destroy the water supply to prevent immigration. Unfortunately, hundreds of people die each year trying to cross the desert, and there are many more whose remains are never found. Despite the extreme hardships people go through to immigrate to the U.S., and then the further hardships faced once here, thousands of youths risk everything to live here. Severe gang violence in their hometowns has them running literally for their lives. For others, poverty is a factor leading to immigration. For example, the current daily wage in Mexico is about five U.S. dollars (https://www.hklaw.com/en/insights/publications/2018/12/mexico-to-increase-minimum-wage-for-2019). Several children, like Santiago, are also escaping abusive relatives. The emotional impact of this book made it a challenge to write. It’s heart-wrenching to learn what extremes refugees are forced into when they attempt to reach safety or seek asylum. But at the same time, I knew I had to write Santiago’s story. Without awareness, nothing changes. Here’s the awareness, now let’s bring forth the change.
—A. D.
Resources
American Academy of Pediatrics. “American Academy of Pediatrics Urges Compassion and Appropriate Care for Immigrant and Refugee Children.” March 13, 2017. https://www.aap.org/en-us/about-the-aap/aap-press-room/pages/american-academy-of-pediatrics-urges-compassion-and-appropriate-care-for-immigrant-and-refugee-children.aspx. Arnold, Amanda. “What to Know About the Detention Centers for Immigrant Children Along the U.S.–Mexico Border.” The Cut, June 21, 2018. https://www.thecut.com/2018/06/immigrant-children-detention-center-separated-parents.html.
Barry, Dan, et al. “Migrant Children Tell of Life Without Parents Inside US Immigration Detention Centres.” Independent, July 16, 2018. https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/migrant-children-us-immigration-centres-family-separation-a8449276.html.
Bogado, Aura. “ICE Isn’t Following Its Own Handbook on How to Deport Kids.” PRI, April 25, 2018. https://www.pri.org/stories/2018-04-25/ice-isn-t-following-its-own-handbook-how-deport-kids.
Button, Liz. “ABA to Collect Books at Winter Institute 14 for Refugees at the Southern U.S. Border.” American Booksellers Association, November 18, 2018. https://www.bookweb.org/news/aba-collect-books-winter-institute-14-refugees-southern-us-border-108586.
Chapin, Angelina. “Drinking Toilet Water, Widespread Abuse: Report Details ‘Torture’ For Child Detainees.” Huffpost, last modified July 18, 2018. https://www.huffpost.com/entry/migrant-children-detail-experiences-border-patrol-stations-detention-centers_n_5b4d13ffe4b0de86f485ade8.
Cooper, Nicole. Lecture at the University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX, November 6, 2017.
Cotter, Holland. “For Migrants Headed North, the Things They Carried to the End.” New York Times, March 3, 2017. https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/03/arts/design/state-of-exception-estado-de-excepcion-parsons-mexican-immigration.html.
Dickson, Caitlin. “ ‘I Thought I Would Never See Him’: Asylum Seeker and Son Reunite After Border Separation.” Yahoo News, July 17, 2018. https://www.yahoo.com/news/thought-never-see-asylum-seeker-son-reunite-border-separation-163945092.html.
Dickerson, Caitlin. “Detention of Migrant Children Has Skyrocketed to Highest Levels Ever.” New York Times, September 12, 2018. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/12/us/migrant-children-detention.html.
Garcia Bochenek, Michael. “No Way to Treat Children Fleeing Danger.” Harvard International Review, July 26, 2018.
Gómez, Grace. Immigration lawyer. http://www.gomezimmigration.com/.
Hlavinka, Elizabeth. “UT Immigration Clinic Lawyers Represent Detained Immigrant Women, Children.” The Daily Texan, February 11, 2016. http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2016/02/11/ut-immigration-clinic-lawyers-represent-detained-immigrant-women-children.
Huang, Wen. “Q&A on Child Immigration Crisis with Law School’s Maria Woltjen.” UChicago News, July 14, 2014. https://news.uchicago.edu/story/qa-child-immigration-crisis-law-schools-maria-woltjen.
International Rescue Committee. “What’s in My Bag? What Refugees Bring When They Run for Their Lives.” Medium, September 4, 2015. https://medium.com/uprooted/what-s-in-my-bag-758d435f6e62.<
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Office of Refugee Resettlement. https://www.acf.hhs.gov/orr.
Sharp, Jay W. “Water, Water… Nowhere: Survival in the Desert.” DesertUSA. https://www.desertusa.com/desert-activity/thirst.html.
Stillman, Sarah. “The Five-Year-Old Who Was Detained at the Border and Persuaded to Sign Away Her Rights.” The New Yorker, October 11, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-five-year-old-who-was-detained-at-the-border-and-convinced-to-sign-away-her-rights.
Taxin, Amy. “Immigrant Children Describe Treatment in Detention Centers.” AP News, July 18, 2018. https://www.apnews.com/1a8db84a88a940049558b4c450dccc8a.
Urrea, Luis Alberto. The Devil’s Highway: A True Story. New York: Hachette, 2005.
Further Reading
Picture Books
Agee, Jon. The Wall in the Middle of the Book. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2018.
Buitrago, Jairo and Rafael Yockteng. Two White Rabbits. Toronto: Groundwood Books, 2015.
Danticat, Edwidge. Mama’s Nightingale: A Story of Immigration and Separation. New York: Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015.
Mills, Deborah. La Frontera: El viaje con papá/My Journey with Papa. Cambridge, MA: Barefoot Books, 2018.
Morales, Yuyi. Dreamers. New York: Neal Porter Books, 2018.
Surat, Michele Maria. Angel Child, Dragon Child. New York: Scholastic, 1989.
Tonatiuh, Duncan. Pancho Rabbit and the Coyote: A Migrant’s Tale. New York: Abrams, 2013.
Middle-Grade
Bausum, Ann. Denied, Detained, Deported: Stories from the Dark Side of American Immigration. Washington, DC: National Geographic Children’s Books, 2009.
Colfer, Eoin and Andrew Donkin. Illegal. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky, 2018.
Park, Linda Sue. A Long Walk to Water: Based on a True Story. Boston: HMH Books for Young Readers, 2011.
Senzai, N. H. Shooting Kabul. New York: Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2010.
Young Adults
Clark, Tea Rozman, ed. Green Card Youth Voices series. Green Card Youth Voices, various.
Marquardt, Marie. The Radius of Us. New York: St. Martin’s Griffin, 2017.
Schafer, Steve. The Border. Naperville, IL: Sourcebooks Fire, 2016.
Zoboi, Ibi. American Street. New York: Balzer + Bray, 2017.
Adults
De León, Jason. The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail. Oakland: University of California Press, 2015.
Patel, Lisa (Leigh). Youth Held at the Border: Immigration, Education, and the Politics of Inclusion. New York: Teachers College Press, 2013.
Regan, Margaret. Detained and Deported: Stories of Immigrant Families Under Fire. Boston: Beacon Press, 2015.
More from the Author
The Crossroads
The Only Road
About the Author
Alexandra Diaz is the author of The Only Road, which received a Pura Belpré Honor and the Américas Award for Children’ and Young Adult Literature, as well as numerous other accolades. Its sequel, The Crossroads, was called “insightful, realistic,” by Booklist. Alexandra is the daughter of Cuban refugees and lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. She received her MA in writing for young people at Bath Spa University in Englang. A native Spanish speaker, Alexandra now teaches creative writing to adults and teens. Learn more at alexandra-diaz.com.
Visit us at simonandschuster.com/kids
www.SimonandSchuster.com/Authors/Alexandra-Diaz
A Paula Wiseman Book
Simon & Schuster, New York
Glossary
Compared to other languages, Spanish is fairly easy to read. It is a phonetic language, meaning that things are pronounced as they’re written, but keep in mind that some letters are pronounced differently in Spanish than in English. Vowels, for example, are pronounced ah, eh, ee, oh, oo (A, E, I, O, U). Try sounding out some of these words and see if you can figure out what they mean before reading the definition. (Some will be easier than others!)
A gloria:
something that tastes “delicious” tastes a gloria.
A toda fuerza:
“by force,” as in “I will separate you by force.”
Abuelo/abuela/abuelita:
grandfather, grandmother, granny.
Acento:
“accent,” as in speaking with one.
Acta de nacimiento:
birth certificate.
Acuéstate:
the order to “lie down” (go to sleep).
Adoptar:
this word means both “to adopt” and “to foster.”
Ahora:
now.
Alé, alé:
a phrase probably taken from French (allez, allez), it means “go, go” or “hurry.”
Alegre:
happy.
Alegría:
a woman’s name that also means “joy.”
Alegría, te quiero. Tu hermano, Santiago:
Alegría, I love you. Your brother, Santiago.
Almohadas:
“pillows,” which, unfortunately, most immigration centers don’t provide.
Alto:
a command to “stop.”
Arroz con pollo:
a common and easy meal, “rice with chicken.”
Ay:
a word with multiple meanings, depending on the intonation used. Similar to “oh.”
Ay, cariño:
a term of endearment, similar to “oh, sweetie.”
Ay, qué rico:
usually used to indicate something feeling or tasting nice, “ah, that’s good.”
Ay, perdóneme:
an apology, “oh, excuse me” or “sorry.”
Basta:
usually used as a command to mean “stop it,” or “enough.”
Bróder:
a Spanish attempt to say “brother” in the way people call buddies or those of the same background “brother.”
Bueno:
usually means “good” but can also mean “okay” or “well then” before continuing with what one was saying.
Buenos días, chicos:
Good morning, kids.
Burro:
“donkey,” which can also be used in English!
Caballo:
horse.
Café con leche:
coffee with milk.
Cállate ya:
a command to be quiet, “shut up now.”
Calle:
road, street.
Cállense:
a command to tell a group to “shut up” or “be quiet.”
Cantina:
a place that serves food and drinks.
Capaz:
A fictional village on the Mexican border with New Mexico. Literally meaning “capable,” but it can easily become incapaz, making it “incapable.”
Caramelos:
literally means “caramels” but can also be “candy.”
Catorce:
fourteen.
Centavos:
Mexican “cents,” which are virtually worthless, and many vendors will round up to the nearest peso instead of giving you that change.
Chicharrones:
“pork rinds,” often sold in bags, like potato chips.
Chicos, vamos:
Kids, let’s go.
Chiquitin/chiquitines:
little one, young ’uns.
Chismoso:
someone who gossips.
Chulo malcriado:
the word chulo has different meanings depending where you’re from. In this case it means a “moocher” (someone who lives off other peoples’ money). Malcriado literally means “poorly raised” or “ill bred.”
Cien:
one hundred.
Claro:
“sure” or “of course.”
Claro que no:
of course not.
Claro que sí:
a more emphatic “of course.”
Claro, hijo:
Sure, son.
Como dicen en inglés:
As they say in English.
Compañeros:
literally means “companions” but more often used for “schoolmates” or, as in Santiago’s case, “fellow detainees.”
Con permiso:
“excuse me,” whether interrupting, asking for permission, or apologizing.
Coyote:
technically it’s an animal, cousin to dogs and foxes, but it’s also the term for the people who smuggle immigrants into the U.S.
Creo que sí:
I think so.
¿Cuáles otros?:
Which others?
Cuatro:
four.
Dale, caballito:
the equivalent of “giddyup,” literally means “c’mon, horsey.”
De lo más bien:
in this book’s context it’s “just fine,” but in other settings it can be “really good.”
De nada:
reply to gracias, “you’re welcome.”
Desgraciado:
literally means “disgraceful,” as in someone people are ashamed of.
Dije que no:
I said no.
Don:
a word of respect for a man.
¿Dónde está?:
Where is she/he/it?
¿Dónde estoy?:
Where am I?
El caballo entero:
literally means “the whole horse” but is also a word for “stallion.”
El campo:
“the country” or “the countryside.”
El cocinero:
the cook.
El conejo corre / En su hueco se esconde / Así el coyote / No se lo come:
a poem I made up to be recited while tying shoes. The literal translation is: “The rabbit runs / In his hole he hides / That way the coyote / Doesn’t eat him.” In Spanish it does kind of rhyme!
El Norte:
literally means “the north” but used as a nickname for the U.S.
El otro lado:
literally means “the other side” but is used in Mexico to signify the U.S. (the other side of the border).