Via Con Deos: An Immigrant's Challenge
by Mycenay
Imagine a life you would risk to change it. Imagine you are seventeen and the oldest son of ten children growing up in present-day Guatemala. Your family are descendants of the Maya, indigenous peoples who have endured oppression since the times of Cortez and the Spanish conquistadors in the early 1500s. Like most of your native countrymen, you and your family live in poverty. Your daily family environment brings violence and fear. A full day’s work earns $5.00 (US), so when you cannot afford groceries, you survive on corn. In spite of the struggles, you are motivated, intelligent, and want to learn. But school books are expensive, and so you often work full days (starting at 5:00 A.M.) and miss classes, still getting assignments and keeping up with studies. You also work with the local Evangelical Church and take Bible study classes. Although you are a hard worker and good student, you stop going to "high school" because the cost becomes too great.
This was life for Pedro Pablo Ramirez Lopez. But he did not lose hope; he prayed for God’s guidance and, with His help, decided to make the dangerous journey to the United States of America. In the U.S. lay the hope for a better life for himself and his family. In the U.S. lay his destiny, a vision of his God-given "inalienable rights" as a human being—"life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness." Sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Pablo’s dreams are no different than those of our ancestors who devoted their lives to our country to build, for example, the Transcontinental Railroad, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Erie Canal.
Saying goodbye to family and friends, knowing they may never see each other again, Pablo embarked on what would be a two-week journey of pain. After walking miles through mountains and desert, often going days without food and sometimes without water, and enduring degradation, beatings, and extortion by corrupt civil and military authorities along the way, Pablo crossed the U.S. border and went into an INS detention center in Phoenix, Arizona where he waited for eight months for his future to unfold. With the help of many angels and generous social servants from the Florence Immigrant and Refugee Rights Project, on July 22, 2002, the day before his eighteenth birthday, Pablo received a green card, the right to work and stay in the U.S.
Having no friends or family in the U.S., the Florence Project recommended Pablo to Global Community Communications Alliance (ACC) in Sedona, Arizona for a home, education, and training. For the past four months he has studied in the academic, vocational, and English as a Second Language (ESL) curriculum of ACC. In addition to his academic studies he enjoys organic gardening, landscaping, auto mechanics, drawing, sculpting, and swimming. He also attends a one-on-one ESL class at Yavapai Community College. Pablo followed God’s lead to the U.S. and believes providence brought him to ACC where he is starting to live his dream "to study more, be a good person, help people, especially the poor, be a minister to people."
Despite the scars of poverty and violence, Pablo is enthusiastic about life and has a contagious, joyful disposition. In his culture the oldest son is responsible for his family, and Pablo feels that responsibility. He speaks with great concern about his brothers’ and sisters’ need for food and clothing. His mother has been critically ill, and he is being asked to send money to help them. Pablo plans to finish his high school education before he begins his life’s work here in the U.S. Warm hearts and helping hands are assisting his dream to become a reality.
With gratitude we welcome and embrace Pablo as one of our outstanding modern-day immigrants whose contributions infuse vitality into the framework of our U.S. culture.
Editors Note: Pablo has been supported by donations from ACC including medical and emergency dental care. To assist his education, which he knows is the key to fulfilling his dreams, Pablo seeks funds for his private school tuition and funds to send his family so he can remain in high school. If you would like to sponsor Pablo, contributions can be made through the supporting ministry of Global Community Communications Alliance by calling (928) 204-1206. The donation is tax-deductible.