A Long Journey (English translation of Un Largo Viaje)

What does it mean to emigrate?

We may all have our own idea of what it means, but the most common use of the word in my language is understood to mean heading abroad from Nicaragua.

To emigrate is not just to leave one country and head for another; it implies more than that.  It is to take a risk, win or lose, and it means showing courage and a strong will.  After reading this brief account, you will understand why I say that.

Some years ago a kid named Deygli moved to our barrio.  He was just like all the rest of us, he liked to play and go out and have fun with his little school friends.  He was a happy kid with hope and dreams of making something of his life.  As the years went by, we went from being the kids of the barrio, to being the teenagers of Barrio Rubén Darío and, like all teenagers, we set ourselves goals which we dreamed of achieving without thinking about the costs or the risks.

When he turned 17, he decided to make a long journey, the famous American dream, a dream that I don’t know and in such painful circumstances wouldn’t want to know.  In our country, Nicaragua, it is really difficult to get a visa for the US. That’s why so many decide to go illegally, and that’s what Deygli decided to do; he decided to go illegally, thinking it would just be nothing more than a few days’ journey.  He never imagined it would take him much longer.  It was an exhausting journey, as you might imagine.  One, two, many days went by.  They had covered many miles and were not far from their goal, but Deygli was overcome with exhaustion.  His brothers did what they could to help him – ah, I hadn’t mentioned he was traveling with his brothers.  They had to cover him with leaves so the cops could find him and send him back home to Nicaragua.  His family back home waited anxiously for news.

Then one day the phone rang.  It was a call for his mamá.  The call she hoped she’d never get, the worst news of all.  He youngest son Deygli had died, asphyxiated in the desert.  With a pain which we cannot imagine, his two brothers had to leave their kid brother to die, powerless to help him.  His mother couldn’t believe it, nor could Deygli’s young girlfriend who was left with their only child who was just nine months old.

For the people of our town it was news, but so very, very sad. It took more than two weeks for his body to arrive in Nicaragua to be buried in the last place he had imagined he would end up.