Por Favor Agua

Beautiful cultures and languages. Starving, fleeing from violence.

In west Texas, he showed up one day on foot, cutting through pastures to escape to a better land. A place where he could work, to send his earnings to his family so they would have food, bare necessities, to escape dire poverty.  Isolated, he worked on a farm, hidden out from prying eyes. On weekends he dressed in his finest cowboy boots and Western attire.

What a difference

What a difference a bridge makes. Don’t drink the water. When visiting the border town of Juarez, beggar children swarmed our group, repeating nicklee, nicklee. A person sleeping on the bridge, raising up at the sound of footsteps, asking for a coin. A woman asked my friend if she wanted to buy a baby. Shacks and hole-in-the-wall businesses.

What a paradox– the Yucatan peninsula where the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean meet. The sea, the clouds, gentle welcoming waves. Vibrant colors of homes, flowers, flamingos, even decorated cemeteries. Told the drug cartel families live here. Big guns at the entries to the city. A postman in Midland had planned to retire here. Told he would have to pay protection money. And, don’t drink the water.

Immigrants in Florida — none of the hotel workers comprehended English.

In Dallas at the airport tollgate, English was broken. Asked for directions at a convenience store, no one there spoke or understood English.

From Central America, he came. Hid out and worked on a ranch. Later served in the USA military before he became a citizen. He worked in later years as a door greeter.

Fake papers, documentation can be bought. Midland would probably shutdown and so would Dallas. How many Texas towns have families living in fear that today is my last day to be here, that the home is to be broken by the authorities, destroyed, only to go back to squalor? Workers who do jobs for below minimum wages. Living in a structure, a torn off addition of a house. One room. Nothing.

He taught me how to make tortillas. He lived on tortillas and beans. He had saved enough money for an airplane ticket to a northern state to be with familia.

Grew up in a farm community of predominantly Germans and Mexicans. In grade school, we were very best friends. German prisoners were farm laborers when our soldiers were overseas during World War II. After the war, many owned farms in west Texas.

A beautiful sixteen year old girl from Mexico was still in the first grade. Brilliant was she, an artist. Deprived of schooling for the crops must be harvested, the cotton pulled and picked.

Another one, made colorful paper dresses with pictures of protest. She was at Trump Tower with her followers. Permitted to travel to Europe because of her talents, she is in constant fear of deportation.

The dad brought his wife and child to the USA. Hiding out for years, the child, now a man, became a cook. He recently passed—a man without a home.

When visiting South Korea in September 1990, a motorcade came to Seoul with the North Korean Prime Minister to meet with the Prime Minister of South Korea. It was the first time in fifty years the two countries met for talks of reconciliation. Families separated by the DMZ and unable to see each other. The fake city just north across the border used to induce with propaganda. The contest goes on of whose flag is bigger. So large now, it cannot move in the wind.

I visited with a teacher from Viet Nam who had attained his doctorate degree. His sister had died in the USA from lack of medical care because the family had no money.

She was a photographer who had clients who spoke foreign languages. Sign language and minimal foreign words were used to instruct posing.

The children spoke no English when they started to school. They lived in an east Texas community. People laughed at their name. The great-grandfather had migrated from Franstat, Moravia; coming here by ship to Galveston. The greats are my children.

From Nigeria, the cleaning crew was apprehended at their place of employment.

Cleaning, cooking, plant nurseries, yard work, bouncers, door greeters, housekeepers, menial jobs called occupations.

She came to America as a young bride from Germany. Her town was bombed by the allies, including the USA.

Italian and a citizen, a helicopter used to spot illegals, landed. He was arrested for having no papers on him – Midland, Texas.

In Louisiana, close to Alexandria, the dialect of citizens was not understandable to this Texan. Other states and countries speak of the Texas drawl.

Recently there was a celebration of bordering towns of Texas and Mexico. Music was playing and people were dancing in the Rio Grande.

He got in trouble at school for speaking Spanish. He got in trouble at home for speaking English. He retired as a staff writer after thirty-eight years. His family lived on a Spanish land grant. A wonderful poet. He writes of his culture.

Immigrants. An indentured servant. This is my ancestry. Who wanted the basic necessities of life–food, clothing, shelter. To care for young, to live in peace without the fear of repercussions. Our promise spelled out on the Statue of Liberty given to us by France: “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.”