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the fifth estate: Run For Your Life
The Boys> Printer Version
Broadcast
February 11 & 18, 2004
WHY DO THEY MAKE THE TRIP?
Ed Palmer: They're after a
dream. They don't recognize the risk because they don't know about it,
but the risk for them is not achieving the dream.
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Ed Palmer is a transplanted American who runs a railroad
in southern Mexico. There are no passenger trains in this part of the
world - just freight. People are too poor to pay the fares to go anywhere.
But as every train leaves the station hundreds of youngsters jump aboard
the freight cars hoping to reach a better life in the North.
Illegal immigrants have been coming to the U.S. from Central America for
decades. In the 1980's when wars ravaged Central America, hundreds of
thousands of people were forced to seek asylum in the north.
But now they're leaving home for another reason: poverty. As the wars
ended natural disasters like Hurricane Mitch and the El Salvador earthquake
further impoverished a population that was already living on the brink.
According to the World Bank, 75% of Central Americans live on less than
$2 a day. The average worker makes only $900 dollars a year.
Honduras, the home country of the boys portrayed in RUN FOR YOUR LIFE
is one the poorest countries in the Western hemisphere. Over half of the
population is unemployed. And in rural areas, 66% of the population is
living in extreme poverty (on less than $1 a day). More than one-third
of the population doesn't have access to safe drinking water and almost
one-third are illiterate.
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Most already have family members living illegally in the U.S. or Canada who will help them find a job when they arrive.
Ed Palmer: They're looking for an economic opportunity. Who wants to work for a dollar a day or two dollars a day for the rest of your life and not have any chance to grow like their cousins in Chicago, in Los Angeles. To have a car, to have a house, to have medical insurance. They have an opportunity to start their own business - a thing that many of these people don't have back home. They're searching for a higher level of economic security and until we can give it too them in their home countries these young kids are going to keep coming.
QUIQUE
Eleven of Quique's relatives - including his mother, common-law wife and three year-old son Angel - all live in under one hot tin roof. They are desparately poor.
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His aging father owns a small sawmill in Tegucigalpa, Honduras,
the capital city. But the business doesn't make enough to support such
a large family.
And Quique knows that soon he'll be the main breadwinner. At his last
job, working at a warehouse, he made only $20 a week. It just wasn't enough.
Quique: I want my family to do better. Things here get worse every day. Wages are not sufficient to support a family. That justifies taking the risk. I want my family to have a better life.
This isn't Quique's first attempt to reach 'el norte'. When
he was fifteen-years-old he made it all the way to the American border
before he was caught. He was sent back and tried again only to make it
halfway.
Seven years later he's willing to risk it all again. Quique and his friend
Eber organized the trip and a couple of other guys from his neighbourhood
decided to join in. (read about Quique's friends)
It's a group of strong, intelligent and trustworthy guys who are ready
for what is a very tough journey.
If Quique makes it as far as the U.S. border he's hoping that an uncle
living in North Carolina will help him find a job.
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Quique hopes to return to Honduras in few years with enough money to open a small business and provide a better life for his family.
Quique: When you leave there
is no room for sadness. The goal is to come back and everything will be
alright.
Read about the dangers Quique and his friends faced
on their journey to 'el norte'.
CHACON, DANIEL & EBER
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Eber is Quique's best friend.
Twenty-years-old, he's a strong, hard worker with a generous heart. His
father abandoned his family when he was young and Eber is now the main
breadwinner for his mom and his younger brothers and sisters.
Eber confessed that his father sometimes shows up in his neighbourhood
without even speaking to him or his family. Although money is one factor,
Eber is determined to prove to himself that he doesn't need his father.
Eber has made a previous attempt to reach the U.S.
Daniel, 22 has never attempted a trip to
'el norte' before. His father died in 1999 from pneumonia and since then
he's had to support the family.
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He learned to become a cab driver but after many encounters with traffic police, he lost his license. He borrowed some money from his mother to travel to the U.S. where he hopes to have better luck finding a job.
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Chacon is 27 and the
oldest of the job. He has six children and a wife to support. They live
in a tiny shack without water or electricity. He delivers vegetables from
the back of a pickup truck. One day Chacon was almost killed in a robbery
attempt and now he's afraid to go to poor neighbourhoods to sell.
Chacon is good natured and likes to joke around. But he's very serious
about finding a way out of the extreme poverty that his family lives in.
Read about the dangers Quique and his friends faced on their journey
to 'el norte'.
EDWIN RAUDALES
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Edwin Raudales is a remarkable teenager who had a dream.
He was only fifteen years old and working at a dead-end job stocking bananas
for 13 or 14 hours a day. He was exhausted by the end of the day and saw
there was no hope of getting an education.
Edwin: I wanted to find a job
when I could work part-time and go to school the other half. But there
were no such jobs. Most jobs are 13 hours a day and so I realized that
I needed a change in life.
Edwin left his family in Honduras and began the dangerous journey north.
Edwin: I didn't know where Canada was, but
I knew it wasn't going to be hard to find.
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Edwin: I prayed for my family and prayed to have a good day without too much trouble and to meet nice people and to make it safely here.
When Edwin arrived found himself in a new world. He enrolled for classes at a local high school and told the story of his incredible journey to one of his teachers, Karl Machato.
Karl Machato: He was in a social class where it was very difficult for him to get a higher education. He couldn't go to school because he had to support his family. He was kind of naive and brave when he took on this dream.
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His classmates thought he was an exchange student. He didn't tell the story of his incredible journey to anyone else.
Edwin: I didn't talk about my trip or my life. They couldn't relate to me, so I thought why should I tell them, they wouldn't understand. I just wanted to keep a secret.
Find out more about what happened when Edwin Raudales reached his destination.
the fifth estate: Run for Your Life
Broadcast on the
fifth estate Sunday, June 1 & June 8, 2008 at 7pm ET on CBC Newsworld
The Boys - The
Journey - The Destination
Filmmaker's Notes - Facts
& Stats - Resources
Update - Discussion - Watch Video