Sorry

My name is Ovindo Diaz Velasquez

My story is I grew up living with my grandparents since I was little. I helped my grandpa in the field. My grandmother had 8 children; some were married, and others went away. The saddest thing for me was when two of my uncles died.  My grandmother cried; I was sad every day; and my grandfather also cried. My dad was dead when I was a year old, but I didn’t know until I was 6 years old.  I was sad — crying and screaming, “Where are you?” Then I asked for my mom, and my grandmother told me, “She is in the United States.” I cried more and more.  My grandparents drank beers, and then one day i grabbed a beer and took it against the sadness.  My grandmother got very sick, and I studied, but I had to leave school to help them with the planting, the cleaning, and other things in the field. My grandfather had a horse, and I had to feed it.  I also had sheep that I took out to mountains to eat on the mountain.

Before I came to the United States, I was able to talk to my mom, and then I had a guy who brought me from Guatemala.  We crossed all of Mexico.  He brought me to the border of Mexico, and then I found other people, and they brought me across the desert.  I could not stand to walk, and I was taken by immigration.  They asked how old I was, and I said, “I am 16 years old.”  They brought me to Arizona, and they gave me food.  I told them I had a mom in Florida, and they talked with my mom.  I was in Arizona for a month while my mom filed some papers.  Then immigration sent me to my mom on a plane, and my mom went to pick me up in West Palm Beach.  I met the family.  I cried when I looked at my mom, and I gave her a hug.