Sorry

My name is Sherlyn. I’m 17 years old. I was born in Havana, Cuba, and lived there until I was 16.

My life in my country, despite the social and economic problems, was actually very good. I lived with my maternal grandparents in a place called Fontanar until a few days after I turned 6, my parents gave me the sad news that we were going to move out on our own. That was the first difficult moment I faced in my life. I had to leave my school, my cousins, and my friends that I used to play with, and mainly I had to get away from my grandparents, who had been like my second parents because my mom and dad were very young and worked a lot, so my grandparents took care of me most of the time and I learned almost everything with them.

I was so upset at having to leave them that I even had to go to a psychologist. However, my mood improved when some time later, my little sister, Keilyn, was born. From then on everything started to flow very well. I basically adapted to my new life. I graduated from elementary school in 2018 and from middle school in 2021.

But when I was in my first year of high school (2022), my life took an unexpected turn when I decided to come to the USA. It was August 26, just one day before my birthday, when my parents told me that we were leaving before the end of the year. On the one hand, I was happy; it was what I had always wanted, but on the other hand, I was sad about leaving everything behind. Just like when I moved out of my grandparent’s house, but this time it was on a much more complex level. They were no longer 4.8 miles away; now they were 90 with an ocean in between.

I won’t say it was easy taking that plane on November 13, 2022, to Nicaragua, watching your life fall apart and future take off. Without anyone guaranteeing that you’ll arrive, or that you will at least survive. My trip crossing Nicaragua, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico to reach the United States lasted 20 days, the ugliest 20 days I had ever experienced. I saw and went through very hard things. We almost died on several occasions.

The first challenge was crossing the border from Nicaragua to Honduras. It must have been around 1:00 in the morning, and with the groups already organized, we began to climb a hill of land that I felt as if it reached the moon. We reached the top and then descended along a path that was already part of the other country. I don’t remember that night well because hunger and sleep were beating me to death.

The next thing I remember was my eyes opening inside a bus that had already been on the road for a while. I spent a full day in a shelter with other immigrants, and the next day I had to cross into Guatemala. That was the first nightmare. What connected these two countries (Honduras and Guatemala) were some mountains, which due to the climate were full of mud, that is, very slippery. There were 10 trucks at the beginning but only 9 managed to arrive because one of them slipped and fell down a cliff.

I can’t find words to explain what it feels like to see 14 people die in front of your eyes, 14 people who were looking for the same thing, a better life for themselves as well as their families. By the end of November, we had already entered Mexico. It seemed incredible that we were just one step away from the American dream. At that moment, I was somehow relieved by what had recently occurred. I thought I had suffered enough, but no, life had more plans for me.

For me, Mexico went from being the country of mariachi, spicy food, and good tequila; to be fear, hunger, abandonment, illness, despair, danger, kidnappings, accidents, overturned boats, missing children, and most of them drowned, moments in which you either eat or sleep; and a constant uncertainty that told me that I was not reaching the goal. Those days were summed up in one word: PAIN.

Fortunately, we were able to arrive safely on December 2, 2022. At first, it was not easy at all. New language, new culture, new people, a new and totally different system. But every day I surpass myself more and I try to do my best for one day, to be able to show my parents that they didn’t waste their time and that everything they do to give me and my sister and me a good life is going to be worth it. Besides, I count the days to return to my country and reunite with my family and friends.