This month, PREPARES has a guest writer and a guest artist. The story was written by a local 12-year-old, and the portrait of his father was created by his 9-year-old sister. The family has been with PREPARES for many years.

I admire my father for being brave and hard-working.

My dad works hard. He leaves for work at five in the morning. The work is tiring, because he has to work fast. I went with him once, and my arms got sore pretty quickly, because the apple stems are tough and hard to pull off the tree. He has to do it six days a week. Then he comes home, and has to take care of us – and we are not that easy to take care of! Sometimes he would like to take a nap, but we are too loud.

My dad is very brave. To cross the border, you have to be brave, because it is very frightening. My dad grew up in Guerrero, Mexico. In Mexico, he had eight siblings, and he was in the middle. It was very hard to get a job to pay for food and clothing, because the pay was so low. He wanted to move to the U.S. to get a better job, and for his children to have a better future than him.

When he arrived it was hard, because he didn’t know anyone, or anything. But there were some kind people who helped him. There was a woman who took care of me when I was a baby, while my parents crossed the border. There were people from church who welcomed us to town. They pray for us, and support us through bad times.

I think that it was a great sacrifice that he had to make, to leave his family. If he had stayed in Mexico, I probably wouldn’t have nice clothing, enough food, or shelter.