Juanita is an indigenous Mayan young woman from the highlands of Guatemala. She speaks Q’anjob’al, one of the many Mayan languages in this diverse nation.
Juanita left her impoverished village with her husband, Jose, and their young toddler. They feared for their lives because the corrupt local government claimed their ancestral land. Also, food insecurity, local crime and lack of a steady income pushed them to flee with their toddler in hopes of avoiding death.
The family arrived at the camp in October 2019, on the Mexican side of the border. Juanita and her husband chose a “safer” route to get to the camp that took them longer than the traditional desert route towards Arizona. They feared the journey because Jose’s mother had died in the Arizona desert when their ‘guide’ (coyote or human smuggler) left her there when she could not keep up the pace.
In the midst of all this suffering, God surprised her and her husband with a baby that was born at the camp. This indigenous family, who speaks Spanish as a second language, is still waiting for hope.
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/mexico-us-guatemala-migrants-trump-b914286.html
