Interviews
Stories of Injustice and Solidarity
The archive of oral histories collected by Separated: Stories of Injustice and Solidarity are not yet available to the public. However, we have compiled a small selection of excerpts we gathered with the permission and consent of the narrators. Many of the interviews were recorded during the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Therefore, the audio you will hear will contain some distortion, background noise, and signal loss.
Additionally, because all the interviews were conducted remotely using WhatsApp to communicate with narrators, the project team was at the mercy of the quality of the wifi in various remote areas in Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. With enough funding, we hope to either conduct interviews with narrators again in the future or remaster the audio. We feel honored to have had the opportunity to begin the dialogue and relationship building with all the parents and children who survived family separation.
“We will drink it together.”
A Guatemalan mom who was separated from her son remembers a moment of solidarity she experienced with other women from Mexico, Honduras and El Salvador who were also detained in the same facility. To console her and because she did not have any money to buy food, the women offered her what little they had. They pooled money together and bought one juice box saying, "vamos a sacar aunque sea un jugo, y nos lo vamos a tomar entre todos." We will buy one juice box, and we will drink it together.
Click here for this story in English.
“Something that marks you forever.”
A separated son describes the moment he realized he was not going to see his father again for a very long time. In his interview, he describes being sick for more than a month after he taken from his father and placed in a shelter for young boys. He describes his depression and sorrow and feeling powerless to change his situation. He said that this experience is something that has left a mark. “Tienes algo ahí que te está marcando siempre.”
Click here for this story in English.
“I ended up in the hospital.”
A Guatemalan father separated from his son describes the moment he was told his child would be taken from him, and the subsequent emotional and physical toll it had on his body. His voice breaks as he describes being rushed to the hospital where he was hospitalized overnight and treated for low blood pressure, sciatica and gastritis. After four years of separation, father and son were in 2022 just in time to celebrate his 20th birthday.
Click here for this story in English.
“When one of us cries, we all cry.”
A mother that was separated from her son remembers her own childhood in Honduras. Although her family did not have much, she dwells on happy moments and important lessons from her father. He often repeated one simple rule for solidarity and reciprocity to her and her siblings, “Si uno llora, todos lloren. Si uno ríe, todos reímos. Tu problema será mi problema. Así nos criamos.” When one of us cries, we all cry. When one laughs, we all laugh. Your problem is my problem, too. This is how we were raised.
Click here for this story in English.
“We don’t have a harvest.”
A father who was separated from his son describes how climate change has impacted his ability to grow enough corn to sell and feed his family. He lives in an area of Guatemala dubbed “corredor seco” (dry corridor) which is known for being vulnerable to droughts which causes food insecurity and leads to extreme poverty. He says “estamos en tiempo ahora que está muy escaso, entonces casi que no tenemos cosecha y eso es el sufrimiento de nosotros.” Our suffering is that we are in a draught and we don’t have a harvest.
Click here for this story in English.
