Personal Essay: Chasing My American Dream

Chasing My Dreams
Entering a country illegally is a crime for many but to me it was a getaway, an open door to my future. I knew I had to do anything that was necessary to come to a country full of opportunities, a place where I knew my dreams could come true. Six years ago, I thought of myself as a weak little girl but I developed strengths I did not know I had. On September 2010, me and my brother left my home country to pursue my American dream. I traveled nearly 3,000 miles, from El Salvador to California, where my mother- who I had not seen for 10 years- lived. I crossed rivers, forests, I hiked for over 24 hours, traveled in a semi full of 500 people, with barely any room to breathe, walked the Arizona dessert for two weeks. Starving, dehydrated and sleeping without any protection to come to the land of the free and home of the brave.
I never thought of myself as capable of surviving such a journey. At points I wanted to give up. I did not

want to keep on going, but the need for a better life kept on pushing me. One moment in this trip that I can never forget was when all of the people I was traveling with were taken by the boarder patrols. I can vividly remember almost every detail from this incident. One afternoon after walking for endless hours in the desert we all decided to rest from the extreme burning sun. We sat under some dry bushes by a small dried out creek which consisted of nothing but mud and little puddles of murky water. I was so tired from walking I fell asleep. My brother woke me up because he and the others heard loud car and helicopter noises. I was confused and looked at the others with fear. I figured the boarder patrols probably saw our trail and were coming for us. It was like we all knew what to do, we looked at each other and the persecution started. Everybody started running with out looking back we had to escape the patrols in order for us to keep going with our journey. I started to follow my brother, I was trying my best to keep up with him. He saw an enormous tree with big roots that created a small cave, he told me “let's hide” while pointing at the tree. He went in first and I followed after, it was a very small space but we managed to fit. I was so happy I thought it was over the patrols were not going to find us. However, we heard a helicopter on top of us. From the helicopter we heard someone say something but we could not really comprehend. The only thing we knew was that we had to run. I went out and started to run thinking my brother was behind me, but he was not. I heard him scream at me from the tree “Kate run do not stop,” I could not leave my brother behind so I went back to help him out. He was stuck, his leg was tangled with one of the roots. I could hear the patrols coming so he said “Please go!.” I could not leave him I was terrified, but my brother grabbed my hand and said “run and please do not look back, look after yourself, I love you” and kissed me on the cheek. I did not know that was gonna be the last time I saw my brother. I started to run like I had never before, I had so much mixed emotions there was adrenaline, desperation, fear and agony. It felt like I was running for my life, I had never run this fast I did not know I could run this fast. After running for a while, I thought I was saved. I said to myself I did it I escaped, but due to all the energy that was rushing over me I didn't hear that another helicopter was following me the whole time. When I sat down to breathe I heard from above “ Come out with your hands in the air.” I was tired I didn't want to keep going, but I also didn't not want to be caught. In a split of a second I found some more energy in me and started to run, this time even faster. Sadly I knew that if I kept going they were going to get me because they have heat detectors to see where people is hiding -something I had learned from the guy that was guiding us to cross the boarder-.I decided to jump in the little creek, it was full of mud. I did this so the creek could serve as a camouflage and a hiding place. To my surprise it did work the helicopter passed right on top of me without even noticing. That episode probably took about 30 minutes but it felt to me like I had been running for an eternity.
After the boarder patrols left I got out of my hiding place and started to look around. I realized that I was alone they had gotten all my people, even my brother. I started to scream “green” which was the signal word we had chosen, I was hoping to hear “red” which was the response, but the only thing I heard was silence. I was alone dirty, tired and hurt. Running through dry vegetation with short sleeve did not do much good to my arms, I was bleeding from all the little cuts the plants had given me. I was alone in the middle of the dessert with nothing to eat or drink. I kept screaming to see if I found someone but nothing everything was silence. I realized that due to the persecution I had actually ran a good distance so I started to trace my way back to where we were. The creek helped me I followed it down. I finally found the place we were resting at and saw everyone's belongings, they were all spread in the floor. Nobody thought about them when the agony started. I saw my brother's backpack, in that moment I realize that I had lost him that the officers had my brother and I was probably never gonna see him again. It broke my heart and I could not do anything but cry. I felt to the floor on my knees and started to cry like never before, all my emotions collapsed in that instant. I felt so lost and lonely I had nobody to relay on I had to do this by myself and be as strong as I could. After breaking down for a while I got up, cleaned myself up and collected supplies from my groups backpacks, I gather food, water and everything I thought was gonna be necessary to end this trip. I had not gone through the worse experience in my life to give up and go home, I had to keep following my dream. After a month and more outrageous difficulties I made it here.
Nobody should go through something so horrifying like I went through, nobody should have to escape their country and leave everything behind.

Until this day I still remember all those horrible episodes I had to go through. Those moments are my motivation to keep pushing even when I'm being hold back and when doors close right on my face. This is one of my biggest accomplishes no only because I confronted every single obstacle in my way but also because I fought for what I wanted, I fought for my dream. I realized that I want to follow a career in politics and economics. One day I will help my homeland to make a change. My goal is to create space for a better educational system and youth programs that makes society see that there is a whole world out there for them. Opening this view for many will make it easy to see all the opportunities and different pathways they can take. I do not want anybody to go through what I went through. Everybody deserves the chance to make their dreams possible. I want to create that

chance.