Think Creative - Issue 6

Marisol (center) walks with her family through the street of their neighborhood in the Rivera Hernandez sector of San Pedro Sula, Honduras. Desperate to provide for her children and for her eldest to be able to go to school, Marisol attempted to migrate to the U.S. with a caravan.

Percentage of survey respondents who intend to migrate

El Salvador 24 %

Guatemala 18 %

Honduras 33 %

The economics behind migration It’s a Monday morning, but Marisol’s 8-year- old son is at home, playing with his younger sister in their small side yard. Marisol, who never learned to read herself, had to pull him from school because she and her husband, both unemployed, couldn’t afford the cost. “He needs to go to school, but I can’t give it to him because I don’t have money, I don’t have work,” she says. “I’ve been looking for two years, and I haven’t been able to find a job.”

give themwhat they deserve,” she says. “My children are barefoot, because I haven’t been able to buy them sandals, even though they only cost 20 lempiras (81 cents).” Marisol made it to Tijuana, Mexico and began selling small goods, sending the money back to her family in Honduras. Finally generating some income, Marisol planned to continue working for a time inMexico before applying for asylum in the United States. But a call from her husband changed those plans. Her son was

Marisol, 24, lives in the Rivera Hernandez area of San Pedro Sula, the municipality with the second-highest rate of irregular migration in Honduras. Desperate to provide food, clothing and an education to her two children, Marisol left her home for the United States in Septem- ber 2018, joining a caravan of migrants with a friend from the neighborhood. “My dreamwas to get there and be able to give my kids a better future. That was my motiva- tion for leaving my country … because we can’t

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