transcript

Audio Slideshow: Puentes, Mexico

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JEB SHARP: Many undocumented Mexican workers in the US lead double lives. One here, working hard and keeping a low profile. The other with their families in Mexico. That other life is something that some American dairy farmers from Wisconsin and Minnesota wanted to learn more about. They traveled to rural Mexico to visit the homes and families of the Mexican workers they employ. The World's Katy Clark went along on the trip and prepared this story.

KATY CLARK: Dairy farmer Mark Johnson is from Rushford, Minnesota, population 2300. He had heard about the trips to Mexico and was eager to come. 10 of Johnson's 18 employees are Mexican migrants. The majority of them come from a village in central Mexico called Tlaquilpa. We're headed there now. It seems like we're traveling forever. Do you find it kind of hard to believe that people could come from here –

MARK JOHNSON: To there?

CLARK: To your home?

JOHNSON: Yeah. Most definitely.

CLARK: We arrive at Tlaquilpa, a small community perched on a mountain ridge. The family we're visiting lives in a simple cement house. This is the home of one of Mark Johnson's employees. The family has prepared a meal for us of bread and stew. We wash it down with a sweet punch. Shortly after we arrive, more people begin streaming in. They've walked an hour and a half to meet us. Everyone here seems to have a husband, son, or father who works on Johnson's farm. There are lots of quiet moments during our afternoon in Tlaquilpa. Most Americans only know a few words of Spanish and even less of the indigenous language many of the people here speak, and the Mexicans don't understand much English. Still, everyone seems to enjoy the visit. Before leaving, Mark Johnson gives a toast.

JOHNSON: I want to thank everyone for putting on this big feast for us. And I want to tell everyone that I am so pleased to have your sons and husbands working for us, and that you would take time out of your day to come and see me.

CLARK: The families then offer their own blessing.

SHAUN DUVALL: He says, “Thank you for coming to see us and thank you for giving birth to their sons, and for being friends with them at home, too because they love you.”

CLARK: The woman translating there is Shaun Duvall. Duvall organized this trip to Mexico as part of a program she began in the late 1990s called Puentes/Bridges. She says that in each of the eight years that she's brought American farmers to Mexico, there's always at least one moment that brings tears to her eyes. Duvall says it's obvious that Americans get a lot out of these visits, and she says the Mexican families also benefit.

DUVALL: These families here send their dear ones up there and they have no idea where they're going to end up. They might know, “Well, he's going to Wisconsin”.” But they don't have a clue where Wamandee, Wisconsin is, or Rushford, Minnesota. You know? And so to have the producer come down and then they get to see him and shake his or her hand. I'm sure if you had your daughter, that you sent her to Siberia – you had no idea where she was going, if you – somebody who was working with her came here and met you, with photos and pictures and gifts from them , I'm sure that would mean a lot, wouldn't it? I mean, it would for me.

CLARK: Duval is a former Spanish teacher from Alma, Wisconsin. She started Puentes after being asked to interpret for local dairy farmers and their Mexican employees. The annual trips to
Mexico were an extension of that work. The trips last almost two weeks. Typically they cost around $2,000 per person. Duval says the trips were initially conceived as a crash course in the languages and culture of Mexico. It was the dairy farmers themselves, she says, who came up with the idea of visiting the homes of their employees.

DUVALL: Because they work side by side with these employees and because in rural areas you know everybody that works for you, and you know their families and you know their histories. So it just makes sense that you would want to know about the guys who are working for you, even though they live thousands of miles away, or their families do.

CLARK: For Nora Lindstrom, coming on this trip is even more personal. Lindstrom helps run her family farm in Duran, Wisconsin. Her live-in boyfriend, Guillermo, is from one of the villages we're also going to visit.

NORA LINDSTROM: I've been dating Guilerrmo for gosh, almost four years. So yeah, I'll be visiting his mom.

CLARK: Like many of the Mexican farm workers, Guillermo is in the US illegally. He hasn't visited his home country for more than four years. His mom lives in a remote community called Suchilez. Five of her six children have at various times gone north to seek jobs in the United States. The only work locally is at a sugarcane plant. But there are more people than jobs, and the plant only pays $10 a day. Lindstrom has visited Guillermo's mom once before. Still, she says, it's hard to prepare for the stark differences between life in rural Mexico and life in Wisconsin.

LINDSTROM: Last year, I stayed with his family and I took the first shower ever without running water, in my entire life. Like, to have warm water they boiled it for me, and I bawled the whole time.

CLARK: Lindstrom bawled because she knew that while Guillermo's mother was happy to see her, the elderly woman longed to see her son again -- but that's not going to happen anytime soon. Sneaking across the border has gotten a lot harder since Guillermo first came to the United States almost a decade ago. That's thanks in part to beefed up patrols along the border. It's also due to the fact that crossing the border with professional smugglers is now more expensive and dangerous. Compared to what Guillermo would have to go through to return home, Lindstrom says her journey here has been easy -- well, relatively speaking. We've been driving for around five hours, and there's still no village in sight. When we finally pulled up to Guillermo's mother's house, Lindstrom is greeted as if she were a member of the family.

LINDSTROM: How are you? You want some oranges? This place is famous for oranges. You should try some.

CLARK: The visit lasts several hours. Lindstrom brings gifts from Guillermo and photos from Wisconsin. Guillermo's mother smiles at how much heavier her son appears to have grown.

SHAUN DUVALL: Guillermo is bigger than he used to be, or no?

LINDSTROM: He eats well.

CLARK: The goodbyes come all too soon. Later, Lindstrom says the long trip was well worth it. I ask her at one point who she thinks benefits more from this relationship – the American farmers who employ Mexican workers, or the Mexicans themselves?

LINDSTROM: They're helping us but at the same time we're helping them. It's equal almost, you know what I mean? We need the people to do the work and they want to work because they want a better life for their family here.

CLARK: One of the more rewarding parts of this trip for the American farmers was seeing what the wages they pay go toward. There were new washing machines, TVs, and stereos. There were also new homes and businesses they all hoped would last a lifetime. For The World, this is Katy Clark, Suchilez, Mexico.

SHARP: Katy also narrated an audio slideshow that features pictures from her reporting trip to Mexico. You can find that on our website. That's theworld.org.

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