ENGLISH
L
E
V
E
L
TEA C H ER S :
ALICE ANN
MENJIVAR
GEMMA
SAGE
CHRISTINA
CAMMACK
I
n 1996 my husband moved to Roatan
Island. He found a new job there.
He told me he had to go there but I
didn’t like it because he had to live on
the island. He left home and left my
children and me alone. He gave me a
little money. I tried to save money but
it was difficult. I started to sell Avon
products. Every day in the afternoon
when Julito was in kindergarten, I went
around my neighborhood and gave the
products to my neighbors. They promised
to pay on Saturday. On Saturday, I rode
a bicycle with Julito and Jesy around the
neighborhood and asked our neighbors
for the money. Some neighbors paid all
of the amount and took other perfumes,
body cream, etc. Others gave me only
half the amount. We were doing okay. We
didn’t need my husband’s money but we
missed him.
Two months later I asked my
children if they wanted to see their father.
Jesy said yes and she was jumping on the
bed. Julito said, “Yes, mami, but we don’t
have the money.” I smiled and showed
how much money we had. He counted
the money with me. He was happy. We
had 2,000 lempiras. He said, “Mami, we
don’t know where Roatan Island.” I said,
“Don’t worry, we can ask people.” The
next day, in the morning, we were ready
to leave. We didn’t tell anybody about it.
Julito was 6 years old and Jesy was 2 years
old. We went to the shore and I asked a
captain of a boat, “Where are you going?”
He said, “I’m going to Roatan.” I said, “We
want to go there too. He said, give me
20
4
missing
my
husband
300 lempiras. I thought it was too
much money. I said, “No thanks.” I
told Julito it is cheaper if we go on
the bus. We took three buses from
Puerto Cortes to San Pedro Sula to
Progreso and finally to La Ceiba. In
Ceiba, I talked with a man. He said
we can share a taxi. We took a taxi to
the shore. I bought a boat ticket for
me and I paid half price for Julito.
The man asked me a lot of questions
like where are we going?, why?, etc. I
told him the story. He asked, do you
know where your husband works?
I said, I’m not sure, but he works in
a hardware store and my husband
said it is the only hardware store on
Roatan. We got in the boat and my
children and I were very afraid on
the water. Jesy and Julito were dizzy
the whole trip.
BY
eri k a
o ch oa
When we arrived on Roatan, the
man stopped a taxi and he told the taxi
driver where we were going. The taxi
driver said he knew where the hardware
store was. The man and the taxi driver
talked about why I was going with the
children to Roatan. The taxi driver
stopped in front of the hardware store.
The walls were glass and we could see my
husband sitting on a chair. The taxi driver
went into the store. I saw him talking with
my husband. My husband turned his head
and looked at us. He was so happy and
we were happy too! We cried and the taxi
driver and other man left because they
said they didn’t want to cry. I thanked
both men for helping us.
My husband told me, “Erika,
this morning I told my boss today
is the last day I work here because I
want to live with my family.” He talked
with his boss and he worked two
more days. We went to the beach. We
ate hamburgers. We danced. After
two days, we came back to Puerto
Cortes. He found another job in a
hardware store in Puerto Cortes. I
continued to sell Avon products in our
neighborhood. On Saturdays, Julito,
Jesy, and I went to our neighbor’s
houses and asked for the money. We
were happy living together, eating
together, and sleeping in different
bedrooms, but in the same home.