Through the eyes of children: the plight of migrant workers

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Both portions of assigned reading for this week were told through the eyes of children. As adults, it is easy to be caught up in the technical, economical, practical side of things, but these accounts have to be the most accurate, truthful, and poignant of all. Cajas de Carton is told from the eyes of a migrant working family's young son. Working over nine hours a day in the fields, along with his father, this young boy has to miss school until November, when the harvest has been reaped. He goes through an agonizing morning, signing up for school and realizing that his English has become rusty in the last few months. During lunch, a kindly teacher offers to give him trumpet lessons, sensing the boy's interest in music. Elated with his new friend and exciting opportunities, the boy comes home only to discover that his family once again has to uproot and leave in search of work. 
And the Earth did not devour him is a similar account, also told from the perspective of a young boy, filled with helplessness and rage in the face of his family's illnesses and struggle. Seeing the futility of his arduous labors, watching the work literally suck the life out of his family, this little boy's passionate rejection of his brutal reality is so powerful. 
This reminded me of all the challenging jobs I have had in the past few years in the effort to pay for my education; I have worked eleven hour days in an 100 degree kitchen and I have worked in a factory wiring the insides of slot machines; nothing I have ever had to do for a living as a healthy adult compares to what these children did before reaching adolescence. 

http://www.migrantclinician.org/issues/migrant-info/migrant.html
http://www.un.org/cyberschoolbus/treaties/migrant.asp
http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/migrants.html