Ciudad Hidalgo, Mexico
CNN
 — 

The scent of burning wooden and plastic hits us as we step out of the van. Smoke from campfires meets the cloud of filth kicked up by our tires, stinging our eyes and leaving a scratch in our throats. Within the close to distance, you’ll be able to hear kids splashing and enjoying within the Suchiate River, which separates Mexico – the place we’re – from Guatemala.

We head towards the murky brown water, strolling underneath tall, thick timber shielding us from the day’s brutal solar. We’re conscious of the place we step, dodging scraps of cardboard used for beds and ducking underneath garments hanging out to dry, cautious to not intrude on somebody’s private area or modest belongings. It surprisingly feels extra like a group rooted right here for hundreds of years, relatively than a migrants’ campground.

And after the assault on the senses, comes the assault on the thoughts and the guts.

Tales abound from the individuals right here, most initially from Venezuela, of why they left their properties and what they’ve gone by means of thus far on their journeys to Ciudad Hidalgo. The adults generally turn out to be emotional however extra stunning is the calm, matter-of-fact, narration from the youngsters.

They’d seen many useless individuals within the treacherous muddy jungle passage of the Darién Hole from Colombia to Panama, a bunch of younger cousins tells me.

“I noticed a lady, she had yellow hair and this a part of her face was coated in blood,” says 9-year-old Mathias, gesturing to his proper cheek.

I catch myself mid-interpretation from Spanish to English, realizing I’m speaking to kids between the ages of 6 and 12 as they describe in vivid element what they’ve skilled alongside the way in which.

“You get determined within the jungle, you assume you’re going to die in there,” Mathias says.

His 12-year-old cousin Sofia provides: “We ran out of meals. We have been ravenous for an evening. … All of us misplaced weight.” Her little brother Joandry lifts his shirt to point out us his stomach, as if to corroborate his sister and cousin’s accounts.

“It was hell,” Sofia says. “And each time you noticed the top of the street, there was extra to stroll and we noticed some useless individuals … mendacity on the bottom.”

“It was hell,” 6-year-old Joandry corroborates once more, taking a look at me with eyes which have seen way over most adults.

Bonded by expertise, the place they’ve been and their hopes

The trauma from the trek they’ve endured already, combined with the shared desires of creating it to the USA, bond most of the individuals on the banks of the Suchiate, particularly the children.

Sofia was the primary to get our consideration as she asks confidently and curiously what we’re doing right here. We inform her we’re journalists. Her consideration shifts to the water, and he or she excitedly factors out to the river and one of many many rafts. “That’s my dad!” she tells us proudly. “He’s serving to others come throughout.”

A number of ft away, sitting on the bottom and leaning up in opposition to a tree is Sofia’s mother, Susana. She’s holding her 2-year-old son as Sofia’s different youthful siblings play shut by. At first, Susana is extra reserved – nodding for Sofia to reply our questions as an alternative of her. However slowly she begins to open up, seemingly eager to share their story.

Nonetheless in dialog with Sofia and Susana, I sit down on a concrete step underneath an open-air construction used for storing items which might be illegally moved throughout the river from Mexico to Guatemala. Sofia sits subsequent to me as we glance out to the armada of rafts going backwards and forwards, with dozens extra chained up and able to deploy. They’re fabricated from two giant black internal tubes, tied along with rope and planks of wooden throughout them to assist items and folks.

Sofia’s dad, Jeandry, is among the males who – like a gondolier on the canals of Venice – stands on the again with a protracted piece of wooden steering the raft. At any given time, you’ll be able to see throughout the river to Guatemala as up to a few dozen migrants pile onboard and make the roughly 8-minute journey, illegally crossing into Mexico. Police are stationed just a few hundred ft away, and the official crossing is inside eyesight down river, however there’s no enforcement alongside the border only a near-constant free move backwards and forwards.

Video reveals what it is like for migrants crossing into Mexico in pursuit of US

Sofia and her household say they took one of many rafts 5 days earlier. They’ve stayed on the riverbank as an alternative of instantly persevering with north to save lots of up cash, with Sofia’s dad working the rafts and the household asking for donations within the close by city.

As I pull out a microphone, and my staff begins recording with their cameras, Sofia’s siblings, aunt, uncle and cousins – who made the journey with them – crowd round. Little Joandry doesn’t wish to miss out and hurries over with shampoo nonetheless in his hair, cackling as his older sister tries to scrub it out.

“We’re enthusiastic about Philadelphia [or] Chicago,” Sofia tells me, once I ask the place within the US they’d wish to go. Her 9-year-old cousin, Mathias, chimes in, “I’m enthusiastic about New York or Florida.” Their dad and mom look on, smiling as they’d advised me moments earlier that they had no thought the place they’d find yourself; they only wish to declare asylum and enter the US legally.

The youngsters smile too as they discuss their desires to go to highschool. Sofia and Mathias wish to be docs, although Mathias may additionally wish to be a lawyer, he tells me. After I ask what it’s been like touring as a household, their faces flip expressionless for a second. Solemn clean stares.

The households have been on the street for practically two months, having left Colombia, the place they lived for the previous six years.

“We needed to depart,” Sofia says. “We couldn’t keep poor there as a result of day by day we ate the identical factor. There have been instances once we couldn’t eat in any respect as a result of there was no cash.”

Earlier than Colombia, the households fled Venezuela, to get away from the corruption and crime. “And a foul financial system,” Joandry explains, taking the microphone out of my hand as if taking up the interview.

As we speak and movie, my staff and I acknowledge a delicate distinction within the migrants’ tone right here in southern Mexico in contrast with those that we’ve met on a number of journeys to cities bordering the US a whole bunch of miles farther north.

‘The journey has been like passing by means of hell’: Migrants surge into southern Mexico

For all the pieces they’ve been by means of, these within the south have but to expertise the extortion and threats from cartel-backed smugglers or the treacherous rides on high of freight trains. Wanting on the dad and mom’ eyes, I can sense they’ve heard murmurs of what’s forward. Family members and associates have gone forward of them and warned of the horrors.

However they handle to strike a hopeful tone. “It’s higher than what’s behind us,” Mathias’ mother tells us. “We don’t go backwards; we transfer ahead with God’s blessings.”

As we thank the youngsters and their dad and mom for his or her time, Sofia and Mathias excitedly ask if we wish to swim with them. “I’ve to remain dry to work,” I inform them. “OK!” they shout, sprinting towards the water like another boisterous kids, their trauma buried, for now. Each echoes the opposite as we half: “Nos vemos! See ya later!”