Diana's Story by Lina Montoya-Hussain

Trying to tell a story of an undocumented child from the perspective of a teacher is extremely difficult.  It’s difficult because there are many factors and nuances affecting the lives of students.  For many teachers the sense of empathy and the need to help often grips the instructional day.

Allow me to introduce you to Diana.  She was my student a year ago.  She came into my classroom as a 2^nd grader.  She has been part of our school community for 3 years.  Many of her cousins and relatives are part of the school community as well.  As far as I know, her story is deep and painful.  I’ve gotten snippets of her story from her and some from the adults that have worked with her.  The school social worker and her caregivers have mentioned parts of her story too.  Diana has several older siblings, she is the youngest.  She is Guatemalan and Mexican.  We received her as a kindergartener.  Her older teenage brothers arrived with her.  They dropped her of with a traumatic story at the steps of her cousins in the US and left.  The story was at best, unbelievable, yet the trauma we began to witness as educators authenticated the difficulties this family was facing. 

            

Diana’s father had murdered her mother and killed himself in Guatemala.  Diana was in the home with the dead bodies for several days before being rescued by the older siblings.  Upon hearing of the deaths, family in the US requested Diana be brought to the US.   Diana’s teenage brothers packed up and begun the treacherous journey across the US border.  They walked and hopped on The Bestia, then carried her piggy back through the desert.  Diana has many sweet anecdotes of getting snacks and breaks during this trip.  Her brothers protected her

            

I noticed her in kindergarten.  She was tiny and seemed glued to the teacher’s side.  She was extremely fragile.  We weren’t all privy to her story then, but knew death somehow had wrapped itself around Dianita’s life.  Our school wrapped its arms around her and her family

            

The business of learning soon became the matter at hand, yet this proved a deeper problem.  She was retained in kindergarten, as a second grader, her reading was labored, and her physical growth was stymied by the trauma.  Though she is currently ten and going to 4^th grade, she is not much bigger than many of our kindergarten students.   I believe that her growth has also been stunted because of poor nutrition and emotional health issues.

As a student in my class Diana experienced sudden bouts of intense crying and melancholy.  The situation was made worse by the negative political climate and her families’ issues with their legal status.  I recommended her to the guidance counselor who formed a grief support group.  It seemed that Diana’s entire trauma was surfacing.  This helped her cope.

She is still separated from her older siblings.  From what Diana mentions, this separation weighs heavy on her, as they are the closest she has to next of kin.  The Mexican cousins were able to apply for asylum for her, and act as her legal guardians.  The cousins care for her deeply, but the mother of the household has commented several times about how Diana prefers to be alone and how she often isolates herself rather than playing with the siblings.  Though they have phone contact, Diana always expresses the fact that she misses them.

            

Though Diana’s story is not one of detention or separation as we are currently hearing on the news stream, it offers a glimpse as to the reason for families seeking the safety of another nation.  Separation from loved ones causes irreparable harm to the psyche of a child.