Why a Booktrail?
2000s: The identical twin brothers who escape El Salvador’s violence to build new lives in California
The Far Away Brothers
What you need to know before your trail
Growing up in rural El Salvador in the wake of the civil war, the United States was a distant fantasy to identical twins Ernesto and Raul Flores–until, at age seventeen, a deadly threat from the region’s brutal gangs forces them to flee the only home they’ve ever known. In this urgent chronicle of contemporary immigration, journalist Lauren Markham follows the Flores twins as they make their way across the Rio Grande and the Texas desert, into the hands of immigration authorities, and from there to their estranged older brother in Oakland, CA. Soon these unaccompanied minors are navigating school in a new language, working to pay down their mounting coyote debt, and facing their day in immigration court, while also encountering the triumphs and pitfalls of teenage life with only each other for support. With intimate access and breathtaking range, Markham offers an unforgettable testament to the migrant experience.
Locations
Reset- Central America - El Salvador
- A: San Salvador- Monument to the Divine Savior of the World
- B: San Salvador - Cathedral
- The Mexico/US Border
- C: Rio Grande
- America/ USA - CA
- D: Oakland International High School
Travel Guide
El Salvador
The story of seventeen year old Raul and Ernesto Flores – who fled from El Salvador to Texas in 2013. This is based on a true story of two brothers who did do this very journey.
They had some of the most harrowing experiences of life in El Salvador – not just is the country riddled with gangs and drugs, their uncle is trying to kill them. So they club together $7000 each to be able to escape through Mexico into the United States.
The reality of the setting:
“In the Northern Triangle — Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador — a ‘better life,’ for many, means a life where they are not afraid of being killed,”
Life in the USA
Their story once they arrive in the USA is fraught with difficulty. They owe the money back to those who made it possible for them to be here in the first place. They need to fit in , go to school, work, keep their families back home safe and their farm secure. Throughout their adjustment, they have to try and get the documents required which will allow them to stay there.
Booktrail Boarding Pass: The Far Away Brothers
Destination : El Salvador, Central America, California Author/Guide: Lauren Markham Departure Time: 2000s
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