The Journey To Iowa by SHERLY

The Journey To Iowa by SHERLY - June 2014 Scholarship Essay

My father and mother are both from a very small country called El Salvador, which is very populated. They both came to the US for a better life. My mother wanted her future kids to grow up in a place where we would have everything we needed to be better in life. That's what my first book would be about, their journey here, the tasks that they would have to overcome to get here, the struggles to stay alive and not get caught on the way up here.

My father one day asked me if I would write a book about his story and I said I would. Ever since I made that promise, he has told me stories about the extremely long voyage to get to California and then Iowa, where I live today. In those stories, he usually has a scar to show me reminding him of everything that he went through. Those stories also involve my grandmother, who I have looked up to since I was a child. She also came to the US at some point and stayed in California, where my aunt lives.

My mother stories are more about what she saw on her way here and what some people had experienced on the way up here that she luckily didn't have to go through. She would describe what would happen to people when they rode on a speed boat at high speeds as well as what mother would do to get their children across.

Making a book like this would preserve a small part of history that I know and future generation to know. I know very little about my history and I am pretty sure future generation would like to know where we came from as well. I sometime wonder where exactly I come from and it impossible to find out since I have indigenous roots.

Also my parents went through a lot just to get to the US and that's a story that most people don't know about. If people heard stories like my parents', they would most likely appreciate what they have and give more to the people that need the things that people take for granted, such as food. People would know that people come to the US to have a better way of life, which isn't easy to accomplish, but we will all try.