And I would walk 5,328 miles

Cassandra Wuerstle, News Editor
10-30-2018

On Wednesday students gathered to listen to Saul Flores share the story of his 5,328 journey. In 2010 Flores decided to embark on a journey from Ecuador to El Paso to better understand what immigrants go through to reach America.

As a child of two immigrant parents raised in New York City with little to go around, Flores was drawn to his Mexican heritage. When Flores entered college at North Carolina State University, he started taking trips with the Caldwell Fellows to Mexico. He and his fellow traveling peers took a detour to Puebla, Mexico to see the town of Atencingo. Atencingo was Flores’ mother’s hometown and was still home to the rest of his mother’s family. There, he learned about his mother’s family as they each welcomed them into his home.

Flores shared how the trip to his family’s home opened his eyes to the conditions some people live in and the everyday conveniences people take for granted, like education. He explained that his grandmother had been a teacher at the local school and raised his mother to believe that education was one of the most important aspects of life. This belief was one of the main drivers in his mothers choice to immigrate to America. With this new information, Flores was shown the local school. The building was falling down and outdated with “golden yellow curtains that blocked the high sun.” However, he felt an automatic pull to school and the kids who attended it.

The trip was such a success that the group continued to visit Atencingo two more times. It was after the third trip to his mother’s hometown that Flores decided to travel from Ecuador to El Paso. Flores started his long journey naive to the grueling experience ahead of him, and eager to understand what his parents had gone through.

But Flores was soon face to face with the exhausting and terrifying journal many immigrants make. His trip turned into a walk of a lifetime, as each new challenge greeted him. Flores faced extreme weather and terrain along with other challenges like hunger and a near death experience.

His terrifying experience occurred while traveling through the dense forest, and in an attempt to avoid being held as political hostages, Flores and his guide began running to escape the jungle. While they were running, Flores started losing feeling in his body. His guide had to support Flores the rest of the way back out of the woods where a local woman informed Flores that he had come in contact with a poison dart frog. After treatment and 10 days of unconsciousness, Flores was lucky to wake to a full recovery.

Flores encountered many other amazing experiences, such as random acts of kindness to help him reach his destination and bravery of others who were also making the trip.

When Flores finally crossed the border back into America, he created “The Walk of the Immigrants,” the story of his travels along with many accompanying pictures.

Now Flores goes around the country sharing his experience in hopes to spread awareness and encourage students to embrace their passions.

Flores has found his passion in this world and is creating a career around it. He doesn’t approach educating others about the immigrant experience as most journalists would, but rather as a storyteller. He makes it personal and allows listeners to relate to the stories he brings back, with each listener walking away with a little bit of Saul Flores with them.

Flores is preparing to endevor on a new project in the next months called Love Walk. Students can follow the project on Instagram at @sweetlikesaul if they wish to watch as Flores continues his work.

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