Cruz Roja & The Inspiring Boy

May 25, 2023

    Standing outside of Cruz Roja early in the morning, we were surrounded my young foreign men our age. It was an interesting greeting, but it was extremely impactful on my view of immigration. This facility caters to immigrants that left home due to poor financial situations and to find a better life. It is not for refugees seeking safety. The individuals that come to La Cruz Roja are in search of a better life. One thing that I found unique was that a majority of the facility is men. In the European countries, men flee first to establish a better life; this is in contrast to Latin American countries where women flee to find a better life for the children. Later on, our group got to hear from a Moroccan young man who left home when he was 16. He had a long journey as his mom died at 16, and he decided to jump the border from Morocco into a Spanish Colony. The bravery of this journey was tear jerking. I could never imagine leaving home at 16 to find a better life. He traveled from Spain to France once his time was up seeking help. In France, the young man was 18, but he lied to the organization there so he could still be considered a minor. This resulted in the French government kicking him out of the country after 8 months where he came to Red Cross in Madrid to seek help. Even in his eyes, you could see he had been through a lot. I enjoyed being able to listen to a real story from a person who came to a different country to seek a better life. 

I felt uncomfortable taking pictures, but here is a picture of our
group in front of Red Cross! Very efficient building for what they do! There are 
bunk rooms for the residents that are perfectly organized.