Article September 17, 2007 Issue

The immigrant's spiritual journey home

BY ELISE MOORE

SHE WASN'T the typical immigrant, but her plight resonates with anyone who has walked the hard road of living in a new country and learning a new language.

I received a call one day telling me about a Spanish-speaking woman who was living in difficult circumstances near our community. This woman from Peru had married an American whom she'd met only a few days before the wedding. She spoke no English and he no Spanish. He'd written her letters (translated by an agency) saying he had a good job, financial security, and lived in the state capital—all more wishful than truthful statements.

I learned that she came from a good family, had worked as a nurse, and thought that coming to the United States would mean a better life and prosperity. Her new husband, while deeply in love with her, lived in his mother's dilapidated trailer miles from the nearest town. He had no job and was now in debt because he'd borrowed money from a bank to fly to Peru and marry her.