Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees from Central America

by Steven Mayers (Editor), Jonathan Freedman (Editor)

They are a mass migration of thousands, yet each one travels alone. Solito, Solita, (“Alone, Alone”), is a Voice of Witness collection of oral histories that tell the stories of youth refugees fleeing their home countries and traveling for hundreds of miles seeking safety and protection in the United States.

These powerful narrators describe why they fled their homes, what happened on their dangerous journeys through Mexico, how they crossed the border, and their ongoing struggles to survive in the United States. In an era of fear, xenophobia, and outright lies, these stories amplify the compelling voices of immigrant youth. What can they teach us about abuse and abandonment, bravery and resilience, hypocrisy and hope? They bring us into their hearts and onto streets filled with the lure of freedom and fraught with violence. From fending off kidnappers with knives and being locked in freezing holding cells to tearful reunions with parents, Solito, Solita’s evocative stories bring to light the experiences of young people struggling for a better life across the border.

Steven Mayers is a writer, oral historian, and professor of English at the City College of San Francisco.

Jonathan Freedman is a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist, author, and writing mentor at the City College of San Francisco.

Voice of Witness, founded by Dave Eggers, Mimi Lok, and Lola Vollen, is a nonprofit organization that advances human rights by amplifying unheard voices.

Part of the Voice of Witness series

Genres: Nonfiction, Feminism, Politics, Social Justice, Social Issues, Memoir, Book Club

316 pages, Paperback

First published April 4, 2019

About the author

Steven Mayers is a writer, oral historian, and professor at the City College of San Francisco. He is co-editor of Solito, Solita: Crossing Borders with Youth Refugees from Central America, a collection of oral histories published by Haymarket Books in the spring of 2019 as part of the Voice of Witness book series on human rights. Steven’s work has appeared in journals, newspapers and magazines including the New York Times, the San Diego Union Tribune, Versal, Travesías, Gatopardo, The English Counsel of California Two-Year Colleges, and Powerlines, a journal published by San Francisco State University’s Department of Comparative Literature. He is a faculty advisor for Forum Magazine, the literary journal of City College of San Francisco. He lives with his wife and son in the Bay Area.

Reviews

[Jillian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recommend this book. Birth and birthplace is a lottery. Count your lucky stars for every one of your privileges - safety, security, food, love - and possibilities. These stories are important. These children are important. History is important. This book does not offer answers to overwhelming and complex problems, but it will teach you. Empathy can be learned.

[Rafa]

*I won a copy of this book in "Our Shared Shelf" giveaway*

[Eliza Whybark · Rating 5 out of 5]

A powerful collection of stories that needs to be heard and seen by modern day America. A must read for anyone who is interested not only in the immigration crisis, but in the humanization of people as a whole.

[Peggii · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such powerful stories. Good testimonial on human resistance. Agree with other reviews, should be required reading to all American.
Thanks to the book, I discovered Voice of Witness (non profit) and have selected many others books to read now.

[Aki · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm really glad I joined OSS as it's forced me to read outside my comfort zone and learn about various marginalized groups and specifically the struggles of women within them.

This was a particularly eye opening read that I devoured in 2 sittings. It was both insightful and thought provoking, exploring a variety of aspects not often mentioned or merely glanced over when the topic of immigration comes up.

I especially loved the format, starting with testimonials from 15 different individuals on various parts of their journey, 10 ways to help, a historical timeline, glossary, and wrapping up with a very informative appendixes expounding upon various contributing factors to the crisis Central Americans face both in their motherland, on their journey, and once in the United States.

I cannot recommend this enough for people wanting to read an in depth exploration of youth refugees and their journey across borders.

Solito, Solita - now that I know the context, even the title gives me chills.

I will definitely be picking up Voice of Witness book series' in the future.

[Shana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an incredibly well edited and cohesive collection of first hand accounts accompanied by excellent appendices. Not a policy book as solutions aren't presented, but the commonalities in these stories drive children north : poverty, threats by gangs, abuse, family ties, war/violence, as well as commin elements of the journey : the vulnerability, the hunger, bandits along the way, the mercy of the migrant centers, the cold and psychological and gastronomical abuse of ICE detention in the US accompanied by the contrasts of different individuals, their hopes and aspirations, how they landed here in the U. S. or were turned back.... It all shines a light onto the need for compassion, dignity in how we treat migrants and immigrants, asylum seekers really. Also our urgent need for policies protecting women from domestic violence in central America, dismantling the machismo, allowing no insisting on primary education for all for far longer (mandatory only 4 years in some countries), fixing the LA prison-gang-central american pipeline.. Crushing corruption, building up the regional economy, educating all the americas so indigenous people, languages, and cultures are celebrated not disdained.. All of it!
Told in a relatable way i think high schoolers for sure and mature middle school kids can understand.
But it's intense.
Shana

[Tini · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very educative, well researched, carefully edited and immensely touching.
I am very glad to have read it and feel a little enlightened on the history and current situation of migration to the USA.
However, the book is at times difficult to read, the narrative flow is stagnant and the individual stories differ somewhat in coherence, although, as I understand, they were put together from interviews and do not represent how and in which order they were told. Maybe I'm mistaken.
The essays are set up so they can be read individually in any order, every story stands for itself and every word that might need explanation for anyone who isn't familiar with immigration policies, authorities or even any American geography comes with a footnote.
Especially the appendix and the historical timeline put everything very neatly into context and perspective. It's just a shame that the narratives themselves seem a little chopped up, at times dry, at times weirdly naive in tone.
I'm not a native speaker myself, but I feel that the book could have been handled with a little more sensitivity in regard to language, especially to lend different narrators slightly different voices.
Apart from that I would definitely recommend it to anyone who wishes to know more about the great enigma of migration at the Mexico-US border.

[Pam · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some mindful wisdom is to hold hands with strangers and get in close to understand them and their needs. The Voice of Witness'es project exemplifies this beautifully by sharing oral histories of individuals who have crossed the United States southern border. The American perspective is whether or not to call this attempt to enter the border legal or illegal.

From the perspective of these refugees; 99% of them would stay at their homelands with their family members on their land if they could. Each one of their portrayals gives rise to the beauty and love of their homeland before power vacuums were created that lead to an increase in drugs, gangs, and violence that tainted or otherwise destroyed their old way of life or the ability to create a future one. Power vacuums that may lead back to the USA, the red scare, or the idea that democracy can thrive after a CIA mission.

Birth is a lottery. Response to crises, compassion, reactions... these are all choices.

[Rachel Matthews · Rating 3 out of 5]

I took my time reading this book as I wanted to give each story the space and consideration it deserved.

The stories here are harrowing. For the people making the journey across the Mexican border into the USA it would seem that robbery, rape and mistreatment are an inevitable part of the experience. It is so sad to think how desperate you would need to be to risk everything for the hope of a better life in another country and some pay thousands for a 'cayote' or guide to help them make the crossing.

For the bravery of its subjects, this book gets 5 stars but in reviewing it on Goodreads I have to focus primarily on the reading experience which for me was just above OK. I understand the editors wrote down the spoken testimony of the people they met, many of whom spoke little or no English, but the writing style is so dry. It was hard going at times reading sentence after sentence of misery with no nuance, no insight into the emotional impact and no storytelling techniques applied at all.

It is still an important work if only for the window it gives into the border crossing experience made all the more relevant by Trump's election promise to build a wall. If nothing else, reading these stories shows this is not the time to build barriers, it's the time to break them down.

[Beanslover Jacob · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fruits book is mostly first person accounts of Central American migrants attempting to enter the United States. The stories are very affecting, and it feels like listening to the narrators speak directly to you. The appendices also provide a fact-dense primer on the situation in northern Central America, as well as the struggles that migrants face. It also makes it very clear that the US played a huge part in things getting as tough as they have. An upsetting and educational and inspiring book

[Heidi · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Many Americans think that we come here to take their jobs, to do bad things, to take advantage of the country.
I'm not a bad person. I came here to survive, to do better in this world, to help my family and other people. There was no way to survive in my homeland. I didn't choose to come here. I didn't have another option"

This book deserves an infinite number of starts simply by the rollercoaster of emotion it put me through. The stories told throughout the book need to be seen by everyone.

It shows the trauma children go through in order to come to America for a better life. This book rightfully humanizes child immigrants.

So happy I read this for my LAS class because it's a new favorite.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

“We are trying to be seen in our entire humanity and not how the media paints us; we are not defined by our suffering.”
•
“We know the who, the when, the where, and how immigrants [from Central America] migrate to [the United States], but we haven’t yet fully understood or fully explored the why of migration.” Solito, Solita is a book from the Voice of Witness book series and has documented the oral history of 15 different narrators, giving voice to their suffering but also their hope, motivation, and determination. I would recommend this book to put faces to a humanitarian crises that has so often been misrepresented or vilified by politics and mainstream media. There is so much to be learned here.

[Teresa Dominguez-Piedade (book.indulgence) · Rating 4 out of 5]

This one took me a while to finish (almost a year), more due to a gremlin's terrible two's than because of the book itself... Since the book itself is great!

You can't pick where you're born. These stories from asylum-seekers open a door to a reality known to most, but usually not humanised enough... It has some really hard details which cover all forms of violence - making it quite a heavy reading exercise - but necessary as migration issues are increasingly discussed in public and international fora.

It's from 2018/19 and U.S.-focused, and a lot has changed in the past 6 years, but still a powerful, empathetic, and extremely well edited book.

[Jess · Rating 5 out of 5]

These stories offer so much sadness and hardship, and yet there are glimmers of hope and kindness too. Exceedingly powerful, these individual accounts will make you feel like you are sitting right in the room with the interviewers and bring you closer to understanding the refugee experience.

[Maggie Duval · Rating 5 out of 5]

I encourage everyone to read this book. Inform yourself. It’s shocking, enraging, and heartbreaking. The mess is US has made in Central America especially is unconscionable.

[Harry · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very challenging, heartbreaking, and informative read.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Extremely powerful vignette of stories from Central American refugees that sheds new light on the migrant process in the US. The stories are in-depth and illuminating into the struggles immigrants face, while also being incredibly quick to read through. A must-read for everyone feeling less than educated on the border laws.

[Connie Whitcomb · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learned a bit more about the Guatemalan massacre. It's hard to believe that this could happen in 1980. I feel that perhaps the U.S. should be more welcoming to Central American refugees since our country played a large part in the mess that now exists in Honduras and Guatemala.

Each story was sadder than the one before. Overall I found this book to be very informative, if biased.

[Sara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A gut-wrenching compilation of stories of migrants from a variety of Central-American people, talking about their early life and journey across the US/Mexican border.

If you have any empathy at all, this book will haunt you. It's very eye-opening to see just how dire the lives of the people in this book are and you understand exactly why they make this dangerous choice to leave their homes and try to make it to America. Most of them are children when they crossed. Most of them are coming from abusive families or running from gangs, their lives have been threatened and they must make a choice between staying and being killed/their family being killed or taking a shot at traveling to the US, where they also might die in the process.

Not only does this book capture essentially how dire the situation is, but also how much these people are just looking for a way to better their life/the life of their family. Much of the reasons that cause them to leave have direct links to American meddling in Central American politics, the drug trade, and immigration policies that America has put into place that are not only seriously limiting, but also life-threatening. It's a shame to see how much this country has changed from being an open, welcoming place to a closed-border/closed-minded place. I'm deeply ashamed of the ways my country has treated innocent people who are simply looking for a place to live freely.

[Manasa · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Every time we retell a story, we fish into the abyss and pull them out. The fish is constantly changing, the water as well. Both the fish and water will never go away, but we can envision a better future for our trauma. That’s what we’re trying to do. We’re trying to be seen in our entire humanity and not how the media paints us; we are not defined by our suffering.”

[Viral · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are books that I'm glad are written. There are books that I wish were written.

There are books that wish didn't have to be written. And this book, this raw and harrowing true story of numerous different young refugees fleeing into the U.S., is one of them.

Solita, Solita is a captivating anthology of the stories of Central American people who for various different reasons, left the Northern Triangle to find refuge in the U.S. We learn their hardships in their homelands, the reasons they were willing to trust coyotes to take them to this foreign land up North, the abuse they faced at home, in transit to the U.S., and here in the U.S. And we see where they are now, how they are struggling and surviving. It's an unbelievably powerful story. I am very thankful to the people at Haymarket for making this book, as these are the stories that need to be centered when we have our immigration debate in this country. Highly, highly recommend.

[Chalida · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have been reading this book slowly over the last few months. These oral histories by young adults reflecting on their lives pre border crossing and the journey itself are so powerful. I keep thinking about how my school holds grit so highly as a value to teach. Bettina Love, in her book about abolitionist teaching, says our kids of color have grit already. This book is a strong reminder of how much grit they have. To face the violence in Central America, to leave family and communities, to take on a treacherous journey and then deal with the harsh realities of living in a new country. If anything, we could learn from them. I was also struck by how misogyny and patriarchy was so prevalent in these stories. How women are running from men who beat them. Making this journey with toddlers, babies and small children to escape men who might kill them. Well written and so powerful. This book is for all to read.

[Natasha (jouljet) · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of interviews of young Central Americans, trying to flee the violence faced in their home countries, and get to safety and a new life in the US.

As the title suggests, so many kids do this trip alone - and it's harrowing. From the experiences at home, to setting off, to finding each passage, the dangers, the hunger, to the people they come across, good and very bad.

So alone, or young woman with their children in tow, and so alone. So vulnerable.

As someone on the other side of the world, and focused and encountering people from other refugee crisis, this is the first in-depth reading I have done about Central America, and why people are fleeing. And how, and the terrifying journeys to try and cross the border to the US, and then be granted safety. Such an eye-opener for me.

[Maria Teijmul · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quite informative. Its interviews with adults who crossed the border and some who are in transit to the border and why they were coming to the United States. Its not something they ever thought they would have to do. Some are running from the gang violence that has killed their family and the gangs want them or would kill them if they did not join. Some were in abusive relationships and their boyfriend joined the gang and they had to flee with their child. It was disturbing the amount of violence these people have to endure and trying to get to safety is a dangerous journey with rapes, people stealing their money. Yet they are treated like criminals when they seek asylum. It is devastating. Solito, Solita means alone alone. We need to wake up our humanity and recognize a human emergency in the continued criminalizing of people fleeing violence and poverty.

[Lucia Sobekova · Rating 4 out of 5]

Powerful and heartbreaking in the same time. I particularly liked that this was not a story about migrants, but those solitos and solitas narrated themselves their journeys to the US. I would recommend to take time to read this over few weeks or months, to fully grasp the stories, personal challenges and structural gaps they point at.

[Carla Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is very inspirational to hear first hand accounts. I could'nt help but cry with some stories.

[Yanni Velasquez · Rating 5 out of 5]

As an ethnic studies instructor, one of my goals was to create space for Latinx students to feel seen through the stories, hxstories, and texts. Many of them have expressed that the Chicanx experience typically dominates conversations in classes with talking about the Latinx identity, and as an Asian American, I draw parallels to that with Asian American research and curriculum typically centering East Asian and Chinese narratives.

One of my students wished to hear more stories from Central Americans, and I'm extremely grateful my colleague let me borrow this text. It is abundant with first hand accounts of Center American refugees who have crossed the border at very young ages for a variety of reasons that speak to the larger systemic inequities and injustices in their hometowns. Topics of sexual abuse, domestic violence, gang violence, poverty, and incarceration are scattered throughout all stories.

The pieces are heavy, and yet, provide so much backstory for what millions of refugees have to face when coming to this country. I was moved through motifs of things not going to plan, getting lost, getting captured, and being positioned in life or death situations. When I think about the things most people complain about today, these stories are far from them.

I appreciate the in depth and intentionally laid out historical timeline provided at the end of the text as well as the glossary. There are so many factors that weave all the stories together, and to know what such young kids have been force to grow up with makes me think of what direction our nation is heading in terms of policy, abolition, and border control.

[Alistair]

Prior to reading this book I had had very little exposure to the stories of migrants, many of whom had endured inhumane conditions whilst travelling from one country to another. Upon watching recent editions of the news, I have been confronted by many shocking news pieces of migrants losing their lives whilst trying to undergo these arduous journeys. The majority of these news pieces have left me with a sense of how people in developed countries view this influx of migrants, with a real lack in presenting the opinions of the migrants themselves. I feel that this is something that Solito Solita does so well; it gives a voice to those who are too often voiceless and humanises them in a way that seems very rare.

The main bulk of Solito Solita is devoted to detailing the accounts of young immigrants who embarked on dangerous journeys from Central America. In all of the narrations one thing became blindingly apparent, these youths were not immigrating for a want to live in another country, but more out of a means to survive. This point is reiterated by the dangers that each migrant was willing to face on their journeys through Central America, in order to escape the horrible situations in their homeland.

Overall, this book was tough to get through due to the heavy subject matter. In spite of this I still found great value in the exposure to these accounts, that give me a different perspective to migration and an awareness of some of the struggles facing several Central American countries today.

[MaryJane Rings · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book that tells the other side of the story of immigration and asylum. Most of the stories were from the Obama era which was much more friendly to immigrants and organizations that could help them. At this time in another administration, it has changed for the worse and these persons are being detained without adequate representation. It is easy to read about the problems and the killing that goes on with the gangs in the Central American countries but quite another to hear it from the immigrants, many of them teens and children who have been threatened or their families killed before their eyes. Many bare physical as well as emotional scars. Their gov'ts are weak and also law enforcement often looks the other way so there is no one to turn to. There are also weak economies so they come here for a better life and to make money to help their families. It is a book which should be read by the American people before they judge or discriminate against these persons who appear on our borders.

[Nanuska_153 · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a collection of migrants stories, their reasons to cross to the US and their problems in transit and once they reached their destination. I was more interested in the appendix than in the stories, the timeline about how US interference caused instability in central America and how their policies affected the migrants was brief but interesting. I was surprised when I went back and I saw that women's stories were about 40% of the book, because I didn't think their problems were represented. I saw on the Glossary that 80% suffer sexual violence on transit, rape being considered part of the price that women pay for travelling to the US and how they are also abused in the immigration centers. Despite this shocking percentage this theme doesn't appear at all on any of the stories chosen to reflect the lives of the migrants, having to learn about it in a Glossary makes me think that it had to be avoided on purpose. Overall it left me with the feeling that a better book with migrants stories have to exist, if you find it let me know