
"Work for Yourself."
A Haitian migrant shares his journey to Tijuana via Brazil and how he’s found relative success by running his own business.
01 / 04
1
Home: Haiti
My name is Constant, and when I was in Haiti, I drove public transportation [tap-taps]. I was also a high school mathematics teacher and taught for two hours a day and then drove my vehicle. With those two jobs, I made $420 a month. I left Haiti because it wasn’t good for me. My father was a judge who got arrested and killed. That’s why I left.
2
Brazil
From Haiti, I flew to Brazil. I saved money from the work I was doing, and I was still living with my parents at the time, so that allowed me to save even more. From Haiti, I flew to Brazil. I went first. At the time, my wife was studying nursing in the Dominican Republic, and after she got her degree, her parents bought her a ticket to Brazil to join me. I spent three years in Brazil and we both worked.
3
Transit through Central America
When I left Brazil, I went to Colombia, Panama, Costa Rica, Honduras, then Tapachula in Mexico.
4
Mexico
When we got to Tijuana, we found that Haitians entering the U.S. were being deported and the authorities encouraged us to stay in Mexico. My dream was never to stay in Mexico, and now I’m stuck here. The dreams I want to accomplish for myself will not come to fruition in Mexico. I want to achieve a lot of things; I want to build a bigger business. If I could get to the United States or Canada, I could learn whatever I wanted to learn, but here I can’t.