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Journalism of Courage
“It’s dark, the stretch is swampy and half eaten bodies are lying on the mud. Their shoes torn but the faces of 20 year olds still have the innocence left. With prayers on their lips and hissing of snakes hitting their eardrums, a group of 20 keeps walking on a 106-km stretch of Panama jungle. A few minutes away my feet gets stuck in the swamp and I wake up sweating…..”
Harjinder Singh, 35, still gets nightmares of what had happened five years ago. Belonging to Jalandhar’s Mundi Chohlian, he lived the foreign dream till June 26, 2019 when he boarded a flight to Dubai on the promise of a safe entry to the USA and a job. He paid Rs 17 lakh ($20,000) to a travel agent.
With three boxes of panjiri (sweet dish) made by his mother, packed in his bag Harjinder, then 30, set out for the new journey. Reality hit hard when a middle man asked him for $2000 to take him through a donkey trail.
“The next day a new agent asked for more money for Mexico…we had no legal entry,” he said. “We were then plonked on horses for crossing a mountain and a stream.” The group later received a temporary document that allowed them to stay in the country for up to a month. “From Colombia, we reached Cali after an 8-hour bus ride…we went towards the coastal town of Turbo before taking a boat into the heart of the Panama jungle, where we were joined by a group of 15 African immigrants,” he said.
Harjinder and the group spent over 10 days to cross the 105 km stretch of the Panama jungle. “We crossed at least 40 bodies, some half eaten and some skeletons… It’s been five years but I still get nightmares of crossing that stretch. After days…we saw soldiers. It was relief and fear. They shoved us in a camp where I slept after days,” he said.
“At one camp, we were made to wait for 13 days until we were allowed to travel to…Costa Rica. After…we were allowed to board a bus to Nicaragua…We moved from Nicaragua to Guatemala and to Tapachula in Mexico in trucks,” he said.
In Tapachula, the group stayed for 20 days and waited for their papers to get processed. “We were then taken to a camp in Veracruz… we were made to talk to US border officials through video conferencing… We thought we will go to the USA but we were…deported to India,” he said.
“For months I had locked myself in my room out of fear. With the passing years, I have gained back a little confidence…grow garlic, wheat and paddy in 14 acres, including 10 acres on lease. I earn around `9 lakh per annum but the loanis still going on,” he said.
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