Most of us will never have to leave our home province, never mind our country, in order to make a living. Yet the opposite is true for many people living in Mesoamerica. Up to 40% of Central Americans have been forced to leave their homes to seek low-paying jobs in the United States and Canada just to survive. Many of them will never make it there.

Central Americans attempting to get to the U.S. Many ride “The Beast” - the train, and risk mutilation and amputation. Some make it, but many others are caught and deported, or return home maimed … or dead. Photo by Gregorio Méndez, Mexico.

We may know of seasonal migrant workers who come up to help in our fields during harvest. They are just a small fraction of the millions of Mesoamericans who are being forced to abandon their communities in an effort to seek work abroad. The impact of this mass exodus is devastating. While migration has evolved into a fundamental survival strategy for many, it has serious consequences for food security, local development, family and community relations, and the human rights of those migrants.

Typically, it’s the youth who leave to find work abroad. More and more, entire communities in Mesoamerica are missing their most dynamic, creative and productive resource, while the aged are left to fend for themselves. Households headed by single mothers are becoming increasingly common – women assuming full responsibility for maintaining family and community on their own.

What’s Horizons Doing?

Horizons works with local organizations throughout Central America and Mexico that implement grassroots community projects through income generation, agriculture, education and health projects that help families stay in their communities. In 2011, Horizons and our partner COMIFAH will launch a regional project on migration to promote improved government policies to protect migrant rights.