By Lois Rogers | Correspondent

A casual visitor to Catholic Charities’ Community Services in Lakewood who meets Adan Pacheco might find it hard to imagine that just over a decade ago he arrived in the United States as a 10-year-old child with little more than the hope and love of his family to sustain him.

Connecting easily in Spanish and English with clients and employees in the bustling, downtown office where he works four days a week as a case aide, Pacheco’s warm and smiling demeanor offers no indication of the dangerous road he traveled to get here.

It’s only as he shares the details of the harrowing journey that took him, his mother and little sister from San Miguel del Puerto in the southwestern Mexican state of Oaxaca, through the Arizona desert on foot and, finally, on a stifling van trip to family already settled in Freehold, that the shadows begin to emerge.

Co-worker Lisha Loo-Morgan, immigration services case manager, says that clients with similar experiences are quick to recognize such shadows when they encounter Pacheco.

“He brings the face of the struggle of the immigrants to the agency,” said Loo-Morgan. “They understand that he, like them, came from the worst conditions.”

But for others, the full story must start unfolding before the shadows appear, followed by a hopeful vision of the future that is Pacheco’s, not only for himself and his family, but the community of immigrants and frankly, the world at large, which he holds so dear.

 Into the darkness

 Pacheco’s story resonated to make him this year’s honored walker at the Catholic Charities’ Walk of Hope fund raising event March 28 from 10 a.m. to  noon in Mercer County Park, West Windsor. The walk to reduce poverty, promote recovery and strengthen families was first held as an event in 2012 during
the 100th anniversary
year of Catholic Charities.

It has since become an annual outing in 2014 according to the non-profit agency’s communications manager, Lisa Thibault.

 The second honoree in as many years, Pacheco is walking in the footsteps of Donna Wile, the first Honored Walker for the Walk of Hope, who triumphed over homelessness at the age of 60 with the help of Catholic Charities and the Rescue Mission, among other social service agencies.

Pacheco spoke softly as he shared the story of his journey.

 He told of how the family – parents Yolanda and Leonardo – and his five brothers and sisters would all cross the border, but “not together. I came with my mother and younger sister, my two older brothers came later. My older sister and father came first.”

The family members worked hard to save for the journey, he said. They traveled in a group of 20 – two of whom did not survive, led by paid guides known as “coyotes” who did navigate their way to a new life.

He recalls how sad he felt setting out. “It was Mother’s Day, the 10th of May in Mexico, when he started on the journey. We would go by car, plane and foot to the border area where we would pick up canned goods, food and four gallons of water a person to last us through” the walk through the desert.

Poignantly, he shared his losses: “I was ten years old, I left my friends, I left my toys,” he said. “It was especially hard on a little boy.”

Especially hard indeed as the family and all those in the group had to bear the weight of the backpacks they carried and the gallons of water. “We tied them together to hang them on the shoulder and balanced them with the book bag to take the weight off” their shoulders, he said.

He recalls that once the group reached the desert crossing, they did not sleep. “You don’t sleep. You are awake all night and ready to run” if need be, he said. “It was hot during the day and so cold at night. On the second night out, I ran into a cactus.”

Stung by the thorns, his knee swelled and he couldn’t walk. The guides, he said, took care to “cut the skin to take out the thorns. They worried about you,” he said and were especially protective of the children.

During the journey, a new bride was fatally bitten by a poisonous snake. “She died and her husband stayed with her. He said he had married his sweetheart and he was not going to leave her.” Preparing to succumb to dehydration, he gave Pacheco his remaining water saying, “‘You’ll need this more than I will.’”

The young man wished him well as the group departed saying that he hoped Pacheco would “get to achieve his dreams.” He said the death of the young couple is one of the “reasons I want to be an interpreter and help Latinos and work for world peace.”

The scars on his leg are a reminder, he said, of all the group endured. After they healed, the family piled into a van with the surviving members of the group and two guides for the week long drive from Arizona to New Jersey.

“I was sad when I arrived because I missed my friends, but after a while, I realized you have to move on and find new friends,” he said.

He was determined to become fluent in English so that he could interact with his new community and assist his parents as their interpreter. It took a year to meet that goal. By fifth grade, he had become one of the best students in the Freehold Learning Center.

As graduation from Freehold Boro High School approached, he feared that he would have to return to Mexico. “I thought I wouldn’t be able to go to college because I lacked documentation. But that changed with the implementation of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA).

“I found out about DACA and had a great person (Loo-Morgan) who did the documentation. It went pretty smoothly.”  

Turn of Events

  Since then, Pacheco’s life has gotten even better. A spot opened up in Catholic Charities for a part-time aide and he was hired. Working on an associate’s degree in Brookdale Community College, Lincroft, he’s looking forward to transferring to Rutgers University where he plans to study linguistics with a goal of becoming an interpreter in the United Nations.

Home and family are two words that Pacheco, who attends Mass every Sunday in St. Rose of Lima Parish, uses frequently. He speaks with great love about his hard working family and about Catholic Charities – “a new home for me. It opened doors for me when I needed them most,” as a client, he said. “It’s still opening doors as an employee. Everyone is so nice. I value the people I meet there and hearing their stories and I try to help them as much as I can.”

He hopes that immigration reform will open the path to citizenship, not only for himself and his family, but “for so many people who want to be citizens. … My main goal,” he said, “is to help bring the Latino community out of the shadows.”

For more information, visit walkofhopenj.org or contact Jennifer Leip at 609-394-5181 x1137 [email protected].

To view The Catholic Corner episode featuring Pacheco’s story, go to https://www.youtube.com/user/CatholicCorner.