Aníbal describes his trips to the United States to recieve medical care for his injured hands.
- Interviewee:
- Anibal
Transcription
[Could you please tell us, Mr. Aníbal, about your trip in 1987 to the United States with your mom? How did it happen that you travelled to the United States?]
There was support from the church, most of all, and through the Archbishop so I could travel to the United States with the Sisters... I forget the name of the congregation, the ones who used to be in Las Flores.
[The Dominicans?]
The Sisters of Charity, I think. Yes, that’s what they’re called. At the time, they supported us, and they were in Las Flores. We had that opportunity to travel to the United States in 1987. Six wounded people traveled there to get treatment, including myself.
[Excuse me, what were you going to do there?]
We all traveled to get treated. I had an operation and rehabilitation to heal my wounds— there were a lot of wounded people who had been affected as children. I was there for three months, in Los Angeles, California.
[Then you came back.]
Then we came back and the country was still at war. I had the opportunity to stay in the United States, but we didn’t want to. My mom didn’t want to, so that’s why we’re still here. If I had stayed in the United States at the time, maybe our conditions would be different now, but we really couldn’t, it wasn’t in me to stay there. At the time, it was pretty difficult to travel to the United States because it was the hardest time of the war. We decided to return to El Salvador, when the war was the most difficult, and we didn’t stay in the United States. What were we thinking, back then?