Farm Worker Child

My name is Miguel and I am 12 years old. I was born in Mexico, but now live in the United States where my parents are farm workers. My family travels from sate to state, picking fruit and vegetables when they are in season. We don't have our own home. Much of the time we stay in small trailers near the fields that my mom and dad work in, and sometimes we even have to live in our van!

During the busy picking season our whole family, even my younger brother and sister, work in the field from sun up to sun down every day of the week. Once, when we were in North Carolina, I made 65 cents for each bushel of cucumbers I picked. boy, did those bushels get heavy quick.

I wish my parents could find a good job in one place so I could go to school, make some friends and maybe even live in a house where I could have my own room. I'd even share my room with my brother or sister.

Reflecting through a Child's Eyes:
Take a few moments to wear Miguel's baseball cap. What do you think he likes the most about his life? What do you think he likes the least? How do you think he feels living in a van with his whole family? Where do you suppose he goes to find some private time? what is the hardest you've ever had to work? How did you feel afterwards? How do you thin it would feel to have to pick cucumbers all day long? Spend some time in prayer for Miguel and other farm worker children like him around the world.

Reflecting through God's Word:
What do you think Jesus would have to say to farm workers today?
Read James 5:1-5. What is your reaction to these words? Did it make you angry? Confused? Sad? Why do you think James wrote such strong words? Where do you place yourself in the passage? What does this passage make you want to do?
List some things that you can do to stand up for the people (young and old) who pick the food that we eat each day.

Prayer:
God, Giver of all good and perfect gifts, we thank you, for the gift of food that we enjoy each day — the crunchy apples, tasty carrots, sweet bananas, and wheat made into breads and cakes. We thank you for those that help to put food on our tables, the workers who spend long, hot hours bent over in the fields working with very little pay and no benefits. Give us the courage and passion to work for them so that they might have comfortable warm beds to sleep in at night, plenty of fresh water to drink, and crunchy apples to eat. In the name of Christ we pray. Amen.

Resources
Printable Version — pdf / Word
Graphics
www.nfwm.org
www.beth-el.info
Dark Sweat, White Gold - California Farm Workers, Cotton, and the New Deal - Devra Weber
Promise Unfulfilled: Unions, Immigrant ion and the Farm Workers - Phillip L. Martin