programs actually work. the to some degree we ve done that in el salvador to some extent. they haven t done that in guatemala. other is aid projects. aid is not a silver bullet. there are no magic wands to wave here. what we saw is that if you can provide people some sense that they have a future in an area, we saw this with this young woman at 15 she wrote a plan to come to the u.s. because of this program in this village from mercy corps she is there now. she sees a future for herself. we can do that on a broader scale. she wants to see a future for herself in her home country. we heard the mayor of a texas town say this. . but you wrote specifically about this one guatemala warm woman.
the circumstances that put her where she is and write am is random and in many ways crew people talent is universal. but opportunity is not. why this woman? you know, olga was, you know, one of the reasons that i wanted to write about her is she had had a tragic story, but she also had how? she got married when she was 15. she had her first child when she was 16. she s 25 now. a mother of three. her husband died 10 months ago working on the guatemalan coast. she doesn t know how or why. she s now a single mother. she had to dropout in second grade from school and fighting to keep her kids alive and put food on the table. what she told me is it s important that people in the u.s. understand the reality that she is living in guatemala so that we, you know, are able to support her and people like her with humanitarian aid and her
so much or should to all of us. president trump is largely relying on mexico to stem the flow of migrants coming from central america to the united states. he says more details on that plan will be released soon, but one question the trump administration has not focused on is why. why are migrants fleeing their home countries at such a rapid pace? new york times columnist and friend of ours, nicholas kristof went to guatemala to answer this question. alongside, a winner of a win a trip contest. you saw a very scary reality. welcome to both. nick, tell us about the people you met there and what their biggest concerns are, because some would tell you they re just coming here for our free education and our great roads. the reasons vary to some degree where they re coming from, but we were in the western hil highlands in guatemala.