Luisa’s Stories
Luisa wrote about her early experiences in the Oregon labor camps.
She called her collection of stories “Stranger in the Migrant Camp.” You can read her stories by clicking on the links in the right-hand column.
These stories will be the heart of a new book that I am now compiling. The book will also include stories from her sister, her children, friends, and the people she knew who lived in the migrant camps and worked in the fields.
Start reading the first story, “My Name is Luisa,” and you’ll be transported back to the 1950’s when migrant workers traveled from Mexico and Texas each summer to harvest the crops in Oregon.
They lived and worked under difficult conditions, yet many workers had a dream to settle in Oregon and make a better life for their children.
By teaching the migrants English, and by providing food, clothing and blankets so they could make it through their first winter in Oregon, Luisa helped many families fulfill that dream.
She tutored the first student to finish high school, and the first student to graduate from college. She was a godmother to migrant children, and a friend for families to come visit after church on Sunday.
If you were there, then reading her stories from “Stranger in the Migrant Camp” may stir up some old memories of Luisa and life in the migrant labor camps.
And if you were there, I hope you’ll share your memories with me, and with everyone who will read this new book.
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Copyright 2012, Rolf Erickson