The Journey to Find Home

It wasn’t discussed. It was simply understood that all other options had been exhausted. The only place for the family of six to sleep for the next four nights was inside their proverbial rolling prison, their grey 2001 Dodge Caravan. “La van,” as they called it, was their life. Driving for thousands of miles with no clear destination, simply looking for a place to call their home.

Marco Vinicio Loria Morales was born on September 17, 1989, in the city of El Erizo, in the province of Alajuela in Costa Rica. He is the youngest in a family with four children. In Costa Rica Marco’s family was supported by his father’s construction business, until work became too sparse to continue. The decision was made in June 2004 to move the entire family out of Costa Rica for “a chance at a better life,” he says. To buy the plane tickets to Canada, they were forced to sell everything they owned. They told no one they were leaving, reducing the risk of authorities being notified of their departure and ending their journey before it began.

For two years the family of six lived in Canada, forced to live in a refugee shelter and tenement housing; they had no other options. After their two years, the Canadian government gave them an ultimatum: leave or be forced out. After crossing the American border, Marco’s family remained on the road for over three years, sometimes forced to live out of their car. Starting in Miami and moving up the Eastern Seaboard, everyone worked odd jobs until they reached Salem, NH, where they live today.

Finally, the unpredictable string of odd jobs had come to an end when Marco’s parents found full-time jobs with a cleaning service that they still have today. Marco and his brother found jobs at breakfast restaurants, starting as part-time dishwashers eventually being promoted to cooks and ultimately running their kitchens themselves. Two years ago, Marco started at Maddie’s in Salem, where he still works full time today, while taking classes part-time at Northern Essex Community College studying business management and real estate.

Today, that Dodge Caravan is still a part of their everyday life, parked in their driveway in Salem, a sentimental reminder of the lowest point in their journey and how far they have come. Growing up the way he did, Marco used to consider his luck unfortunate, but only for a short time “As I got older, I realized I was very fortunate because most people never have the chance to grow up the way I did, with a [realistic] taste of life and the world.”