I have a classmate who devoted her life to development work in a village in Mexico. About ten years ago, I asked her what she thought about NAFTA, a trade agreement that made it easier to trade between participating nations. I expected her to support it, but her response was cautious.
John, she said, I did not follow the debate carefully. I can only tell you what happened in my little village. Most of my neighbors are subsistence farmers. They raise their food, make their own clothes, build their own homes. They grow some corn that is not their own food. They used to sell it, and that was almost the only cash in the community. But NAFTA meant that corn from Iowa and other Midwest states was available here. They could not compete with that. They still raise almost everything they need. But if they need a new tool, a new hammer, that requires cash. There isn't any cash here. So everyone between age 15 and 50 left the village. Every one. We have young people and old people, but no one of working age.
They all left, to get work. Almost all of them went north.
Where else could they go?
very nice of you to care about this issue, and you so right about the interpretation of "strangers" because for them to in another country with a different language and different culture is hard, imagine if they are always seen as someone who should not be thre , it is even worse.sharing people´s problems shoulb be more important.
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