A Mother, a Daughter, a Deadly Journey: An Update

hey it's Michael this week the daily is. revisiting some of our favorite episodes. of the Year listening back and hearing. what's happened in the time since they. first ran today we return to a mother. and daughter who along with hundreds of. thousands of others made a harrowing. Journey Through the Darian Gap and we. find out where they ended up it's. Thursday December. 28th.

Julie tell us what we should know about. this place the Darian Gap so the daring. Gap is this narrow sliver of land. between Colombia and Panama it connects. South and Central Americas and this slip. of land is a jungle and it's an. extremely inhospitable jungle and this. is because the territory is sheer. Mountains in intense intense mud to be.

able to Traverse it on foot is very. dangerous because there are deadly. animals bugs snakes fast running Rivers. wow and it's sort of a changing. territory too because it's incredibly. wet mhm this place has no road so for. years what you saw was that a small. number of migrants who sort of heard. word of mouth about the possibility of. cross saying that they could do it were.

braving this Trek and so you saw between. 2010 and 2020 an average of under 11,000. people crossing a year what you've seen. in the last 2 years is an. enormous historic rise in people. crossing this very dangerous in many. cases deadly jungle how many more people.

what we saw in 2022 was almost. 250,000 people crossed the Darian. Gap and what explains why so many people. are trying to take this treacherous. Journey right now so first of all the. pandemic really hit economies in South. America hard and because the crisis was. region wide this left one way out and. that way out was North through the.

Darian Gap and so we see traffickers. advertising on social media encouraging. people to come through the Gap talking. about this Trek as if it's a vacation so. I needed to make sense of this. contradiction that I was seeing between. this incredibly harsh terrain this idea. that this place is an impassible jungle. and these numbers that we were seeing. and so my colleague F fos photographer.

and I decided that the only way really. to do this was to do the Trek ourselves. and so we set out to cross the Daran Gap. so tell us Julie about this. journey so I started the journey in niol. CLE the beach town in Columbia that. serves as the jumping off point for the. trip through the dadan. mhm so from NE CLE the migrants have to.

cross this large body of water this gulf. to get to the point where the jungle. begins mhm and so I have to say we were. totally struck by the organization and. the operation of the entire. thing these formerly tourist boat now. migrant Boat companies are calling the.

migrants one by one to you know get on. their assigned boat after they've bought. their. ticket so we get on this boat with a. large group of migrants on their way to. start this journey and we reach kapana. the last town before people enter the. jungle so we are leaving now to begin. this hike we're a group of maybe a. hundred people there's lots of children. everybody is a.

completely Laden down with bags and mats. to sleep on and things like that so we. set off for what would be for most of. these migrants a journey of somewhere. between 6 and 10 days in the. jungle and pretty soon the terrain gets. very Steep and it's very hot it's very. hot people are struggling they're. breathing hard hard some people start to.

cry and then it starts to get really. difficult right and somehow people are. getting through this with children in. their arms or on their backs yes lots of. children lots and lots of children. wow so by the time that we are 2 Days in. we really start to see people fall apart. they start to get sick they start to get. injured there's um a pregnant woman who.

we watch fall down an extremely steep. hill and it becomes clear that some. people aren't going to make this journey. they're not going to survive we did come. across a dead body on the trail wow you. often heard adults singing with kids. just to keep their spirits. up so by the fourth day we have have.

crossed into Panama we are about halfway. through the Journey and we're about to. do the most difficult part of the track. what is called the hill of. death and it's on this hill that I meet. [Music]. Sarah Sarah is this tiny six-year-old. girl from Venezuela she's wearing this. tiny pink T-shirt with sparkles on.

it and she is climbing the hill of death. with a man named. anel he's not her father and I see anel. help Sarah to make it up and then down. the hill of death mhm we're going to. Camp between a couple of trees by the.

river f is making a clearing basically. with a machete okay. glor you know as we're setting up camp. for the night I got to know Sarah a. little bit. more earlier in the journey Sarah's.

mother had then become injured and that. morning had asked anel if he could help. her by carrying Sarah at points by. guiding her while she trudged along in. her injured State and by the time I met. them no one knew where her mother was it. wasn't clear to us if she was even. alive it really seemed to exemplify what. a cruel Journey this was that a mother. would would be pushed some would say.

forced to hand her child the fate of her. child to someone she had really just met. all in the hopes of making it through. the Darren Gap and making it to the. United. [Music]. States we'll be right. back so what happens the next morning so. Sarah's group wakes up very early and.

they tell us that they are going to head. out I asked Sarah for a description of. her mother in case I saw her later that. day and could interview her could tell. her that Sarah was okay. mhm and I'm told that Sarah's mother. looks exactly like her same hair same. skin Sarah's group leaves and F and I. decide we're going to wait and hope that. we find the mother and sure.

enough a few hours later A Woman. matching the description we were given. comes down the hill and I ask her are. you Sarah's. mother and she exclaims and and she. wants to know immediately if her. daughter is okay by this point it's been. more than a day since she'd seen her. only. child they'd been on this journey for. about 6 days so far her name is.

Alexandra Sarah's mom tells me that she. has terrible blisters on her. feet so we sat down on a log by a river. and I asked her what landed her here how. did she get here why is she. here she told me she was a lawyer in. Venezuela but when the country's oil. industry collapsed. her business collapsed so earlier that.

year she had left Venezuela crossed on. foot the atakama desert to make it into. Chile where she thought that she could. build a new life. but she couldn't practice law there. because she didn't have the right. paperwork. and Alexander tells me that she's under. the impression that the US will let her.

in and let her stay in the country and. this is where she wants to raise her. daughter that's that's what brought her. on this track in the first. place she's just horrified by the fact. that she's become separated from her. daughter she's horrified by what her. daughter is going. through say goodbye and I continued on.

hoping that I might catch back up with. Sarah and tell her that her mother was. alive and. okay by this point it's day 7 we are. exhausted but Philly and I are still. moving much faster than Alexandra and we. think we might be able to catch up with. Sarah at the next Camp so we're finally. finally arriving at the place called. ELO the next camp is a place.

calledo and as we settle in I start. scanning for. Sarah and I spot Sarah and anel and I. immediately tell Sarah that I've met her. mom that she's just a day or two. behind and anel tells me that since I. last saw them Sarah has been crying a. lot.

she's been asking about her mom Non-Stop. and as I'm talking to her she's asking. to wait at this Camp to wait at ELO for. her mom to meet them there but anel has. decided what they need to do is get to. the end of the Trek where there's a. Government Camp where children who have. been separated along this journey can. stay until they are reunited with their. parents so I tell them that I'm staying. behind to do reporting and that.

Alexandra is probably a day behind I. know I can wait and try and connect with. her at this. Camp so what happens next so we're. waiting in Alo I. see this boat arrive. Alexandra has just arrived on a. boat her feet are so destroyed that she. can't walk she's like crying and she.

she's. shaking she hasn't. eaten or had anything to drink in two. days I tell her that I saw Sarah that. Sarah is just up ahead.

and all she wants to do is get moving. immediately she doesn't want to eat she. doesn't want to sleep she doesn't want. to rest she just wants to find her. daughter and so we get in this boat to. head toward the government un camp. together so this is. Alexandra arriving at. Canan which is this community in Panama. where her daughter should be. so we get off the boat as before she.

needs to be carried she's scanning for. her daughter and finally she is taken by. pananian officials to one of the shacks. and there inside the shack is Sarah is. her. daughter and we are watching. this reunion.

happen and Alexandra just you know she. grabs her daughter she holds her and she. starts asking for forgiveness right. away please forgive me please forgive me. you know I I didn't abandon you is what. she. [Laughter]. says they had been separated now for 3. days. Sarah seemed kind of to be in.

shock it was a very Bittersweet reunion. because they hadn't even made it near. the United States they still had so much. more to. [Music]. do after the break Julie turkowitz gives. us an update on what Alexandra and Sarah. are now. doing.

this is Julie turtz Andy's bureau chief. since this episode aired my colleague. fed goros and I have kept in touch with. Alexandra after Alexandra and Sarah. crossed the daring Gap they continued. their Journey North to try and get to. the United States and as they were. traveling through Central America they.

heard that the Biden administration had. made a really important policy change. the new policy would no longer allow. Venezuelans to enter at the Mexico US. border instead the government was going. to open up slots for Venezuelans in a. program called humanitarian parole and. it was going to give them a safe legal. way to get into the United.

States so Alexandra decides that she has. just suffered too much she does not want. to risk her daughter's life anymore on. any other part of the journey and she is. going to apply for this legal option she. just has one problem and that's that for. the humanitarian parole program you need. to have a person in the United States. who says hey I commit to support suppor. in this person even.

financially when they get to the United. States and then the article comes out. and we had a huge huge response from New. York Times. readers several of whom reached out and. said we want to be the sponsors and they. submitted applications for this. humanitarian parole program so now we. are more than a year later all Alexandra. has heard from the US government is that. it has been received and she wakes up.

every morning checks the status of her. application and refreshes and refreshes. hoping that one day it will say that her. application has been accepted and that. she will be able to come to the United. [Music]. States. meantime they are in a pretty unstable. situation they've asked us not to reveal. their specific location they are in a. situation of poverty and Alexandra.

really tries to maintain hope in the. time since the episode aired I have also. been speaking with anel anel is the man. who helped Sarah when she lost her. mother in the jungle he took a very. different path and he decided to. continue on to the United States he. eventually made it to Pennsylvania he. got a work permit and social security. number and now he's making $140 a day as.

a mechanic and you know life is. difficult his family is now broken apart. but he feels that in the US making this. amount of money he can deliver on what. he set out to do and this is what made. him cross the deren he can help his. child back home and he can fulfill what. he sees as his duties as a. father so last year when we were with.

Alexandra and Sarah. 248,000 people crossed the daring Gap. that was a record annual high this year. we are about to hit. 500,000 people crossing this jungle the. word is out that the daring Gap is this. treacherous Pathway to the United States. and you see large numbers of ecuadorians.

of people from China people from. Afghanistan taking this route and they. are fleeing economic instability. political instability conflict. [Music]. War it's not that they don't know that. the daring Gap is dangerous it's that. many of them are making the calculation. that the potential reward is worth the.

[Music]. risk today's episode was produced by. Sydney Harper and Carlos PRI with help. from Nina Feldman and CLA tennis it was. edited by MJ Davis Lynn and Patricia. willin with help from Lisa Chow fact. checked by Susan Lee contains original. music music by Alicia ba and Dan pal and.

was engineered by Brad fiser and Chris. Wood our theme music is by Jim brunberg. and Ben lansberg of. wonderly special thanks to Eileen. Sullivan that's it for the daily I'm. Michael Boro see you. [Music]. tomorrow.