MESA, Ariz. — Anyelo Daza loves soccer. He used to play with friends in Ecuador, but on Friday he battled Pastor Hector Ramirez in Mesa.
The 7-year-old on Thursday arrived at Iglesia Cristiana El Buen Pastor, near Southern Avenue and Alma School Road, after a two-month journey with his parents who migrated to the United States to seek asylum.
Anyelo, and his mother Anyelis Daza, are from Venezuela. They were forced to leave in 2017 because of violence and poverty. They found refuge in Ecuador, until last year when the family began to get threats by criminals.
“They began to extort us,” Anyelis Daza said. “They demanded money from my husband because we oversaw laborers at a local gold mine. But the money they wanted we didn’t even make in the whole month.”
The family hoped to move to Spain, as Anyelis Daza's husband was already in the process of getting his visa. But a week before he had his appointment, she also began getting threats, but this time, to kill them.
On July 20th, the three left Ecuador. They said the journey was difficult and painful.
They said walked for days, including through the Darien Gap, where they saw dead bodies.
One night, Anyelis Daza said she witnessed a woman and her 2-month-old daughter get dragged by the current of a river that had overflowed overnight. Other migrants tried to help the pair, but the current was too strong, she said.
The family traveled through Colombia, Panama, Costa Rican, Nicaragua, Guatemala and Mexico, on foot and by bus, which they were guided to board by smugglers who demanded money per ride.
Some nights the Dazas slept outdoors, in the dirt or mud, they said. Other nights on the floors of stash houses. Throughout their journey, they ran out of food and were bitten by insects and cockroaches. Their bodies are full of scars.
The burning sun through the day and intense rain at night sent Anyelis Daza to the hospital with pneumonia. Then, in Mexico, a day after they celebrated Anyelo’s 7th birthday by using a cupcake as his cake, the family of three was kidnapped.
“In that moment I thought, this is where my life ends,” Anyelis Daza recalls. “I was scared for myself and my family. We were sick and tired by that point.”
They were held for a little over a week and only let go after relatives paid an undisclosed amount of money.
On Sept. 12th the Dazas made it to the U.S.-Mexico border, where they turned themselves to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
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Because of the medical state they were in, the family was isolated. They were treated for insect bites and given antibiotics, along with vitamins after going long periods of time without eating.
Two days later, Anyelis and Anyelo got a warm welcome at the Mesa church. They were one of dozens of families that have found refuge after being released by federal authorities.
“We receive people all week,” Pastor Ramirez said. “The bible says we need to love people, so we help [them].”
Recently, the church has received between 30 to 60 people weekly. The families have been from all over the world, including Africa, India, and South and Central America.
To keep helping families, the church is in need of donations, like clothing and shoes for men, women and children, along with water and food.
“A long time ago people helped me, right now I have to help other people and extend my hand to them,” Ramirez said.
Despite the suffering Anyelis Daza and her family endured, she said she would do it all over again for a better life for her son.
Her husband is still being held by immigration authorities. They hope to eventually reunite with relatives in New York.
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