In seven years of marriage, Ricky Hernandez has celebrated Christmas with his family only once. This year will be the second time.
“(I’m) very happy, very happy,” Ricky said. “I give gifts to my children. Toys, presents; many presents.”
This is the 11th year that Ricky, 33, has traveled from his home in Santiago in the Mexican state of Nayarit to the United States to work tobacco and row crops through a federal migrant worker program. Each trip means Ricky must be away from his wife and two sons for six months.
“My body is here, but my mind is in Mexico,” Ricky said. “All of the time I think of my family.”
Ricky calls home three times a week. On a recent call, he listened as his 1-year-old son sang “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.” Ricky prompted him to oink with the pigs and moo with the cows.
Ricky said his time in Kentucky feels much longer compared to his time in Mexico. In a typical week in Kentucky, Hernandez works 10 to 11 hours a day, seven days a week. In Mexico, he spends a lot of time with his family. “I like my family to go fishing,” he said.
Although Ricky speaks fragmented English, he serves as a translator for farmers he works with and other, less-fluent Mexican workers.
“I speak little English. Sometimes it’s Spanglish,” he said.
Ricky hopes to continue working at the farm for two more years to earn enough money to live comfortably in Mexico without spending all of his time working.
“I do not tell God I have a big problem,” Ricky said. “I tell to my problem that I have a good God.”
