# @natgeo on Instagram

- **Type:** Image
- **Original URL:** https://www.instagram.com/p/CMm3OwjDAD1
- **Gondola URL:** https://gondola.cc/posts/11685443-natgeo-instagram
- **Thumbnail:** https://img.gondola.cc/tr:w-,h-,fo-auto/thumbnails/a4798fa3b5.jpg
- **Posted:** 2021-03-19T16:35:57.000+00:00
- **Account Owner:** National Geographic (@NatGeo) — https://gondola.cc/NatGeo

## Caption

Photos by Karla Gachet kchete77 / “It was tough being without my mom, being so little... eventually when she crossed I remember crying because I never saw my mom like that, so drained, her body looked really tired, she had scratches in her face and her arms from crossing through the desert the couple of times that she tried and couldn’t,” says Cristian Valentin.

Cristian Valentín, 26, came to the U.S. when he was eight years old from Michoacán, Mexico. When he was in middle school, a USC representative told him if he kept up his good grades he would be awarded a full scholarship. He worked very hard to get straight A's, only to learn in his senior year that he didn’t have a social security card. Around that time, his father got injured at work, so Cristian started working at an Asian market to help support his family. He worked there for six years, until one of his coworkers tested positive for COVID-19  in late June. Cristian’s two-year-old daughter is  high risk because she had Kawasaki disease when she was born. He couldn’t take any chances, so he quit his job.

First: Family photo of Cristian around the time he came to the U.S.; next, Christian worked at a West Covina (Los Angeles area) Asian market, which he says was not prepared for the pandemic and didn’t enforce health measures to protect customers and employees; pressed boxes outside the market; chair used by employees on their break; Cristian cares for his daughter at home. When she was born, she was very ill with Kawasaki disease, and Cristian was her primary care giver.

This project was created by kchete77 and ivankphoto with the support of the insidenatgeo Covid-19 Emergency Fund for Journalists.  #DACA #dacadreamers #dacaessentialworkers #HOMEisHERE

Check out Nat Geo's link in bio for more on this story.

## Stats

- **Views:** 0
- **Likes:** 120,649
- **Shares:** 0
- **Comments:** 607

## Tags

dacaessentialworkers, daca, homeishere, dacadreamers

---
Copyright (c) Gondola