St. Helena’s migrant workers weather Hurricane Matthew, but not without some trials

Saturnino Almaraz sat in the long shadows cast by the surrounding pines as the sun set on another day of work.

La tormenta — the storm — had passed. The migrant workers of St. Helena Island are back in the fields for two more weeks picking tomatoes before traveling south.

Almaraz sat on a picnic table outside the barracks-stye housing of the migrant camp off Storyteller Road, after hours of picking cherry tomatoes Wednesday. Hurricane Matthew tossed around some of the plants in the fields and damaged the roots, he said.

But at least there is work.

Almaraz and dozens of other migrant workers here for the fall harvest evacuated to Hampton County earlier this month ahead of Hurricane Matthew. Almaraz and his wife, Juana Perez, drove their own car with their two young children.

Many rode buses.

In Hampton, they stayed at another migrant camp for workers of Lipman Produce, one of two tomato giants on St. Helena for which the migrants work, along with family-owned Seaside Farms. There were no lights in Hampton but a generator powered a refrigerator.

The evacuated workers ate tortillas, eggs and beans in a can cooked over an open fire.

The evacuation lasted six days. When St. Helena’s migrant community returned, they had no electricity in the remote camps consisting of low, concrete-block buildings and and trailers.

When the evacuation was announced, Joe Taylor was worried. A teacher, Taylor worked with the Beaufort County School District’s migrant program for eight years, until it was discontinued. He now tries to help the migrants by volunteering through Waters Edge United Methodist Church.

If the migrant children go to school in Beaufort County, it’s at St. Helena Elementary. Taylor and the other volunteers tutor children in English, help translate homework assignments and offer help with enrollment.

Many of the same faces travel through St. Helena on the annual excursion following the crops. Taylor has gotten to know these families.

During the evacuation, he called some of the migrants to ensure they had a plan for evacuating. When they returned, Water’s Edge pastor Lane Glaze asked Taylor to find out what they needed.

“I loved that phone call,” Taylor said. “They truly care about these folks.”

Taylor drove his red Subaru out to the camps and talked to families. The workers usually shy from offers of assistance, Taylor said, because they largely keep to themselves and don’t want to cause problems.

This time was different, Taylor said. They needed food. The basics.

Taylor delivered the message to the church volunteers and purchased bags of rice, beans and flour for tortillas. As volunteers staged the delivery last week at St. Helena Elementary, American Red Cross volunteers saw what they were doing and offered to help.

Food and water helped tide the workers over until power was restored.

The workers have not been paid since they returned, Almaraz said. With the way the pay period fell, there will be only a couple of days on the check Friday.

Lost wages aren’t a new tribulation for the workers. Heavy rain storms during the summer can also result in several missed days at a time.

“We’ve seen a lot of happy times and a lot of sad times with these families over the years,” Waters Edge volunteer David Mandell said.

Almaraz said he had enough money and food as he waited for his paycheck this week. The most important thing is being able to return to the fields.

The work is physical, a man who identified himself only as “Jorge” told The Beaufort Gazette and The Island Packet last week while volunteers delivered food and water, but it’s necessary.

“No comemos,” Jorge said. Otherwise we don’t eat.

The fall season will last until the end of the month, and the migrants will return to Florida. There they will pick throughout the winter.

Almaraz has been in the United States for eight years. He sends part of his paycheck to his mother and father in Mexico.

There is not enough work or money in his home country, Almaraz said. He wants to eventually return to Mexico and build a house, but first his daughters — ages 3 and 3 months — will study here, he said.

To be the child of migrant workers means to hop from one school to the next — if the child enrolls at all. Taylor heard of one child who had enrolled in 16 different schools before reaching St. Helena.

Almaraz dream for his children is that they grow up to work office jobs.

“That they can work and be free to do what they want to do,” he said.

This story was originally published October 20, 2016 at 3:01 PM with the headline "St. Helena’s migrant workers weather Hurricane Matthew, but not without some trials."