MIGRANT WORKERS: SUNUP TO SUNDOWN; MIGRANT WORKERS IN BOOTHEEL FIND LONG HOURS AND HARD WORK MAKE LIFE TOUGH (SECOND IN A SERIES)

KENNETT -- Erasmo Garza wants his daughters, Norma, Nora and Nydia, to break a family tradition.

Garza, a second-generation migrant worker from Edinburg, Texas, wants them to have better jobs and lives in the United States. His children have one advantage already -- they speak English.

"It's hard when you are a migrant," he said, sitting in a chair at the Snow White Coin Laundry in Kennett. After working in the fields all day and visiting the health clinic, the family didn't go to the laundry until 9 p.m.

Hardship doesn't begin to describe the life of a migrant worker: Some are forced to live in substandard housing; can't buy enough food to feed their families; and work long hours in hot, dry conditions to earn extra money they send back to Texas or Mexico. A language barrier only complicates their troubling lives.

But Garza remains optimistic: He dreams of a better job as a factory laborer in Texas. "We're poor, so we try to get better by making more money," he said. "It's hard to be in the fields. Yesterday I worked until 10 p.m. because the trailer didn't come until 8 p.m. There are a lot of mosquitoes."

The workday usually begins at 4:30 or 5 in the morning for Garza, his wife and mother-in-law. Garza works primarily in watermelon crops; his wife, Maria, and his mother-in-law, Margarita Ramirez, usually work in the tomato fields.

He has been working as a migrant in Missouri since 1984. He first came to the United States in 1979. His wife migrated to Texas in 1972. They are legal U.S. residents but not citizens. Since their children were born in the United States, they are citizens.

Even after 12 years in the United States, Garza speaks barely enough English to get by. Norma, who is 11, translates for the family.

Norma and her sisters are not old enough to work in the fields, but are learning some valuable lessons about life and money.

"I don't have the age to work in the fields," Norma said. "But it's teaching me lessons about money. They say I waste a lot of money and spend too much money on my clothes and school."

Norma isn't able to spend her summers at the pool or park like other children. But she does attend summer classes at the Migrant Education Center in Malden.

When the bus drops her off at 12:30 each day, she either watches television or plays outside. "It's boring," she said, adding that her father is going to build a long-jump for them.

But her father has very little free time for his family. "He's tired when he gets back," Norma said. "Sometimes he gets mad when you ask questions or he sleeps too late."

Other times he can't fall asleep because his back hurts. "But he still goes to work," Norma said.

Garza depends on the money from his job almost as much as Bill Holifield depends on migrant workers to pick his crops. Holifield has been farming 175 acres since 1947. He and his son-in-law Dennis Lynn operate Dillman Farms Inc. near Senath.

Watermelons make up most of the farm's crops, but Holifield and Lynn are experimenting with tomatoes this year.

"The melons are easier to raise then the tomatoes," Holifield said. "It's less labor intensive."

About 50 migrant workers were hired to pick the melons and tomatoes on the farm. "I couldn't get the work done without them," Holifield said. "The local labor doesn't want to be in the fields."

After firing an entire crew of local laborers, Holifield began looking for replacements among migrants. His crew leader finds the workers he needs each summer.

The migrant workers can earn up to $120 a day in the melon fields. But the work isn't easy. Melons weigh about 30 pounds each even though the migrants toss them onto trucks like a lightweight ball. About six or seven loads of melons fill a trailer. The melons are sold directly to a Florida produce company.

"We start working at 6 or 7 a.m. and work until we get it loaded," Holifield said. "We usually do about six or seven loads a day. It just depends on how long it takes."

A load of seedless watermelons weighs about 42,000 pounds; a load of melons with seeds about 46,000 pounds.

Melon-growing has been difficult this year because cold weather in the late spring stunted growth.

"They have hollow hearts, but you can cull them out as you see them," Holifield said. "You just slap them to see if they're hollow."

As a tractor pulls the trailer through the rows of melons, workers toss them into the air in assembly-line fashion.

Many of the workers don't speak English. Holifield doesn't know enough Spanish to communicate well.

"I communicate with them through hand signals," he said. "Dennis can speak to them."

But the language difference doesn't create many problems. Holifield knows that all his workers are legal; they must have Social Security numbers before they can be hired.

"About four or five years ago we had some that weren't legal," he said. "We worked out a deal with the government to let us fix it. Now we pay their unemployment and Social Security."

Holifield provides rent-free housing for his regular workers. "It's just easier," he said. "But they do provide their own water and utilities." The workers also must have transportation to and from the field.

Erasmo Garza is the only person in his family who can drive a car, so it is his responsibility to get the family to work each day and back to their Texas home at the end of the season.

Living in Texas is more comfortable for Garza since he is around more people who speak his native language. But the people in Missouri have been friendly, he said.

"It's easier when we come with my cousins," Norma said. "But we know others from Edinburg."

Garza's parents live in Missouri after migrating to the area. Garza and his wife are considering a move, but he must first find work.

Tuesday: Education and health care lack for migrants. Some hold hope of breaking tradition.

FARM CROPS

Many of the migrant workers find jobs at farms raising labor-intensive crops that must be carefully tended or hand-picked. Some of the crops include:

*Watermelons

*Cantaloupes

*Tomatoes

*Corn

*Cotton

*Peaches

*Apples

*Eggplant

*Peppers

Workers come back to Southeast Missouri in the fall to work at cotton gins.