Rosa Flores marked her one-year anniversary at CNN this week with a series of reports from Honduras on immigration, a fitting tribute to her career as a journalist: the former CPA decided to pursue reporting after hearing “heartbreaking stories of people living in extreme poverty” while delivering food and clothing to indigent people on the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I felt a responsibility to tell their stories. It just happens to be that some of those stories were from Central Americans who had walked through Mexico, hoping to make it to the U.S.,” Flores tells TVNewser. “Covering stories in Honduras for CNN brings my career as a journalist full circle, back to the stories that encouraged me to shed light where there was none.”
Although Flores says it is an emotional challenge to report the many stories of those trying to escape violence and poverty, she says there are bright spots of optimism along the way that keep her going.
“I remember a little girl clearly. She asked, ‘do you speak English?’ I said, ‘yes,'” Flores recalls. “Her eyes sparkled and she smiled. She hoped to learn English and read books in English one day, but she doesn’t own books. Her eyes were full of hope.”