Today I'm grateful for how BorderLinks
fills my days. I'm still training on delegations, but today I'm amazed
by how we spent seven hours in the desert with Humane Borders to check
their humanitarian water stations, ate delicious lentil soup cooked by
our staff, made conceptual connections between free trade policies and
increased migration of human beings, had an amazing presentation by a
19-year-old unDACAmented student from Scholarships A-Z
about how he and other undocumented students and allies are working for
access to higher education, filled our bellies again on what I
attempted to cook for the crew, and then voiced some of our thoughts on
how today motivated us to continue working for social justice with our
new tools and experiences. My brain is whirring and I still have so much
energy after a long day, and tomorrow it's on to the next one!
Check out some photos from the delegations so far!
Here's a few photos from my first learning delegation - a single-day delegation with a group of pastors from Duke Divinity School.
Here's Indira, our Program Organizer for this trip!
Going on a desert walk with Shura from Green Valley Samaritans. We walked trails common for migrants to
take, walking in the dark for safety. As we walked, we called out "Somos
amigos, somos Samaritanos Tenemos agua, comida, y medicina" - We are
friends, we are Samaritans. We have water, food, and medicine - just in
case there were people in need of assistance but in hiding.
Here Shura shows us where some people take refuge under the highway for safety.
Marveling at the modern federal courthouse where we went to observe Operation Streamline (not familiar with Operation Streamline? Don't worry, I'll be blogging about it much more!)
Once in a while we stumble across something unexpected - in the building where we went to visit with a public defendant in immigration cases, we found Senator McCain's office! After our talk with the lawyer, we waltzed right up to the Senator's door, and they let us in to see his office even though he was away at a town hall meeting.
And here's my second training delegation, this time with a group from the Presbytery of Des Moines! A little Midwest connection never hurts. Here's our sunset reflection time at Gates Pass.
This time, I had the opportunity to learn from the delegation styles and expertise of both Alex (BorderLinks) and MaryCruz (HEPAC, our Nogales partner organization). Here's Alex starting the reflection before we lost too much light.
This morning we followed Jean and Betsy from Humane Borders on their route to check three of their water stations in various points in the desert.
Jean and Betsy checking the level and quality of the water in their recycled blue drum.
Ever seen a cow crossing sign? Welcome to free range cattle country.
We passed by this cactus and of course we had to stop for pictures. As
many saguaros are around 100 years old when they first sprout arms,
this one with its 30-plus arms must be hundreds of years old.
Old copper mines.
A little off the beaten path, Betsy led us to an unexpected site: the graves of numerous Chinese migrants who died in or near the copper mines perhaps a century ago. What an interesting parallel to today's migration story of marginalization and undervalued life.
Who can say they've driven through this kind of forest - a saguaro forest?
Delegate Shamaine taste-testing the water.
Another water station in the shade of the cacti. And an actual tree.
I'll write more about this eventually too, but after a food systems activity and Dario the DREAMer's talk, we finished the day before dinner with time at the local farmers' market.
Shamaine found this sunset spot over the farmer's market with me.
In case you were worried, I am indeed alive and well!
After dinner... How wonderful is it when delegation participants not only clean up after themselves, but go above and beyond to rearrange our tupperware cabinet! (Thanks Kathy!)
Hope you all enjoyed the pictures :-) Now off for some personal reflection time before the next early morning!
