CPTnet
July 28, 2004

ARIZONA/SONORA BORDERLANDS: Five migrants help dedicate the Cochise County
Ark of the Covenant

by Murray Lumley

On Saturday morning, July 24, under cloudy skies, forty people from as far
away as Tucson, Douglas, Bisbee, Los Angeles and Mexico attended the
dedication of the Cochise County Ark of the Covenant. The Ark is located on
a private ranch with the permission of the owner, a few miles north of
Douglas, Arizona in an area of the desert heavily traversed by Mexican and
Central American migrants

The Ark consists of a donated RV and carport tent which provides water,
food, respite care and medical attention for migrants. No More Deaths has
provided cots and other supplies. Students from Colorado College, Colorado
Springs, Colorado, a local man and CPTers staffed the Ark over the previous
week.

Around 7:00 A.M. on Saturday, August 24, CPTer Elizabeth Garcia and local
partner Tommy Bassett found five migrants from Mexico, three men and two
women. They had been wandering around in the desert for three days,
abandoned by their paid guide (coyote) who told them he was leaving them
behind because they were too slow. Each was from a different part of Mexico.
When found, they had no food or water and believed that the lights of
Douglas, Arizona to the south were the lights of Los Angeles, California.
They reported that they had paid their guides $1500 U.S. per person.

Participants in the dedication ceremony placed white crosses--with the names
of migrants who had died in the desert--along the dirt road leading to the
Ark. These are the same crosses used every Tuesday afternoon at the Port of
Entry Vigil in Douglas. A neighbouring rancher asked about the meaning of
the crosses and expressed approval for the Ark program.

The dedication ceremony took place in front of a small altar containing a
statue of Jesus, several lit candles and white crosses bearing the names of
those already known to have died. Tuscon residents Father Bob Carney and
Holly Thompson, both involved with "No More Deaths" led the probram. Father
Carney's homily text was the Good Samaritan story. He said the parable was
not about "who is my neighbour" but about to whom people should be a
neighbour, i.e., anyone who is in need. He pointed out that the Good
Samaritan did not ask the stricken man whether he was "legal or not." As she
led the prayer, Thompson had the participants direct themselves to the four
corners of the earth and acknowledge that each participant had come from one
of those directions. Using the branch of a desert mesquite bush, she cast
water in each of the four directions.

After the dedication, some freelance media persons as well as a team from
Country Music TV, Los Angeles, interviewed the five migrants while Garcia
provided translation.

The five migrants rested at the Ark for much of the afternoon and received
appropriate humanitarian assistance before they continued their journey.