U.S./MEXICO BORDERLANDS: Tearing down walls and building community
June 12th, 2008
in:
CPTnet
12 June 2008
U.S./MEXICO BORDERLANDS: Tearing down walls and building community
by Heather Brady
Sorrow and pain are at home here in the desolate landscape of the Arizona desert. Along the borderlands, our Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation walks in the footsteps of the thousands of migrants who make the dangerous journey northward.
Standing still, I close my eyes and feel the burning sun upon my bare skin.
I imagine what it means to be a migrant, to leave everything and everyone you know and love in order to provide for them, to spend days and weeks running and hiding, feet blistered and bloody. Desperate for water, your tongue grows thick with thirst. Cactus thorns stab you as you run blindly through the darkness, struggling to stay with the group.
We hear the story of Josseline Quinteros, a fourteen-year-old girl from El Salvador. Separated from her group, she would wander lost and alone for weeks before eventually laying down, never to get up again. The human rights group 'No More Deaths' reports over 2,000 men, women, and children have died in the Arizona desert alone since 1998. Their lives are remembered in the shrine along the border fence in Agua Prieta, Mexico, where a cross bearing their names reaches towards the heavens.
We touch the bars of this wall that divides nation from nation. If you look carefully, you can see corrosion breaking it down; time is slowly destroying the barriers we have constructed.
As we journey together through Tucson, to Douglas (Arizona), Agua Prieta (Mexico), and El Paso (Texas), we continue to see examples of hope and the courage bringing life to this desert region. For those who dedicate their lives to social justice on the border, the struggle goes beyond tearing down walls, to rebuilding community. We visit the Centro de Rehabilitacion y Recuperacion para Enfermos de Drogadiccion y Alcoholism (Center for Recuperation and Rehabilitation from Drug and Alcohol Addictions) in Agua Prieta. Along with running their own shelter, this community of recovering addicts makes regular journeys out into the desert to provide water and assistance to migrants. In Texas, we visit La Mujer Obrera, an organization that is working to rebuild community and hope in the South Central barrio of El Paso. For twenty-seven years, its members have fought for the empowerment of immigrant women, along with community and economic development. Organizations such as these, along with many others along the border region, are actively working to create community and solidarity. In
sharing their stories with us, those living, working and migrating through the border region have entrusted us with the responsibility of spreading their message, one laden with sorrow, injustice, hope, compassion and solidarity.
[Members of CPT's 27 May-5 June 2008 U.S./Mexico Borderlands delegation were Rene
Borsberry (El Paso, Texas), Heather Brady (Kingston, Ontario), Robert (Nash) Chantel,
(LaGrange, Georgia), Joyce Ellwanger (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Jamee (Indigo) Eriksen
(Oakland, California), Betty Groenewold (Hartland, Wisconsin), Anna Lisa Gross (Richmond, Indiana), John Jones (Verdun, Quebec), Emily McClanahan (Des Moines, Iowa), Barbara Pfarr (St. Francis, Wisconsin), Zachary Selekman (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Sarah Shirk (Chicago, Illinois), and Kristy Wedel (Mt. Lehman, British Columbia).
12 June 2008
U.S./MEXICO BORDERLANDS: Tearing down walls and building community
by Heather Brady
Sorrow and pain are at home here in the desolate landscape of the Arizona desert. Along the borderlands, our Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation walks in the footsteps of the thousands of migrants who make the dangerous journey northward.
Standing still, I close my eyes and feel the burning sun upon my bare skin.
I imagine what it means to be a migrant, to leave everything and everyone you know and love in order to provide for them, to spend days and weeks running and hiding, feet blistered and bloody. Desperate for water, your tongue grows thick with thirst. Cactus thorns stab you as you run blindly through the darkness, struggling to stay with the group.
We hear the story of Josseline Quinteros, a fourteen-year-old girl from El Salvador. Separated from her group, she would wander lost and alone for weeks before eventually laying down, never to get up again. The human rights group 'No More Deaths' reports over 2,000 men, women, and children have died in the Arizona desert alone since 1998. Their lives are remembered in the shrine along the border fence in Agua Prieta, Mexico, where a cross bearing their names reaches towards the heavens.
We touch the bars of this wall that divides nation from nation. If you look carefully, you can see corrosion breaking it down; time is slowly destroying the barriers we have constructed.
As we journey together through Tucson, to Douglas (Arizona), Agua Prieta (Mexico), and El Paso (Texas), we continue to see examples of hope and the courage bringing life to this desert region. For those who dedicate their lives to social justice on the border, the struggle goes beyond tearing down walls, to rebuilding community. We visit the Centro de Rehabilitacion y Recuperacion para Enfermos de Drogadiccion y Alcoholism (Center for Recuperation and Rehabilitation from Drug and Alcohol Addictions) in Agua Prieta. Along with running their own shelter, this community of recovering addicts makes regular journeys out into the desert to provide water and assistance to migrants. In Texas, we visit La Mujer Obrera, an organization that is working to rebuild community and hope in the South Central barrio of El Paso. For twenty-seven years, its members have fought for the empowerment of immigrant women, along with community and economic development. Organizations such as these, along with many others along the border region, are actively working to create community and solidarity. In
sharing their stories with us, those living, working and migrating through the border region have entrusted us with the responsibility of spreading their message, one laden with sorrow, injustice, hope, compassion and solidarity.
[Members of CPT's 27 May-5 June 2008 U.S./Mexico Borderlands delegation were Rene
Borsberry (El Paso, Texas), Heather Brady (Kingston, Ontario), Robert (Nash) Chantel,
(LaGrange, Georgia), Joyce Ellwanger (Milwaukee, Wisconsin), Jamee (Indigo) Eriksen
(Oakland, California), Betty Groenewold (Hartland, Wisconsin), Anna Lisa Gross (Richmond, Indiana), John Jones (Verdun, Quebec), Emily McClanahan (Des Moines, Iowa), Barbara Pfarr (St. Francis, Wisconsin), Zachary Selekman (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), Sarah Shirk (Chicago, Illinois), and Kristy Wedel (Mt. Lehman, British Columbia).
