Mis Amigos Pablo y Sergio

Pablo is from Jalisco and has spent three years in Phoenix supporting his three children and his wife in Jalisco. After getting pulled over for going through a stop sign, Pablo was unable to provide and ID and he was sent immediately to jail for three months. We talked a whole lot about the importance of education. Through his work and support from the states he has been able to send his three girls to school and even provide his house with a computer. The day before he left he bought this bike in a market as a gift for his biggest girl. He knew that I love to bike so he joked that he was biking back home. Man I was half way back to the apartment to get my bike to join him! It will be the first time he has seen his family in a year and half.



Sergio and three friends from Honduras all arrived on the train a couple days ago. I have had the opportunity to spend a lot of time learning about Sergio and his life and hopes. I showed him and his friends a shelter that they could stay at for three nights and then he and I walked through the center yesterday looking for work that he could jump into for a couple months. (There is literally nothing and as a Honduran without papers, the prospect is even more bleak) At 8 his parents both died and he lived on the streets on Honduras working and getting by until he turned 18. He then walked his way around Central America looking for work and getting to know every country bordering Honduras. After a long month and a half of travel, he finally arrived here in Nogales. He is an incredible individual and while the future for Sergio is goign to be quite difficult, I am blessed to have had the chance to meet him. He asked me what I live for, and I told him some corny answer about meeting people and talking with people, I asked him the same question and he told me that he feels called to be a doctor...



Ma, remember this shirt? It is one of the thousands of shirts we have prepared to give away during the busy season. Given the climate many migrants wait until November and December to attempt to cross the desert. I found this shirt in a box I was sorting, I think I had one about the same size a couple years back...


FREE HAIRCUTS! Man it reminded me of the Ox. There is a beauty school in Nogales and they brought at least ten of their students to El Modelo De Repartacion, a common hangout spot of the migrants, and they cut hair. A lot of hair. We had some good looking migrants coming in for food that afternoon.

6th edition of the newsletter:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/55664317/UPC-9-27

Quick Update

There is very little I enjoy less than sitting in an office. Especially when I could be out meeting and working with some incredible people. However here at KBI we are in the final stages of putting out our first newsletter.

I have spent the majoriy of my mornings in the office on the Arizona side putting the final touches on the newsletter that is being sent to all of our donors and all of the Jesuit communities in the US. I suppose it is pretty exciting? It is certainly a big step for KBI and I sincerely hope that it helps.

Yesterday Adolofo, Father Pete, and I went to Lourdes Catholic School on the Arizona side to meet with a group of high school students called Kino Teens. They are a club of about thrity kids who meet once a month to work out plans for helping KBI. Further once a week four of the kids make their way to our comedor to help serve.


Before the meeting we were invited to see a presentation put on by some of teh students. It was a celebration of Mexico's bicentenial and there was a lot of dancing and explaination of Mexican dress. While the school is taught in English, every student is fluent in both Spanish and English and it is very interesting walking through the halls and hearing everything. The presentation was actually in only spanish until the very last line, "High schoolers, you are dismissed."



I have still been serving at the other comedor every Saturday. Two weeks ago there was not one person who came to eat there, however last week we were jammed packed with 28 people. Maybe it was because we were serving bean burritos the size of a large pizza (two per person...)




Victor only spent three days at the comedor, but it felt like he had been there for weeks. He got there and immediatly started helping. He cleaned, cooked, talked, he did it all. Like many of the migrants that come through the comedor, he lived in Phoenix but was deported. He left three girls and his wife in Phoenix. He headed back to Mexico City to make some money and contemplate his next move.

Jorge, the fella from Guatemala who spent the better part of a month working at the comedor, left other day to to try and cross the border. However him and his entire group were caught by the border patrol. A fella who was also caught, but let go, told us about this. This is the second time Jorge has been caught and it could mean anywhere from 4 months to 5 years in jail. Nestor called Jorge's family in Guatemala the other day to tell them the news. Nestor didn't even want to talk about the conversation. Keep Jorge and his family in your thoughts.

5th edition of Una Parada en el Camino:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/55364005/UPC-9-21

Grupo BETA, the governmental organization that helps migrants was not too happy with our newsletter. I guess a migrant had a bad experience with their services and wrote a bit about them that they did not like in the 4th edition. I will have to be more careful and edit it a bit better. Both the comedor and BETA exist to help the migrants. But it is nice to see that the bulletin is getting around!

Take care all!

La Bicentenia De Mexico

Yesterday was the bicentenial of Mexicos independence. While it seems Mexico rarely needs and excuse to party, we certainly took advantage of the day. Nogales busted out all the stops and they shut down a couple streets for the next few days. ¡Que rico!

I have spent some time right around the corner from the comedor each evening. A bunch of fellas pass the night there. I figured that they should have an opportunity to celebrate their own country´s independence. So we baked em a cake and made punch and then brought it over to serve em yesterday evening. It was hardly anything, but I believe they appreciated the gesture. I was invited to camp the night with them. I´ll take em up on the offer later.

This was the first full family I have seen pass through the comedor. We were mighty busy this morning so I did not get much of a chance to chat with the family however I found out the kids are US citizens and the parents are not. The parents were deported. So now what? The kids, who spoke perfect English, were making their first trip to Mexico...

English class with my main man Nestor and Sister Rosealba

Nestor is from Irapuato and I spent two months in the city of strawberrys so we have had plenty to chat about. He is an awesome guy. He sleeps at the comedor along with Jorge, a fella from Guatemala, and they guard the comedor during the night. We have spent hours talking about everything from his life in Irapuato to the finer points of finding a woman (he recommends to go 17 years older...) Anyway he is eager to learn English too so we spend a lot of time practicing.

Blanca y Nestor. Blanca arrived here two weeks ago and has been staying in shelter here at Kino. Nestor digs her.

Nestor and Jorge and the two volunteers Erin y Monset


Jorge is going to try and cross tomorrow at 5am with a group of 4 others who have been regulars at the comedor. We keep gallon jugs handy for anyone who is going to cross. Anyone who asks you can more or less assume they are going to try and cross. We probably start each day with ten or fifteen jugs and by the end of the day we are left with very few. I am going to say a whole lot of prayers for Jorge this evening. If you find the time I woudl appreciate it if you would do the same.

Here is the 4th edition of our bulletin here at the comedor:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/54820871/UPC-9-17

Thank you all for reading.

Juan

Sorry I have not posted in some time. This past week the entire equipo de Kino went on retreat in San David Arizona. We spent 2.5 days relfecting, planning, and resting. It was a nice time to relax and get to know my team a whole lot better.


This is Juan. Juan is 21 and has lived all over the states however he has spent the majority of his life in Pheonix. He has a wife and Pheonix and a little girl of 9 months. He told me, "The baby is my life. It is why I wake up in the morning and it is why I work ten hours a day, six days a week." However Juan was deported and is struggling to work out what to do now. His wife and baby visited him in Nogales the other day and he was in tears just talking about the visit.
The other day we chatted for the better part of an hour about immigration policy in America and his and his family's futures. He is adamant about sending his daughter to university. "The opportunities in America are there, and with university, she can do anything."
Now he is trying to figure out how to support his family from Nogales. His wife's part time job at McDonalds is not enough to pay for rent, food, electricty, water... And to think he is my age.

My time here in Nogales has been incredibly humbling. Here is the 3rd edition of Una Parada en el Camino...
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/54538091/UPC-9-13

Today is my moms birthday! If you find the time, say a quick prayer for her. Thank ya all for reading and take care...

I am too lucky...

On Sunday I celebrated my 21 here in Mexico with fine fine company. After getting a bunch of stuff from home (thanks all) I was surprised with a bucket of ice cold water while serving in the comedor (I guess that is the tradition here) and then with a "cake" made of apples, carrots, and peanut butter. I have only been here for a month and my roommates know me too well...


In the evening the sisters invited us over for dinner, tequilla and sangria, and afterwards we had real cake and ice cream. In the photo is Erin (volunteer de Oregon), Hermana Ingracia, Hermana Rosealba, Monset (JVC de Mexico), Adolfo (JVC de Mexico) y Hermana Lorana.


Birthday Dinner: Tostados con frijoles y enslada. Toooo good.


Grandma, thank you so much for the cross word puzzles and articles. But above all thank you for the moldy carrots and peanut butter. I was seriously laughing for three minutes and my roommates had no idea what to think of it. haha

Here is the second edition of Una Parada En El Camino:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/53916852/Una-Parada-en-el-Camino-9-7

Thank you all and take care...

A Jaunt in the Desert

The Taller Nacional, a yearly workshop concerning immigration was held this year in Nogales. I am so lucky to have witnessed this event and meet some of the men and women that lead the services for migrants in Mexico.


We went on a "field trip" into the desert (everyone from the event... like 120 people) to see where teh migrants cross and experience just a taste of what hundreds of men and women crossing to the states face on a daily basis.


The border fence two hours West of Sasabe. There is a small house that sells cokes and chips to migrants that pass through. There were dozens of groups from all over Central America waiting until darkkness to cross.


Fellow volunteer Aldo kicking it in the states for a few seconds before he jumped back over.


We had bus problems on the way back. A lot of bus problems. In fact we had to hire a group of coyotes, the people who charge migrants huge sums of money to "safely" ferry them across the border, to drive us to the highway. Here we are packed 23 into a unmarked white van. It was a good experience though just a shame we were forced to support some interesting people.


El grupo... 120 or so strong.


An interesting shot at the Sasbe border. Mexican Flag, cross dedicated to the men and women who have died trying to cross, the border fence, and then a US flag...

I was biking around the center and I passed a door that said "Migrantes entran aqui para comida." I knocked and was welcomed by Sister Louisa, an amazingly nice women who introduced me to this no frills soup kitchen that serves migrants. After a quick prayer, the thirteen men ate a large meal of rice, beans, tortas con peanut butter, and tortillas... I returned today to help serve and learn more. There were less migrants because as Sister Louisa told me, they were still recovering form either a night of drinking or getting started on another night...

This is Fransico. I ran into him after serving at Sanctuario Guadalupe. He arrived from Honduras after 25 days of travelling on the train. He told me about some of the trails he expeienced while passing on the train. Like how he hung from under teh train for two hours only by his arms as he passed through Districto Federal. If he was telling the truth about half of them, which Im sure he was, his 25 days on teh train were harder than my whole life. He has two kids back home that he is trying to support. He asked me for a map because he is eager to cross as soon as possible. He also asked me for a shirt. He certainly needed the shirt more than I did so we traded. I got his shirt that he had not changed since Oaxaca in Southern Mexico and he got a polyester jersey that I have maybe worn four times since arrivng to Nogales. However I would make that trade any day with a man like Fransico...

tuesday I am hoping to put out another newsletter. Thanks for reading and take care everyone.