Accompaniment

As a volunteer here at KBI, I have realized that simply being present is a gift greater than food or a pair of tennis shoes.

Loura and Tommas arrived to Nogales after a nightmare of a trip through the desert. After spending half a week walking through the desert with only one other women (their coyote abandonded them) they were picked up by border patrol. However Loura and Tommas were carrying with them the money to pay the coyote to take them to Chicago where Loura has family. The border patrol took that money, all $6,000 of it, and Loura nor Tommas have seen it since. I have spent a couple afternoons treking to immigration with them to try and find someone who would help. Eventually we managed to reach the Tucson Border Patrol offiice and they are "working on the case." (Whatever that really means) Anyway, Loura and Tommas are staying with KBI in our shelter for women. I have been blessed to spend so much time with them. They asked me to take and print pictures so they could show their friends back home in Guerro their gringo friend and so that I could show my family my two little grandmas (their words!) I truly hope things work out for them. UPDATE: The money has been found! It should be here in Nogales by the end of the week. Thanks to the hard work of No More Deaths, they were able to track down and hound border patrol in Tucson.

Reyes arrived from Matazlan and passed a week in Nogales trying to connect with his family to send him money so he could take the bus back home. He too tried to cross close to Nogales however with no luck. I had the pleasure to spend a lot of time with him. He, like many of the other migrants I have gotten to know, ran out of days in the government sponsered shelter and needed a place to stay for a few nights. I have been taking 5, 10, 15 men each night to another shelter. It is a nice 20 minute walk and it is an incredible chance to get to know some of these men and let them know that there are many people, grinogs included, who really care for them. Anyway, Reyes makes those boats inside of bottles. He tried to explain to me the process but I was utterly losed in translation. Anyway, Ma and Dad, I gave him your address and if you get a ship in a bottle from Mexico, you can thank this fella. Reyes was unable to get money for a bus back home so he left in the train. It is about a 5 day trip to Matazatlan in train from Nogales. He should, ojala, be getting in tomorrow...

A walk to the Roca, the other shelter, with Reyes, Tommas, Loura, and two other fellas...

This is Maria and Luiz. I know very little about them. They were in the comedor a week and a half ago with the intention to cross. However they were caught and sent back. They are sister and brother and both are deaf and mute. They communicate through sign language and with others through hand gestures. Incredible. The life of a migrant is hard enough... Anyway, I had a moment and I pulled out my notebook and we "talked" for a couple seconds. Heres how the talk went.
Me: Are you going to try and cross again?
Luis: If we try again we will be in the Arizona jail for 20 years.
Me: So that is a no... Are you going to eat in the comedor this after noon?
Luis: A gentlemen is going to take us to some showers so we can wash. My father is heading here right now to pick us up and bring us home.
Me: Where are you going?
Luis: We are going to Mexico D.F. City. It will take two days.
Me: I know. I took the bus from D.F. to here. Long trip.
Luis: Yes.
Me: Good luck and much health.

Migrants hard at working writing for our weekly bulletin.

The originals stories of the migrants.

The Day of the Dead, November 2, is a big big day in Mexico. Here in Nogales it was no differnt. I stones throw from our apartment the festival was set up around the city graveyard. It was great to see a bunch of people out and about enjoying themselves well into the morning. I will have more pictures from that later.

10th Edition of Una Parada en el Camino:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/59546495/upc-11-1

What a Great Weekend

My parents, bless them, made the trip down to visit Nogales. After getting lost crossing the border and an hour of phone calls and missed turns, they finally arrived at the comedor. They whole gang waited around to say hello. When the finally arrived I was so so happy to see them.

We spent most of the weekend walking, talking, and serving in the comedor. It was great catching up with them and simply spending time with them. Even walking around Nogales, AZ, a pretty boring town with hardly anything to do, I was still on cloud nine simply because I was with them.


Not sure why but my dad was really digging this picture...



Chatting with gramps on my moms phone.
We managed to get a call out to the grandparents which was really nice. And I was able to wish my brother a happy birthday. 19...


My mom also put together a bunch of soccer gear that David nor I use anymore. There is an orphanage that some of the other volunteers spend time at and we brought the gear over and spent un rato playing with the kids and meeting the sisters that run the place.




My parents took the whole crew out to eat one night at El Torro. A steak house which people got a kick out of because both my mom and I are vegetarians but we found mooore than I fair share of food there.




The following night the sisters invited us over for dinner. We had a great great time. Two bottles of wine and two cases of beer later we made our way back to bed after an amazing night of talking and just enjoying eachothers company.


I am so lucky to have had the opportunity to pass a weekend with my parents. My mom had a chance to practice her spanish and my dad still had plenty of chances to talk with the men and women that passed through teh comedor because, to be honest, many have better english than me! After sitting in the line to cross the border with my mom, a quick yoga session, and then a rapid meal in the comedor, it was hard to say goodbye. However I am happy that they got to spend time with me doing things that I feel truly passionate about. Thanks guys...


See you in two months!

10 Edition of Una Parada en el Camino:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/58693448/upc-10-27

All is well for me in Nogales...

Nothing really new here. I have been walking groups of men to a shelter each night. I really enjoy the time to joke with the men and learn a bit more about their stories. The newsletter is coming along great too...

I never found out their names, but this couple from Gurrero was incredible. Male deported migrants here in Nogales have 5 nights of shelter. After 5 nights they are forced to the streets. For women they can take advantage of the Kino shelter for up to 15 days. This couple spent the first five days in the shelter, however on the 6th day they were forced to seperate. The wife stayed in the Kino shelter while I walked the husband to house that occasionaly takes in migrants and was able to convince the owner to shelter the husband for the night. However the husband was clearly distraught. He was extremely concerned about his wife. At 6 the following morning I was out and I saw him waiting at the comedor door. The meal is not till 9 but he was nervously waiting for his wife. The women of the shelter eat breakfast together so she did not come to breakfast in the comedor. The husband did not even touch his food. I thought he was going to cry. When his wife finally showed up to the comedor after breakfast it was like they had not seen eachother for years. He was almost crying he was so happy to see her... That has got to be love.


My back made it into the city paper. Aldo, a fellow volunteer did an interview about the comedor. A cameraman and reporter came in. I was walking past a service for teh migratns when a fella who has spent a couple days in the comedor ran up to me with the paper. "Anew! Anew! (Andrew is a very tough name to say) Your back is famous!" is what he told me.

For my moms birthday, instead of asking for gifts, she asked for indgredients to make bag lunches for a soup kitchen in Boston. Her and her friends got together the other night and made some incredible lunches to be past out to the soup kitchen. Awesome Awesome stuff. My parents are coming to visit Nogales in 2 days. I am really looking forward to seeing them!

New Kino Border Initiative Blog:
http://www.kinoborder.blogspot.com/

9th Edition:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/57858792/UPC-1018

This is the life of a migrant... Many arrive, others no, but while borders and poverty exist there will always be people looking to find a better quality of life. While still others decided to spend their lives intimidating and robbing those very people trying to escape poverty of not only their money, but their dreams. However, there many more here to help like the Kino Border Initiative and No More Deaths. They offer more than food. They offer hope...

Bean Coffee

This is Yerlin and Sergio. They both arrived to Nogales about two weeks ago. They are from Honduras. Remember Sergio? Yerlin left half a week ago and Sergio left yesterday. I accompanied Sergio to immigration because he was looking to get a bus ticket back to Honduras. It is almost impossible for a Mexican citizen to get service at the immigration office. And it is impossible for a Honduran to get any sort of attention. So I went there to throw my gringo weight around and after thirty minutes of being denied service and being told to move to the next window and the next... We finally spoke with a fella who agreed to pay for the majority of Sergio's ticket home.

The Samaratins from Arizona came once again with a boatload of shirts, toothpaste, belts, hats, you name it...

Hermana Rosealbe is one of my best friends here in Nogales. She reminds me so much of my Aunt Marie... Anyway, we have been having nightly English classes and she is making incredible progress. Those two cups are our alternative to coffee in the morning. Water from the boiling beans and diced to tomatoes. I love it and I guess it is a favorite from Rosealba's home in Colima, Mexico.

8th Edition:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/57297251/upc-10-11

A couple of translations...

-The truth that I cannot be with my family is very sad...

-I left my home in Michoacan because my mother is sick and there I could not pay for her medication. -Emmanuel Jesus

-In all of my life I have never recieved help as beautiful as the help I have recieved at the Kino Border Initiative. The people are very friendly and make me smile. Thank you for the help. You are all very special and I will never forget this place. -Jessie Perez

-I left my home in Honduras to help my family because we are in need and are poor. Thank you Kino Border Initiative for opening your doors to help me when I needed it most. -Yerlin Acosta

Great Stuff Happening at KBI

After attempting to RIDE HIS BIKE across the border, Pablo has returned to Nogales with a new deportation ticket and a fresh fifteen days in the comedor. He decided to attempt to return to Pheonix because he still has a lot of things there. I am quite happy to see him...


Miguel is from Nicaragua. He is the first migrant I have met from there. I spent three weeks in Granada, Nicaragua two years ago and we talked for a long time about his country, the food, the music... Miguel however left his country because he is gay and he told us that not only his town, but his family harassed him simply because he did not fit the typical Latin American, machismo, culture. He left the comedor to cross a few days ago. I sincerely hope he is safe.

Father Ken Gavin S.J. director of the Jesuit Refugee Service, an organization that strongly supports the Kino Border Initiative, made a visit to the comedor. He is headed to work in Rome in a week and wanted to make a trip here. I have had the pleasure to spent an afternoon and morning meeting with him and talking about JRS and just a lot of good stuff. Because of him (and Father Maldari... thank ya!) I am here in Nogales. He connected me with the director of KBI and got me all started. The director of development of JRS, Cindy Rice, joined him for teh trip as well. They are interested in using teh bulletin written by the migrants in their website and in their fundraising efforts. I am happy to help. Anyway, I couldn't thank Father Gavin enough for putting me in touch with KBI...

Well I got a new bike. My old one was failing on me. Badly. Brakes stopped working, back tire popped, and the front valve got sucked into the tire so I could not longer put air in the front tire. I walked it to a market and managed to sell it for $250 pesos (roughly $22 dollars). On my walk back to the apartment I walked past a nice looking bike that was locked up in front of a jewlery store. I looked at it for a sec then kept walking. About a half block away a man ran up to me panting and asked if I wanted to buy the bike. After taking it for a spin I coughed up the $300 pesos a rode happily on my way.


Up until October 1st the Mexican government had a program for sending migrants that lived South of Mexico City back home. They would simply fly them to DF and then services in DF would take care of them from there. However that program is over. Now all of the deported are sent to border towns regardless of where their home may be in Mexico. That means our numbers have seen a huge increase. We are serving well over 100 every breakfast. (We served 137 the other day)


No longer Se Vende!

Thanks to a nice grant we got and the work of Adolofo and Erin (two other volunteers) we have purchased a small building arcross the street from the comedor. It is going to serve as a medical clinic for the deported. We are hoping to keep it open five days a week for roughly 4 hours a day. It needed some serious cleaning though.

7th Edition of our newsletter:

http://www.docstoc.com/docs/56664422/upc-10-5