Well early this morning Montse and Adolofo hopped on the bus to head home for the christmas holidays. THey are spending a week in Guadalajara with the other Jesuit Volunteers and then they have some time with the family, and then they are back to work. Adolofo is making his way back here for six months. Montse however is headed to a house for migrants in Saltillo in Central Mexico. She will be really missed here however the migrants in Saltillo are damn lucky to have her.
We were at the bus station at 430am. Even the fella behind the desk was sleeping.
Lupita, the women who works at teh comedor in the mornings and basically started the services for the deported migrants in Nogales (she gave out sandwiches everyday under a bridge a short way from the comedor) celebrated her birthday the other day. We got her a cake and all the migrants gave her a big birthday chant. It was really really nice.
Given that we are close to christmas, people are trying to cross into the US (legally) like crazy to do some shopping. Today the line to cross was over 4 hours long in car. I crossed in 5 minutes on bike...
Our medical clinic, while operational, is not quite as busy as we thought it may be. That has allowed us to do other things with it. Last Tuesday Montse and I projected the movie the Color Purple. While it was long and had nothing to do with migration, we had quite a few migrants stop by, grab a snack, and spend an hour or so watching the movie. We had several people stay for the whole thing and we talked a bit afterwards about what we liked and didnt like about the movie. It was a very simple project that provided them with somehting to do while they were waiting for their bus, money order, or phone call.
Nestor headed out this past week too. He probably arrived in Guadalajara yesterday. Here is getting his hair colored by Lupita (in the comedor kitchen). I guess he wanted to look tan padre for when he returned home. It was sad to see him go, but it was the best road for him. He was telling me for weeks about a chili recepie he knew. On the last night we went out and bought the stuff and made the chili. It was damn good and we ended up having a great time with all the volunteers and sisters in the comedor chatting and remembering fun times...
Nestor giving his goodbye speech.
This is Don Isabell. He has replaced Nestor and is watching the comedor at night. Isabell arrived in Nogales in February after he tried to return to his family with his daughter. He could not cross and he was deported to Nogales. However his daughter was put in jail. She is to be released in Jan of 2011. Isabell has been working here in Nogales selling papers making just enough to pay for a room, his cell phone, and one meal a day. Thanks to God he came back to the comedor and we asked him to wash plates so he could eat for free. He is an incredible man and after only a few days we knew he would be a great replacement for Nestor. Anyway, his family, 5 other daughters and his wife are still in PHX. One of his daughters just got married yesterday. While Isabell was extremely happy for his daughter, he was quite sad at the same time. I tried my best to spend as much time as I could with him. I cannot imagine not being able to be at my own daughter's wedding... I am so blessed to have gotten to know Isabel and I look forward to spending my last week here in Nogales with him.
17th Edition of Una Parada En El Camino:
http://www.docstoc.com/docs/66333823/UPC-12-14
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