Border Journey: Desert Church

Today was an early morning. It is a long drive to the border so we had to get a jump on it. Our plan was to fill some of the Humane Borders water tanks, walk the desert, and potential meet some migrants on their journey.

Vandals wasted precious water. 

We got more than we bargained for this morning. When we arrived at our meeting point, Joel from Humane Borders greeted us. He had a real hippie look to him, humble as he hoped out of the water tanker truck and came to greet us. He was just a volunteer, going our in the desert to help people and brought us with him.

The drive through the desert is scary when you look at vegetation that evolved to grow in a place where nothing is supposed to live... but yet migrants have been forced to pass through that part of the country. When we arrived at our first water station it was tipped... someone must of rammed a truck into it, those 500 pound barrels don't fall over in the wind. It was a shame that we had to pour the water out from the barrel in order to get it lifted and back into place. Luckily Joel had enough water in his tank to fill it and have enough for other stops. Who would do that? Who would knowingly knock over water that is designed to safe someone's life? It would be like putting holes in the bottom of life boats on a ship.

Water Bottles from Mexico

Joel was a simple man but impressive. He didn't speak much, but his replies were powerful. When asked if he was religious he said, "The desert is my church. I think God will forgive me for missing on Sundays." Lessons like that inspire you, they show you God, in the right places, doing the right things. Then we walked the desert and saw all the proof of people crossing, their water bottles, places where they slept, and all the thorns and cacti that they ran through... brutal.

The afternoon taught us about the horrible truth, how people die in the desert. We met with the Pima County Coroner. What does a coroner have to do with immigration? Well he tries to identify the 2,500 human remains found on the border, so he is involved in immigration. He went to school to be a forensic anthropologist, I doubt he ever thought that one of his greatest accomplishments would be helping to invent a way to get fingerprints from decomposed fingers so he could notify family in another country.

Our last speaker of the group was Lauren from Florence Project. I related a lot because she was an advocate, who ran a non-profit trying to provide support... it was great for our legal folks to get to talk about cases and how they were helping families. It's interesting how different it is what is happening there, versus what is happening for us... the amount of variance also helps show how flawed the system is. Her and I talked personally afterward and share some common sentiments on challenges for fundraising, identifying priorities and keeping an org running in the right direction.

Then our trip ended... fittingly with great Mexican food and fellowship. We shared our highlights, our struggles and our hopes for when we get back. We have to believe change will come, and that we will pledge to help making that change come. I plan to write more and post more, and I hope to work more with this group from Notre Dame.

#GoIrish