I always used to think of the term "Human Rights Violation" as something that happened in Africa... people being made to do degrading labor etc. I am so far removed from it.
Monday nights I work at the Migrant Resource Center with Leisha, my roommate and dear friend. The Migrant Resource Center, or Centro de Recursos Para Migrantes, is right next to Aduana (Customs) on the Mexican side of the line. When the Border Patrol picks up migrants in the desert, they take them to the Border Patrol Station for "processing" right away. This is where they are finger printed and held until released. When they finally deport the migrants, they drive them to the border on the US side, and watch them walk back through.
This all sounds legit until you look into it a little more closely. Migrants come from everywhere. Not just Agua Prieta, not just Mexico. Some come from as far as El Salvador or even further. This is quite a feat considering that Mexico is about as unwelcoming to Central Americans as the US is to Mexicans. When they are dropped off though, it is in Agua Prieta. Furthermore, it is any time of the day or night. The next interesting fact is that 3 out of every 10 migrants deported is a woman or a young child. So there are women and children being dropped in the middle of a not very safe city where they very well might not know anyone, in the middle of the night.
The City is NOT a safe place for Migrants. There is a whole industry formed around them. Taxis line up right at the port of entry waiting for migrants to ask to be taken to a hotel. Sometime these migrants actually get to a hotel. Other times they are taken to "hospitality houses" where they are allowed to sleep, but upon waking, are told that they cant leave- their families must pay more money. Basically they are held captive and put to work until family somewhere will send whatever money they are asking. The Houses of Hospitality have pre-arranged deals with certain taxi drivers.
We DO have many places in the city where migrants can go to be safe for the night- CAME (roughly "Center for the Attention of Migrants in Exodus") being one of them. Migrants can go there to eat and sleep. CAME isn't very far from the border, but walking even a block at night is dangerous for a Migrant. They kind of standout- people know what to look for. Lucky for us there is an organization called Grupo Beta which is there representing the Mexican Government to protect Migrants. Their bright orange dodge pickup trucks make their building easy to find right my the US port of entry. Unfortunately, Grupo Beta also has a reputation for dirty dealings. Cerro Gallardo, the mountain just outside of town here in AP, is a pretty cool place to hike and climb. It is also, however, know as the place where a lot of human trafficking transactions occur. SO when Migrants get into those orange trucks at Grupo Beta they end up at CAME... sometimes.... but sometimes at Cerro Gallardo. Human trafficking is huge when it comes to migration. There are people held captive all over the United States- Not just from Mexico, but from many countries. There is a great documentary called "Lives for Sale" about migration and human trafficking. Here is a link to a excerpt from the documentary:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWoaIXlkMWc
This is just one little bit of what is going on down on the border. I know I have been negligent in my blogging. I plan to do better at it. The problem is that there is SO much to say and I don't want to leave anything out. I will just have to settle with giving what I can I suppose.
Be well. Please keep in prayer those whose lives are not in their own hands.
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Saturday, February 9, 2008
Settling In
Well I have been in Douglaprieta (what we call the area since we see Agua Prieta and Douglas as on city divided by a wall) for over a month now. There is so much to say about living here. I finally got a camera and I am working on figuring it out. Once I do, there will be lots of visual aids available for your viewing pleasure.
Right now I am getting indoctrinated into the workings of the office. As with most non-profit faith based organizations, some organization must happen. I am filling in as part time Office Manager/Secretary at the moment as well, and have taken organizing the clutter into a workable environment. I have added mailboxes, a large wall calendar, an emailing system and so forth. I have also thrown away mass amounts of "stuff". I am also mastering Quickbooks, which is highly marketable.
While being in the office isn't my first choice, I think it is valuable as I am seeing how things work before I get up and close with the nitty gritty. Besides, the time to study and practice my Spanish in a less serious environment it VERY welcome. I can't help but look back on all those years of Spanish class when I decided to take a nap instead of working extra hard on conjugating irregular verbs. I have taken to talking to myself on my daily commute- describing the scenery, carrying on imaginary conversations, making mental notes of words I don't know. My commute is a 5 mile bike ride each way. Perhaps an Agua Prieta geography lesson is in order. Most of the streets in AP are either Calles (streets) or avenidas (avenues). The Calles run parallel the wall, and the avenidas perpendicular. The port of entry... the ONLY port of entry.. is at the intersection of Avenida 1 and Calle 1. Our apartment (Leisha, a Young Adult Volunteer with the Presbyterian Church) is around Avenida 40 and Calle 10. SO I ride along the wall for about 4 miles chatting it up with myself.
I am starting to get used to the things that I found different initially- like the piropos- remarks that men shout when a female passes. It is just accepted here and everyone is used to it. You just roll your eyes and keep going. Being a guerita (the acceptable term for a white girl) is the easiest way to attract attention. It can be irritating sometimes though. People initially try to speak to you in English. I really want to just blend in most of the time so people will stop thinking I am a tourista. My friends, however, as more used to me and realize that I want to speak in Spanish as much as possible and so they keep our communication mainly Spanish. They, however, want to practice their English, so usually our conversations end up being a nice mix (Spanglish).
The relationships are what I value most here. When someone invites you in and says that their home is now your home as well, they truly mean it. The Cifuentes family, which runs the roasting and packaging end of Just Coffee (www.justcoffee.org) out of their home, have adopted me as part of the family. They are wonderful people. Vicki, the wonderful wife, makes a wonderful local favorite called Pazole ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozole ). I am lenient on my vegitarianism for items such as chicken pazole.
Our apartment could still use a little help. My door was finally fixed yesterday. I came home and a metal think had been installed in the doorjam to make it more secure. It was quite a surprise.
We do have a stove, however the oven doesnt have a rack and it is a smaller oven so it will be hard to get one. Dinner options boil down to stove top or toaster oven. When it comes to eating, I have become quite skilled with tortillas. You would be amazed at how many ways you can eat a tortilla. The supermercado around the corner from our apartment is called "Super Blancos" (I wake up many mornings to a car with loud speakers driving by announcing the days sales and specials- this is how most announcements happen) makes fresh tortillas. You buy them in a pack of like 2 kilos fresh and hot. SO tasty. They never get back to my apartment unopened.
I also eat a lot of aguacates (avacados) and limones (key limes). They are very inexpensive and come with everything you order. My favorite thing so far is the Horchattas, which is like a cold rice milk drink that is very sweet. I shudder to think of the calories, but then remember that I am riding a bike about an hour every day through warm weather. Oh, did I mention that it is 70 today?
I would love to hear from any of you. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to disconnect from wherever I am not. It doesn't mean I don't miss you and pray for you though. Keep in touch and stop by this blog from time to time. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to know. As for me, I have to get out of this office and head home. At night the dogs in the city get braver and the ride home gets interesting.
I am working on naming my bicycle. Any suggestions?
Much love. xo kar
Right now I am getting indoctrinated into the workings of the office. As with most non-profit faith based organizations, some organization must happen. I am filling in as part time Office Manager/Secretary at the moment as well, and have taken organizing the clutter into a workable environment. I have added mailboxes, a large wall calendar, an emailing system and so forth. I have also thrown away mass amounts of "stuff". I am also mastering Quickbooks, which is highly marketable.
While being in the office isn't my first choice, I think it is valuable as I am seeing how things work before I get up and close with the nitty gritty. Besides, the time to study and practice my Spanish in a less serious environment it VERY welcome. I can't help but look back on all those years of Spanish class when I decided to take a nap instead of working extra hard on conjugating irregular verbs. I have taken to talking to myself on my daily commute- describing the scenery, carrying on imaginary conversations, making mental notes of words I don't know. My commute is a 5 mile bike ride each way. Perhaps an Agua Prieta geography lesson is in order. Most of the streets in AP are either Calles (streets) or avenidas (avenues). The Calles run parallel the wall, and the avenidas perpendicular. The port of entry... the ONLY port of entry.. is at the intersection of Avenida 1 and Calle 1. Our apartment (Leisha, a Young Adult Volunteer with the Presbyterian Church) is around Avenida 40 and Calle 10. SO I ride along the wall for about 4 miles chatting it up with myself.
I am starting to get used to the things that I found different initially- like the piropos- remarks that men shout when a female passes. It is just accepted here and everyone is used to it. You just roll your eyes and keep going. Being a guerita (the acceptable term for a white girl) is the easiest way to attract attention. It can be irritating sometimes though. People initially try to speak to you in English. I really want to just blend in most of the time so people will stop thinking I am a tourista. My friends, however, as more used to me and realize that I want to speak in Spanish as much as possible and so they keep our communication mainly Spanish. They, however, want to practice their English, so usually our conversations end up being a nice mix (Spanglish).
The relationships are what I value most here. When someone invites you in and says that their home is now your home as well, they truly mean it. The Cifuentes family, which runs the roasting and packaging end of Just Coffee (www.justcoffee.org) out of their home, have adopted me as part of the family. They are wonderful people. Vicki, the wonderful wife, makes a wonderful local favorite called Pazole ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pozole ). I am lenient on my vegitarianism for items such as chicken pazole.
Our apartment could still use a little help. My door was finally fixed yesterday. I came home and a metal think had been installed in the doorjam to make it more secure. It was quite a surprise.
We do have a stove, however the oven doesnt have a rack and it is a smaller oven so it will be hard to get one. Dinner options boil down to stove top or toaster oven. When it comes to eating, I have become quite skilled with tortillas. You would be amazed at how many ways you can eat a tortilla. The supermercado around the corner from our apartment is called "Super Blancos" (I wake up many mornings to a car with loud speakers driving by announcing the days sales and specials- this is how most announcements happen) makes fresh tortillas. You buy them in a pack of like 2 kilos fresh and hot. SO tasty. They never get back to my apartment unopened.
I also eat a lot of aguacates (avacados) and limones (key limes). They are very inexpensive and come with everything you order. My favorite thing so far is the Horchattas, which is like a cold rice milk drink that is very sweet. I shudder to think of the calories, but then remember that I am riding a bike about an hour every day through warm weather. Oh, did I mention that it is 70 today?
I would love to hear from any of you. Anyone who knows me knows that I tend to disconnect from wherever I am not. It doesn't mean I don't miss you and pray for you though. Keep in touch and stop by this blog from time to time. Let me know if there is anything specific you want to know. As for me, I have to get out of this office and head home. At night the dogs in the city get braver and the ride home gets interesting.
I am working on naming my bicycle. Any suggestions?
Much love. xo kar
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