Monday, June 27, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Team Christina Performance | Lady Marmalade | the voice Aguilera Jaquel ...
i got chills!!! wooohoooo the power of singing and performing
Thursday, June 9, 2011
An Offering of Solidarity
This is to give you a taste of what the days looked like. I be back with more of my processing of the issues I was opened up to and how it effected me and how I want to get involved further.
I am truly thankful for this experience.
So, as many of you know I walked 75 miles last week with 66 other individuals from Tucson, Phoenix, Tempe (myself and two others from UPC, church I attend), border communities in AZ, Michigan, Colorado, CA, NYC (including an Anthropology Columbia student originally from Brazil getting her ph.d and an NYU Professor taking footage for his documentary on border issues), North Carolina, Philadelphia, Canada, Peru, Guatemala and we ranged from 18 years to 77 years. A large portion of my experience was due to these amazing people who were once coined as “power houses in their communities” which is a very accurate description. I was surrounded by mostly bilingual people from all walks of life. Many of whom are involved in human rights border and immigration organizations (Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, Borderlinks, Humane Borders, No more Death, Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, Samaritans in Tucson, Frontera de Cristo, etc. as a career and/or as a volunteer.
This was a walk that is in its 8th year running and was brainstormed by a few people that are still today involved in the organization and running of the annual Migrant Walk; it’s purpose is to raise awareness for the outrageous number of deaths that occur and continue to happen to migrants attempting to cross the border for a better life and provide for their loved ones back in Mexico. We shared the space in which a majority of these deaths have been occurring (Sonora)and found evidence of their journeys. It was a walk of solidarity, not so much experiencing anything remotely like a typical migrant would experience because we had an abundance of security and trust among our community as well as hospitality that would overwhelm you and ample amounts of supplies/equipment to make our journey as comfortable and safe as possible. So the most basic thing a migrant and one of us had in common was simply the environment, the setting; namely the desert we both crossed on our feet. But even then we walked at different times in the day because obviously we weren’t hiding from border patrol so we were free to walk in daylight and the early hours of morning when it was coolest. And we could walk on trails that were already open and vehicles drive on, we knew where we were going and those of us who didn’t, we were able to put our full trust and faith in our leaders knowing they would never abandon us or exploit us in any way.
Each person was put on a team. I had the pleasure of being on the logistics team. There was the environmental team “poop crew”, medical, who took care of the blisters and reminded us to drink water and listen to our bodies, food team, pretty self-explanatory, security team who kept us in a straight line and told us when to get over “CAR!” and when to get back on the line. It was so very well organized, I and many of my other friends who were 1st timers were astounded at how well things ran.
We would leave at 5:30 am after packing up all our camping gear (Logistics team was in charge of that tetras puzzle project of fitting all the luggage into a uhaul that would be packed to the brim each time, but always seemed to work out:) ) and we’d walk an average of 10-12 miles a day with frequent water and snack spots. We all carried white crosses that we held or had in our camelbacks/backpacks that had a name and age of a person identified as dead in the desert. We had times when we’d be silent and call out their names and other legs we had to talk to our neighbor either next to us or behind us and got rather good at talking over our shoulders without turning around and veering off (Security did their job there.) By noon -1pm we would be done for the day and the rest of the time we’d set up camp and wade out the heat under tents and laying on tarp or sitting on chairs, napping or reading or having conversations and of course being served lunch. For dinner a particular church or organization or family would come to our campsite and serve us a delicious and bountiful meal (including a highlight after Thursdays' 16 miler we were served authentic Thai food from a Buddhist monk from Tucson and slept inside a hospitable church) and Humane Borders would come to fill our water and sometimes offer us a hair rinse, which was just beautiful.
Here is the site if any of you are interested in next year. I will be there!
I am truly thankful for this experience.
So, as many of you know I walked 75 miles last week with 66 other individuals from Tucson, Phoenix, Tempe (myself and two others from UPC, church I attend), border communities in AZ, Michigan, Colorado, CA, NYC (including an Anthropology Columbia student originally from Brazil getting her ph.d and an NYU Professor taking footage for his documentary on border issues), North Carolina, Philadelphia, Canada, Peru, Guatemala and we ranged from 18 years to 77 years. A large portion of my experience was due to these amazing people who were once coined as “power houses in their communities” which is a very accurate description. I was surrounded by mostly bilingual people from all walks of life. Many of whom are involved in human rights border and immigration organizations (Coalicion de Derechos Humanos, Borderlinks, Humane Borders, No more Death, Coloradans for Immigrant Rights, Samaritans in Tucson, Frontera de Cristo, etc. as a career and/or as a volunteer.
This was a walk that is in its 8th year running and was brainstormed by a few people that are still today involved in the organization and running of the annual Migrant Walk; it’s purpose is to raise awareness for the outrageous number of deaths that occur and continue to happen to migrants attempting to cross the border for a better life and provide for their loved ones back in Mexico. We shared the space in which a majority of these deaths have been occurring (Sonora)and found evidence of their journeys. It was a walk of solidarity, not so much experiencing anything remotely like a typical migrant would experience because we had an abundance of security and trust among our community as well as hospitality that would overwhelm you and ample amounts of supplies/equipment to make our journey as comfortable and safe as possible. So the most basic thing a migrant and one of us had in common was simply the environment, the setting; namely the desert we both crossed on our feet. But even then we walked at different times in the day because obviously we weren’t hiding from border patrol so we were free to walk in daylight and the early hours of morning when it was coolest. And we could walk on trails that were already open and vehicles drive on, we knew where we were going and those of us who didn’t, we were able to put our full trust and faith in our leaders knowing they would never abandon us or exploit us in any way.
Each person was put on a team. I had the pleasure of being on the logistics team. There was the environmental team “poop crew”, medical, who took care of the blisters and reminded us to drink water and listen to our bodies, food team, pretty self-explanatory, security team who kept us in a straight line and told us when to get over “CAR!” and when to get back on the line. It was so very well organized, I and many of my other friends who were 1st timers were astounded at how well things ran.
We would leave at 5:30 am after packing up all our camping gear (Logistics team was in charge of that tetras puzzle project of fitting all the luggage into a uhaul that would be packed to the brim each time, but always seemed to work out:) ) and we’d walk an average of 10-12 miles a day with frequent water and snack spots. We all carried white crosses that we held or had in our camelbacks/backpacks that had a name and age of a person identified as dead in the desert. We had times when we’d be silent and call out their names and other legs we had to talk to our neighbor either next to us or behind us and got rather good at talking over our shoulders without turning around and veering off (Security did their job there.) By noon -1pm we would be done for the day and the rest of the time we’d set up camp and wade out the heat under tents and laying on tarp or sitting on chairs, napping or reading or having conversations and of course being served lunch. For dinner a particular church or organization or family would come to our campsite and serve us a delicious and bountiful meal (including a highlight after Thursdays' 16 miler we were served authentic Thai food from a Buddhist monk from Tucson and slept inside a hospitable church) and Humane Borders would come to fill our water and sometimes offer us a hair rinse, which was just beautiful.
Here is the site if any of you are interested in next year. I will be there!
Sunday, June 5, 2011
I Walked 75 miles for Life this Week
Prayer for the Migrant
(I did not write this, we read it as a group each day before we walked in two's and single file through the border lands of Mexico and Arizona with wooden crosses named after those unknown and identified dead in the desert and a prayer tie representing all 264 "human remains recovered" as well as this year's so far 88 dead.)
Creator, full of love and mercy, I want to ask you for my Migrant brothers and sisters. Have pity on them, as they suffer mistreatments and humiliations on their journeys, are labeled dangerous, and marginalized for being foreigners. Make them be respected and valued for their dignity. Touch with your goodness the many that see them pass. Care for their families until they return to their homes, not with broken hearts but rather with hopes fulfilled. Let it be.
I can't begin to express my experience on the Migrant Trail: We Walk for Life, 2011 I just returned from today; so for now I pray this prayer and meditate on it, I hope you will too.
I Will be back this week with much MORE to share about my experience. Bless you readers and never give up hope.
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