Another Border Trip!

Katie D.

September 17, 2010 - 8:01 AM

Tomorrow morning I am leaving for another week of volunteering with Humanitarian Aid Organization No More Deaths. This will be my forth trip with this group, and I am so excited to head back to the desert and get to work. (Please see previous blogs at http://www.isupportuoregon.org/my_duckstory/blog/katie_d/no_more_deaths_spring_break_2010 )

No More Deaths volunteers work to aid the suffering and death of migrants on the Mexico/Arizona border. This week I will camp in the desert near the border and spend the days hiking the trails, carrying food, water, and First Aid to offer to anyone in need of assistance. Since October 1, 2009, a total of 238 bodies have been found in the Arizona desert alone: individuals who have died from dehydration, hyperthermia, injuries, illness, and exposure. No More Deaths works to prevent these deaths and other forms of suffering. Despite my weeks of work with No More Deaths, and several UO classes studying the issues surrounding immigration, I do not have a theory for comprehensive border policy. I do, however, believe that it is unacceptable that hundreds of people die on our land every year for want of simple medical assistance. I have met people on the trails, people still in Mexico, and those who have been caught and deported by Border Patrol. I know them to be desperate for work, migrating to help their families and communities, or to return to family members who are already living in the US. I know the migrants to be human beings, deserving of dignity and protection.

That is why I have chosen to spend my last two spring breaks working on the border. And its why I am leading another trip to the Sonora Desert this coming week.

I am so excited about this trip. I am traveling with two groups of people who I have come to love dearly. I am a part of a group of five adults from the First United Methodist Church in Eugene, and we will be joined in Tucson by a group of three volunteers from St. Andrews United Methodist Church from Highland's Ranch, Colorado: the church I grew up in. One of the Colorado volunteers is my mother.

We will be arriving with bags stuffed with supplies donated by our congregation: bandages, electrolyte mixes, blister aid kits, and a ton of clean socks. We will carry those supplies, along with food and water, on the trails and offer aid to anyone who needs it.

The weeks I have spent with No More Deaths have been some of the most profoundly transformative of my life. There is the physical act of being present and at work to save lives and to witness suffering. I am going this week during my one-week break from the CRES program. I'm going to be reminded of the reason that I chose to major in Conflict Resolution. It is because I believe there are deep sources of injustice and conflict in the world. In this first month of graduate study, I have already learned a host of skills that will serve me well on the trails and in my interactions with the other volunteers and host organization. I hope to become a truly effective member of a team who is working together to make a radical difference in the lives of people in desperate situations. I think that this trip will show an obvious benefit from my month of study, and that I will return reinvigorated to start the fall term, with the reminder of why I choose to be here in the first place.

I'm learning and working to transform our world.