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Woolman Semester Email Update
– March 14, 2009
Dear Friends,
I started writing this update on Monday –
two days after I flew back to Philadelphia for
a week of vacation – but, alas, I am only
sending this out today. In my last update, I
mentioned that the Woolman Semester was taking
a trip to Mexico. The trip was part of our World
Issues class. We went down to look at issues
of immigration, migrant labor, and the US-Mexico
border. We spent six days in Mexico. Each day
was packed full of tours, experiential learning
activities, and community service. We did so
many things and took in tons of information
that it would be virtually impossible for me
to recount everything in this update. I will,
however, touch on the most exciting activities
and the most alarming facts.
The trip and all of its components were planned
through an organization that is affiliated with
the Presbyterian Church. This organization works
on both sides of the border to bring school
groups from the US to Mexico to look at the
reality in the country that is directly south
of us. We stayed at a church in Agua Prieta
– a city just across the border from Douglas,
Arizona. We ate some of our meals at the homes
of members of the church. (Mexican food is so
good.)
The day after we arrived in Mexico, we spent
some time at the wall that separates Agua Prieta
and Douglas. We reflected on the fact that a
satellite image would show one big city. The
wall separates two life styles and symbolizes
discrimination, but on both sides, it is the
same soil, the same air. We also reflected on
the fact that the wall is “our wall.”
We, citizens of the US, are responsible for
the wall and for all it represents. When we
touched the wall from the Mexican side, we were
touching US property. These were interesting
facts to acknowledge.
We then drove away from downtown Agua Prieta
but remained along the wall. One of the people
who organized the trip gave us a comprehensive
lesson on the history of the border and current
border policy. Before the wall was created and
security measures were implemented, there was
a steady flow of legal Mexican laborers between
Mexico and the US. These laborers would go north
and work for a period of time before returning
to their homes. Fear and racism sparked the
tightening of the border and the end of this
legalized mass migration. The US economy still
needed the Mexican workers, though, and the
Mexican economy still was in dismal shape. Migrants
keep crossing the border, even though the wall
and the US Border Patrol try to stop them.
The rest of the week was filled with trips
to various places in Agua Prieta and Douglas.
We took a tour of a drug and alcohol rehabilitation
center. The center was run entirely by the people
who need it. The person who manages the center
is a former drug addict and does not have any
formal training in rehabilitation or counseling.
The center is thriving. Once people have recovered,
they go into Agua Prieta and get jobs while
still living at the center. A portion of their
income goes to supporting the center.
After our tour, a few of the people from the
center led us into the desert. We parked and
walked the remaining mile up to the border as
if we were migrants. We walked in a dry streambed,
which was open to camera surveillance from the
US side. Migrants would either go through the
desert brush or walk at night to avoid being
seen. We saw where local Mexicans leave water
for the migrants who go through the desert.
Once they cross the border, it is a three-day
walk to the closest interstate where they are
picked up and taken into cities to look for
work.
The next evening, we ate dinner at a shelter
that houses migrants who have just been deported
from the US. We got to talk to them and hear
their stories. Most of the migrants had crossed
the border multiple times and were planning
to cross again. The shelter where we were only
houses men. Other facilities in Agua Prieta
accept women and children.
On several mornings during our time in Mexico,
some of us woke at 5:30 and went to volunteer
at the Migrant Resource Center. This center
is located directly across the border from the
US and is on the path that pedestrians take
when they cross legally into Mexico. All the
deportees who are released from the US into
Agua Prieta pass by the center. The center is
open from 6:00 AM to midnight every day; the
US Border Patrol commonly deports people at
all hours. Migrants who enter the center receive
food and coffee as well as information about
their rights. If they express interest in returning
to their hometown within Mexico, the center
can help arrange for a discounted bus fair.
The volunteers at the center can also document
any abuse that the migrants report from their
time in US detention. While we were volunteering
at the center, passing out hot burritos and
coffee, we did not have many chances to dialog
with the migrants. Most of them were tired and
simply happy to be eating food and sitting down.
We got the feeling, though, that many of them
were planning to cross the border again.
The day before we left Mexico, we visited a
coffee roasting plant in Agua Prieta. The plant
is part of a large cooperative called Just Coffee.
In the 1980s, the price of coffee beans fell
drastically while the price of the end result
remained constant. Reacting to this, Mexican
farmers banded together and formed this cooperative.
Now, this organization completes all aspects
of the coffee processing and sells the coffee
directly to consumers in the US. We saw a gas-fired
coffee roaster in action in Agua Prieta and
toured the business office in Douglas, AZ.
I apologize that it took me this long to complete
this update. As you can see, our trip to Mexico
was so full and packed with new information.
At points during out trip, it was overwhelming.
This week of vacation has been a nice break.
It was so good to see those of you who I did
see, and I am sorry that I did not see more
of you. I return to Woolman tomorrow, and classes
resume on Monday. We will dive right back into
the curriculum, and I expect to be able report
more aspects of this wonderful education soon.
Love,
Carl
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