Serving Without Tech: Blueprint at the US-Mexico Border
Today is Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday. On this day we commemorate the value of service, justice, truth, and dignity. It is a day of volunteering to help refugees, feed the hungry, rehabilitate housing, console the broken-hearted, and take part in a thousand other projects for building the beloved community of his dream.
Human beings, who have no food, no security, no access to shower are people in crisis.
This winter break some of our members spent a week to volunteer at the US-Mexico border. We stayed in McAllen, Texas to help these three organizations, which are addressing the humanitarian crisis at the border: Team Brownsville, The Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center, and Angry Tias & Abuelas(McAllen Bus Station).
We heard many stories of why asylum seekers are leaving their countries in Central America (mostly Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador), regions known for the world’s highest rate of persecution, human trafficking, and youth homicide.
Within the week, we met selfless hearts of the volunteers, who are securing the basic needs of immigrants and welcoming them every single day. We also took portraits of children and adults to give you a glimpse of what life is like for the refugees of crime and violence, and to share what’s inside the border crisis.
Team Brownsville
With Team Brownsville we were cooking dinner meals for the asylum seekers. Our group usually split up into two to visit immigrants on both bridges that cross the Rio Grande, known as the Old and the New Bridge. Almost every night we crossed the border to serve cooked meals and drinks for adults, children, and teenagers, who are living in the tents on the Mexican side of the border and waiting for their asylum status.
“I’ve been in the community work since I was 19. I think my whole life I’ve been searching for the cause that was so selfless, that I could give my entire heart to it. I found it. Sometimes with the humanitarian work we get lost and we get discouraged, but this team has really restored my faith in humanity in a lot of ways. It’s not just service, we help them [asylum seekers] in a dignified manner. We help at a time that is really tough for them.” — Gaby Zavala, Team Brownsville
Pregnant women and children travel alone, riding on top of trains called ‘la bestia’ (the beast) to reach the US border. Sergio told us that the usual time period people stay on the bridges is from 20 days to a month. Every morning they get an announcement of how many people will cross the border. It maybe 3 people in a day, 3 in two days, or none in a day.
How did you all start doing this?
Sergio: A friend of mine asked me if I can help him to carry some items to the bridge, back in July. And I really didn’t know exactly what we would be carrying and where to.
So we went, and when we got there, I saw this picture [showing the photo]. They were all sleeping on the rocks with the kids. That’s what changed my life right here. And we’ve been going there every day since that first day.
Today in the morning I saw the guys who were at the bridge 67 days ago. We fed them on the bridge and when they finally crossed, they went to a detention center for 40 days and they got dropped off at the bus station.
So I see them again, the ones I saw at the bridge 2 months ago.
I kept posting on Facebook, and sharing with everyone. People came in, donating and saying “I want to join”, and that’s how we kept it through. I have to be at the bus station at 6 a.m. in the morning, then go to my work from 8 till 5 pm, and after I come back again to cook and bring meals on the bridge.
“But, as you can see, it’s a very fulfilling job. You fall in love with it after. ”
Every day Team Brownsville gets packages of donations: hoodies, pants, shirts, belts, shoes, sleeping bags, etc. They are collaborating with another organization, Big Heroes, which trains people with disabilities with work skills. They are, for example, making goodie bags and packing food for asylum seekers that get dropped off at Sergio’s and Mike’s house.
Mike: My favorite part is the mornings at the bus station because you see them transformed. When they arrive to us they don’t have shoelaces, belts, and they don’t really know who they are. We greet them, we tell them that we are volunteers, everything is free.
“They treat them really bad at the detention center. There is emotional abuse, verbal abuse.” — Michael Benavides
And you can see them calming down, you see them trust you. We talk to them, we give them backpacks and goodie bags: peanuts, juices, snacks. They change their clothes, and you see the confidence. You see them opening up because it’s the next chapter of their life. You see them leaving.
Asylum seekers’ stories
Karina Nguyen’22:
I spoke with young people and adults, who are at the border bridge in Mexico. They told me that they are seeking asylum because back at home, young people are recruited by gangs and many adults get killed because they don’t have money to pay gangs. Sometimes kids are kidnapped on their way to school. Teens and young people really want to study and later find a safe job to support their families, but are unable to do so.
“In front of my family there is a lot of poverty and violence in Honduras.”
Migration is the only way for them to be secured. Every time we crossed the border and brought food for all these people, I saw smiles and small sparks of happiness in their eyes. Capturing their portraits, I made them laugh. We hope that we were able to give them faith in a better future.
By dedicating their lives to supporting asylum seekers everyday, Team Brownsville was eventually featured by the largest publications in the nation, including the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, ABC Nightline, Brownsville Herald, etc. This year they are also going to produce a documentary movie, addressing the crisis at the US-Mexico Border.
The Catholic Respite Center
The Humanitarian Catholic Respite Center at McAllen provides a place for the countless men, women, children, and infant refugees to rest, have a warm meal, a shower, and change into clean clothing as well as receive medicine and other supplies, before continuing onto their journey.
Every day around 300 new immigrant families come to the Respite Center from the detention centers. After receiving all their basic needs, they stay there for 2–3 days until their sponsors in the US purchase their bus/flight tickets to their destinations.
“I learned a lot about the process of understanding without knowing the language. I was always in the search of figuring out what people needed and learned how to interact with them even without words.” — Ken Chen
Asylum seekers’ stories:
“I came here due to the lack of security in the country. When they killed my brother, I started receiving death threats too. I realized that we [talking about family] have to escape the violence as soon as possible. My children are suffering: there is no medicine in the hospitals, no education, no support.”
“I was burgled by crooks thieves for a little money. They left me alone with debts. There is so much violence in my country, that it’s dangerous to work. Coming here, I can find a safe opportunity to work.”
McAllen Bus Station
At the McAllen bus station, our primary goals were to help recently-released immigrants understand details of their bus trip, to give them referral information, and to help them with specific questions about the initial immigration hearing while waiting for their buses. We checked yellow envelopes to make sure of the correct final destinations to their sponsors in the US, and if possible, helped them with the initial phone call. We also gave them envelopes with $20-$40 for each traveling family from our fundraiser.
Asylum seekers’ stories.
Alice Zhao’21:
I spoke with a single mother and her 7 year old daughter. Their trip to Indianapolis had 3 transfers with 2 hour layovers at dawn. The mother told me that her husband was their sponsor, and that he had been waiting for them for 5 years. The little girl said that even though she hadn’t seen her father since she was 2 years old, that she remembers him clearly. Her first Christmas snowfall would be with her reunited family. All of us held back tears of joy as the mother said ‘Dios te bendiga,’ which means ‘God bless you.’
Jordan Flores’19:
I met one of the asylum seekers that said he has been traveling for 4 months from Ghana. He spoke English, and we listened to Oceans by Hillsong United and sang together. He was thankful for the work our team was doing and how he could not wait to help other immigrants like himself when he settles in America. His positive mentality in this situation really struck me as he told that the light at the end of the tunnel was what kept him going, quoting LeBron James, “Let’s become greater.” The way that he smiled reflected how he had hope in God for the future for himself and his family. With the joy in the midst of such an abysmal process, people we met on the bridge gave more to us than we gave to them.
If you would love to support, volunteer or contribute to the cause you could donate/purchase supplies for asylum seekers:
- Fundraiser: gf.me/u/p46i4j
- Brownsville Asylum Seeker Wishlist: http://bit.ly/helpbrownsville
- Tucker’s Kitchen for Asylum Seekers http://bit.ly/TuckerKitchen
- Catholic Charities Humanitarian Respite Center: http://bit.ly/CCHRC
- Respite Center Amazon Wishlist: http://bit.ly/CCHRCWL
- Supplies Wishlist http://bit.ly/blueprint4brownsville
