photos courtesy of Mary LaverI, along with 11 other students and Campus Minister Mary Laver, traveled to El Paso, Texas, and Juarez and Anapra, Mexico to live for a week last May, walking the path of the Mexican people. Sponsored by Campus Ministry, this was the sixth year that students have embarked on this trip.
The thin trickle of the Rio Grande River serves as a natural boarder for the two countries that we visited. Huge wire fences rest on the side of the river to discourage Mexican immigration into the United States.
During the trip, we observed Immigration Court presided by the Honorable Judge Penny M. Smith. This court tries illegal aliens requesting citizenship. Nine men were sent back over the boarder due to the fact that they crossed onto American soil without papers. We heard stories of countless families that were separated due to the Immigration Courts. There are three Justices that hear cases of illegal aliens.
Our first three days of the voyage were spent in Anapra, Mexico. Anapra is a colonious off of Juarez. Colonious are communities in Mexico that are severely poverty-stricken. There are approximately two million colonious in Mexico. Anapra consisted of a series of dirt roads, makeshift homes with sparse modern appliances. Outhouses replaced indoor plumbing and electricity was not commonly used.
While in Anapra, we shopped at the grocery market. Small school children worked the registers. Their pay is made up of the small amount that is tipped to them by shoppers.
Kristina Estrada, a citizen of Anapra, spoke to our group with the aid of an English translator. Many families in her community cannot afford to educate their children. Because of this fact, Estrada runs a library in a room constructed for that purpose in her back yard.
Estrada aims to give the children a different idea about their futures. Many of the children come from homes of one parent or from physically or mentally abusive homes. She reaches out to over 100 children in her community on a daily basis.
“The library is also to give the children a different vision of learning, something they don’t get in the schools,” Estrada said to our group.
Estrada also shed light onto our group about Maquiladoras. She worked in Rio Grande #15 for 14 years making harnesses for cars. The machine exploded and burned her. She was not compensated for her sick leave and when she sought to return, she was told that she would be placed back on the same harness. While the companies do not tell the workers whom they are working for, many Japanese auto dealers along with Ford dealerships own Maquiladoras in Mexico to make parts cheaply.
While in Mexico, we also stayed in a women and children’s shelter. Located in Juarez, the shelter provided clothing, food, a bed and a person to talk to. American volunteers live in the shelter to aid the women and children. We walked across the boarder from Texas to enter Juarez. When we were there, an arts and crafts event of painting tiles added variety to their monotonous days.
During our free day, we ventured to the Mexican market. Beautiful handmade items were sold. The market is very different from an American store. There are no price tags on any thing. Prices are all negotiable.
During the trip, we freely crossed back and forth across the boarder for the price of pocket change. Car rides took about 30 minutes while we walked across the boarder in about 10 minutes. Immigration asked us to state our citizenship and we breezed by with our American accents. Since Sept. 11, searches have made the crossing process up to three hours either way.
The trip was insightful also from things that were not said. On a trip to the mountains to see the sunset, we went to the boarder of Mexico and New Mexico. Our group jumped freely from side to side. A Mexican family of eight, who lived twenty feet from New Mexico, remained firmly on their soil.
