Things I Want To Remember

Things I want to remember:

   The little girl named Samantha who ran up to Erin after Erin and I made an airport run. The little girl ran to Erin as we walked in the door, took her hand and brought her back to the play table where Erin had been playing games with her earlier.

   Meeting Alexander who started off the day as one of the immigrants to whom we gave clothes.  However he finished the day as a volunteer.  He, his pregnant wife and their little girl left Honduras after he saw a man beheaded with a machete.  

   Kathleen "talking down" a pregnant woman.  She was concerned because she had a history of high blood pressure and she was at the respite center all alone.  

  Sorting an Amazon Box and finding a card in the box which read, "This gift is given in honor of my mother, Mary, who would be disgusted by the way we are treating people".  

   Cathy gave a man a Rolaid.  He asked for a second for his little boy.  When she poured them out of the bottle, a third one rolled out and she gave him all three.   His eyes got wide and he repeated, Gracias, Gracias. Such gratitude for three Rolaids.   

   How the two sisters from Seattle decided to rearrange the racks in the warehouse.  If this is how you think it needs to be done - then let's do it that way.   We moved 1000 pounds of bags but the flow of the place worked better the new way.  

   There are never any size 28 men's pants.  Nobody in the US wears size 28.  

   Sister Mary Alice said 90% of the people use a coyote to get to the US border and most of the families travel for over a month before they are detained by the border patrol.  A coyote in it's most favorable light is a guide.  There have been coyotes who have abandoned whole groups of people in the middle of the desert.  Another job of the coyote is to pay the necessary bribes to the drug cartels.  The cartels run entire areas in which the immigrants must pass through.   

   On Friday Kathleen helped a woman and her son at breakfast.  Another woman with a  very small child wandered into the dining area without going through the line and just sat down at one of the tables.  When the little boy saw this exhausted woman, he got up from his table and gave her his own bowl of cereal.   These little, unseen acts of kindness makes anyone who is watching want to cry.  Kathleen helped the little boy get some more cereal.   

   On Friday in the warehouse, Chad, who was from Texas, came up to me and told me that his group gathered in prayer the previous night and held my family up in prayer.  'We thanked God for you and your family coming down to help.'  How does one react when someone tells you that?

   A group from Washington D.C.  Half of the group came from a synagogue and half from a Catholic Church.  They came into the center on a slower day so they washed down the gym mats upon which the families slept and rested.  It would be a fair assumption that this was the first time they had been washed in the three months the center has been open.  

   The thought that went through my head almost every day was, how bad does your life have to be to one day turn to your spouse and say, gather the kids, pack only what we can carry - we have to leave.  They know they might not get in and they know they don't even speak the language.  There was a man and his daughter in the center when we were there.  He was told that they had a better chance of being admitted if they split up.  He and his daughter made it through but they had still not heard from his wife and the other child.

   I've heard different variations of this: "nobody puts their child in a boat unless the boat is safer than the land and nobody puts their child in the water unless it's safer than the boat and nobody chooses to leave their home country for good unless you just can't stay there anymore." 

   We were told before we arrived that most of the people have been traumatized, either in their home country, during their journey or in the detention centers.  

   The Respite Center provides families a safe space but all of these people remain on their journey.  When they leave the center they are all given a large brown envelope which contains their documents allowing them to be in the country.  On the front of the envelope is stapled a single page stating "I do not speak English.  I am taking the XX pm. Bus to XXXX.  I am trying to get to (name of city).  Can you help me?"  As they walk out of the center they are given sandwiches, a few snacks and some bottled water.  Many of these young families still have multi-day bus trips ahead of them.    

   There is a large piece of art that is placed so that when a family walks into the building it's the first thing they see.  It says  Estamos contigo .  It means: we are with you.  It lets the families know that the people in the center are there to help but it also reminds the volunteers why we are there.  

   Each day can be a roller coaster of emotions.  One minute you read that the US government argued in court that the personal hygiene requirement standard for the detention center could be met by providing each family with one toothbrush.  The next minute you're in the warehouse of the center looking at fifteen cases of toothbrushes.  Many of them were sent by individuals in packs of one or two.  Five minutes later you find yourself wondering if the donations subside, how long before the toothbrushes are all gone.  At its peak the center was providing 7,000 toothbrushes per week.  

   If you choose to volunteer at the center, I may be setting you up for disappointment. There are few solemn or profound moments during the day.  Days are spent cleaning, sorting, giving out clothing, unpacking boxes and bags, serving food, making multiple trips to the upstairs warehouse, filling a refrigerator with simple sandwiches, handing out shoelaces, toilet paper, hair bands, razors, shaving cream and diapers.  The profoundness is when you're done and you think of the remarkable risk these young families have taken and you contemplate how they are doing now.  

   

Funny things I want to remember:

  The SUV index is 11.  Kathleen:  I didn't know the UV index went up to 11!

   Olive Garden:  After buying a microwaveable dinner Cathy thought it necessary to explain to me that microwaveable meant, "You can just put in the microwave and then warm it up".

    After leaving Cathy in the back seat of a running car (air conditioned) the three of us got back in and Cathy said, "I'm just glad nobody kidnapped me.  Anyone could have just gotten in the car and driven away with me in the backseat!'

    Kathleen could not get over that we can buy a case of water for three dollars.  In New York she's used to paying $2.50 for a single bottle on the street!

    I'll never understand how people donate high heels or a cocktail dress to a shelter.