Greetings from the border!

Below is an email I wrote to friends and family during my time in Dilley, Texas.

October 9th, 2019 - Day 3

Greetings from Dilley! I’m only three days into my experience here and already I have learned more than I could have fathomed. 

I am working alongside a group of ten volunteers and six staff members each day. Our shifts are twelve-hours long and the days are soaring by. 

I have started a blog, but due to our time commitment, I haven’t published any entries yet. 

In the meantime, please know this:

The women here are the true heroines. They have traveled for sometimes thousands of miles, making the decision to leave their families to provide a better life for their children.

The other heroes of this story are the staff of this project. They work tirelessly to fight for justice so that each person who arrives to this detention center receives the attention and care they deserve.

Each day, we welcome one woman at a time (there are over 1,100 people currently detained in this center, also known as ‘baby jail’) into an auxiliary room to listen to their story and prepare them for their interview with an asylum officer.

Each story has been heart-wrenching and a blatant indication of the injustice that prevails throughout the world. Think of the worst-case scenario for women and children who are forced to leave their homes and travel to the United States and that is happening to these women.

For many, sitting in this small room in a trailer at a detention facility in Texas is the first opportunity they have had to disclose their trauma, their journey and what transpired along the way. 

I have heard stories of extortion, gang violence, domestic violence, murder, rape, abuse, police brutality, fraud, political corruption, political persecution, sex trafficking, racial discrimination, religious persecution and inherent fear to return to their country of origin, to name a few.  

In future correspondence, I will share more details of this experience and everything I have learned. It is my goal to better understand what is happening to people so that we may better know how to be for people. 

I carry all of you in my heart.