Final Thoughts: Freddie

I have learned a lot about the border and the people crossing the border on this trip. Everything from meeting with customs and border protection to visiting the migrant shelters and bringing them toys, games, and books taught me a lot about the whole situation. There were many memorable stories that I will remember for the rest of my life. Here are just a few.

One thing I definitely will not forget is playing soccer with the kids at “La Torres” shelter in Nogales, Sonora.  We played with bags as goal posts and had to duck under the clothes lines every time we ran by them. These kids will use whatever they have to have fun, and it really made me realize just how similar we are.

Another memory I will always remember was meeting with customs and border protection. We learned a lot about what they do and all the different branches, but what I found most interesting was how much the news just uses their name as a collective term, when sometimes it wasn’t even one of their branches that did anything. For example, if I.C.E. did something that made the news, sometimes the media would say it was CBP.

Another memory I won’t forget was dropping of water with the Samaritans, a humanitarian organization based in Tucson. We hiked 3 miles in the hot Sonoran desert with water jugs to put along the trail for migrants so if they run out of water they will be able to survive. This was powerful because it was hard to do the 3 mile hike we did in the heat and with all the bees and I cannot even imagine hiking from the border to Phoenix which is what lots of migrants do.

Overall this was an amazing journey and I would definitely recommend it to anybody looking for something powerful and fun to do over the summer.

-Freddie, St. Elizabeth’s, Sudbury