Day 11 (I wrote this yesterday, but the internet was down)

Today is my final day of "orientation" at Annunciation House. I supposedly will have learned enough to be a full volunteer here...responsible for being a contact volunteer (kind of like a case worker to help guests figure out their course of action) as well as being fully capable of being on shift solo with no one else around. Granted, I can always bounce ideas off other volunteers, which is encouraged, but it's still a bit intimidating, as it probably should be.
I also found out my permanent chores (versus ones that rotate). I will be responsible for keeping the clothing bank (huge) in order as well as linens for the house.

Earlier today the other new volunteers and I went on a "border awareness" tour in which we went to various points along the border in both El Paso and New Mexico to see the different ways in which the border is patrolled and guarded. I think we are going to try and arrange a meeting with a border patrol agent so we can hear another perspective, too. I am really looking forward to hearing this, especially because of my Students Crossing Boundaries background in coming here.

One of the more interesting places that we went to along the US/ border was a community on the Mexican side called Anapra. In Mexico there is a land rights law which states that a person may claim ownership of a piece of land if he/she has lived peaceably upon it for five years so long as no one else has laid any claim upon it. Anapra was a relatively poor community that had a sizable number of families. Katy, one of the veteran volunteers told us about the history of the community, and I am going to do my best to relate what I was told. I want to do more research to figure out exactly what happened/is happening here...

When the Zaragoza family/clan (one of the richest and most powerful in the region and Mexico in general) realized that their claims to the land might be jeopardized, they removed all of the electricity from the community and did their best to push the people out of their homes.

We went right up to the fence to take a look and three kids from the Mexican side came up and started talking to us. They kept asking us for money, and when we said no, they pointed to one of the volunteers who had her purse on her shoulder. Then they wanted my sunglasses. I felt bad...I wanted to be able to do something for them, but I knew it wasn't appropriate. When we were driving away after talking to them through the chain-link fence for a little bit, Katie, the veteran-volunteer who had been showing us around told us about how Father Bill, one of the people I've met through A. House since I've been here, runs a scholarship program that funds hundreds of youth from Anapra. That made me feel a little bit better.

As we drove along the border, I had never seen so many border patrol vehicles in my life! They were literally everywhere.