All posts by khanas

Reflections

Human Rights, Migrant Death, Reflections

Our trip to Texas is over and we’re all back home in Indiana now. It feels weird being back. In South Texas everyone is constantly dealing with the effects of border crossers and border crosser deaths. Its part of their everyday lives, but in Indiana this isn’t a problem that we have to deal with. I feel a little disconnected being back here because I’m still constantly thinking about Texas.

This trip has surpassed all of my expectations. I don’t think I really knew what I was getting myself into when I went on this trip. This trip was emotionally challenging, mentally exhausting, and sometimes even physically exhausting, but the most challenging part of this trip was meeting the border crossers themselves. Visiting the residential center was the most difficult thing I had to do on this trip. Seeing all those exhausted faces, knowing that these families had been in that place for months, and not really being able to do much to help them other than talk to them was hard. My experiences meeting these migrants is something I will never forget.

This trip has also allowed me to see this crisis from multiple points of view. I was able to see how this crisis affected Brooks County citizens, how it affected the ranchers, the migrants, border control, the sheriff’s department, and other investigators. I feel like I’ve gained some perspective, but I know that I don’t have the complete picture yet.

I just want to say that I am so proud our team. We accomplished so much in the short amount of time that we had. At Texas State University, we worked diligently and efficiently and were able to meet our quota of skeletal analyses that needed to be finished. For our week in Falfurrias, we provided each other with emotional support, especially for those visits that involved working with migrant families. We shared our thoughts and feelings about what we experienced at the end of each day. We have grown closer as a team and I have learned so much from my teammates.

Fun group photo of members smiling and making fun faces

One of the things I treasure most about this trip is all the new friends that I’ve made. Hailey, Eddie, Sister Pam, and all the other volunteers at the South Texas Human Rights Center (STHRC) are truly amazing people. They are so passionate and dedicated to their cause. I cannot believe how hard they work. I am also glad I got a chance to work with Dr. Kate Spradley and her students at Texas State University. They are a hard working bunch and have so much enthusiasm for what they do.

Group photo of the team having dinner with members from the South Texas Human Rights CenterDinner with the STHRC team

Group photo of Beyond Borders members and Texas State members Hanging out with our new Texas State friends

The the things that I have learned,  the people I’ve met, and the experiences that I have had on this trip are things that are going to stay with me. I am so thankful that I had the opportunity to go South Texas and help out and I hope that I will be able to make this trip again in the future.

-Amanda

Laboratory Tour

Snapshots

Since we’re conducting our skeletal analyses at Texas State University, I thought it would be a good idea to talk about the amazing laboratories we’re working in this week.  At Texas State there are three laboratories in the Forensic Anthropology Center.

Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF)
FARF is an outdoor decomposition research facility that consists of about 26 acres of land. Students and other forensic science researchers conduct research projects here using donated bodies to learn more about rates of decomposition and methods to estimate time since death. Providing time since death to law enforcement is an important aspect of the job of a forensic anthropologist and can provide valuable information in a criminal investigation.  When I first walked into FARF, I was shown a small scatter of bones. Dr. Spradley explained that vulture scavenging is common in South Texas. A group of vultures can reduce a body to bone in several hours and then scatter the bones. Several researchers have conducted studies here on this topic. When you walk around this facility, you are likely to see multiple cages of different sizes. Each cage contains a body and is part of a research project. The cages are mostly used to keep out scavenging animals, but different cages serve different purposes and aid in someone’s research. For example, the cages covered in green mesh were set up to keep bugs and insects out. There are also weather stations in FARF that record temperature, precipitation, and humidity levels, so that researchers can see how these variables impact decomposition. FARF is an excellent resource for students and researchers to use.

Green mesh cage outside in a field
Green mesh cage

Osteology Research and Processing Laboratory (ORPL)
After FARF, donated bodies go to ORPL to get processed. In this lab the donated bodies are decontaminated and the soft tissues are removed from the bones, so that a skeletal analysis can be conducted. This facility has a processing suite with giant kettles for processing bodies, a morgue freezer to store bodies, a digitizer, and a portable x-ray machine. Most forensic anthropology laboratories do not have a separate building just for processing, so we were all amazed when we saw this dedicated space.  This lab is also where the Operation Identification (unidentified migrants) analyses take place. We spent most of our time here doing skeletal analyses, while other teams worked on processing remains or on documenting personal artifacts that were found with the migrant remains.

Student in gown, hair net, and gloves next to the large processing kettle in the processing suite
Processing suite with kettle
Large white freezer at the morgue
Morgue Freezer

Grady Early Forensic Anthropology Laboratory (GEFARL)
At GEFARL, osteological research and histology analyses are conducted by students and faculty. The donated skeletal collection is also curated here. GEFARL is full of fancy toys (high tech scientific equipment) including a micro-CT scanner, a white light laser scanner, and a 3D printer. We were so jealous when we walked into this laboratory. The equipment they have here is amazing and great tools for research. We were shown a few skulls that they printed with their 3D printer. They looked pretty close to the real thing, but felt heavy. The micro-CT scanner may have the word micro it’s the name, but this machine is huge. The Micro-CT scanner and white light laser scanner both create 3D images that can be manipulated and stored on a computer for later research.

3D printed skull on a shelf
3D printed skull
Large grey and black Micro-CT machine in an office space
Micro-CT
Laboratory space at the Grady Early Forensic Anthropology Research Lab with a large white board and tables with office materials
GEFARL laboratory space

Amanda

Day 8: Rain, Rain, Go Away

Snapshots
Group image of Beyond Borders Team members holding up eight fingers for day 8
Day 8

Since we’ve gotten to San Marcos, all it’s done is rain. Today was no different. It was pouring buckets of rain this afternoon, thanks to Tropical Storm Bill.  There are flash flood warnings for this area in effect till the end of the week and tornado warnings in effect for today. This is unusual weather for this part of Texas and I’ve had many Texans tell me that this weather is nothing like the real Texas weather. San Marcos is supposed to be sunny.

Day 8 was spent doing skeletal analyses, while worrying about the laboratory flooding or the roads leading up to the laboratory flooding and trapping us there. Our emergency plan was to bring our work with us to another Texas State University building, so that we could keep working on identifications no matter what.  A little rain isn’t going to stop the UIndy Team. Thankfully, we did not have to use our emergency plan today and we hope that we won’t have to use it at all.

None of us have wanted to venture outside in the rain, so we opted to stay in for the night. We’ve been amusing ourselves by playing around with some of the videos we’ve made since we got to San Marcos. Here are two of our best ones. Enjoy!

Team member Justin swimming in the river
Justin jumps into the river!

Video  1

Texas State University emblem
Time lapse video of our daily journey to Texas State University.

Video 2

–Amanda