Category Archives: Community

Interaction with the community of Falfurrias

Day 7

Community, Snapshots

The first part of our journey today began with a four-hour drive to Falfurrias (with the bad weather it actually took closer to five).  While I’ve heard about how hot and dry this part of the state can be, it was instead overcast and rainy most of our drive south.  Once we arrived to our hotel, we stopped for lunch at an unlikely place for tacos, a gas station.  While I was nervous at first, the tacos were actually delicious and the tortillas there were hand made, exceeding my gas station expectations.

After lunch we made our way to Sister Pam’s apartment.  It was wonderful to get to see her again and catch-up on what she’s been up to.  After working at the South Texas Human Rights Center for a year and a half, she’s now been focusing on helping at the Humanitarian Respite Center at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.  Another way in which she’s been helping with this humanitarian endeavor is by creating bags made out of T-shirts.  Before we left Indianapolis, our program had donated over 20 shirts for this project.  Today we were able to help Sister Pam make the bags while chatting about what was new with each of us.  These bags are created by tying the ends of the shirts together and cutting off the sleeves and neckline to create the handles of the bag.  The purpose of these bags is for families to be able to store clothes, personal items, food, and water as they continue on their path after their time at the respite center.  While they’re usually given plastic bags, these bags made from T-shirts are much sturdier and hold more items.  I was happy to be able to help make the journey for these individuals a little easier by making a few bags.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to create more bags and donate them in the future.

Once we finished making the T-shirt bags, we watched a documentary that was made 2 years ago called, The Real Death Valley.  It’s a really great documentary highlighting some of the issues surrounding this humanitarian crisis and shows some of the excavations that the team from UIndy has participated in.  After discussing the film for a bit, we said our good byes and headed to Stickland’s for dinner.  We had some delicious Southern and Mexican food, as well as some tasty pie.  While most our day consisted of traveling, it was really rewarding being able to create bags that will be helpful to migrants on their journey, as well as re-connect with Sister Pam.  Hopefully, the rain ceases by tomorrow and doesn’t inhibit our next adventure to map the cemeteries tomorrow.

–Helen

Six people smiling and holding up six fingers.

Day 6

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death

We all got the opportunity to volunteer at Missing in Harris County Day today.  We had different roles and experiences at the event. Justin, Ryan, Amanda, Helen and Dr. O’Daniel were all in the South Texas intake room being coordinated by the STHRC (South Texas Human Rights Center) and the EAAF (Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team). I was in the atrium for most of the event.  You can read about their experiences in the intake room in previous posts. I will tell you a little about the event outside the intake room here.

It was set up not only as a way for families to report a missing loved one but also as an educational event. They had booths with informational resources for families who had missing loved ones and a series a lectures and panel discussions. Additionally, they had an area for young children to play while their families were filling out paperwork.

Three individuals sitting in front of a yellow South Texas Human Rights Center banner
With Hailey and Eddie at the STHRC booth

I spent most of the event at the STHRC booth talking with attendees about the center along with Hailey Dueker and Eddie Canales.

Families and friends of the missing could put the name of their missing loved one on yellow ribbons. They were able to wear a yellow ribbon and display a yellow ribbon on this tree.

Families and friends of the missing could display pictures and flyers of their missing loved one.

I was invited to participate in a panel discussion called “The Missing and Exploited Discussion Panel”. It included both families of the missing and professionals working to find and identify the missing.

A smiling woman with a laptop
Dr. O’Daniel

I was also able to go back to the intake room a few times to check on progress in there and see what the other UIndy team members were doing. It was amazing to see the flurry of activity in that room. In addition to the STHRC and UIndy, there were volunteers from many organizations represented.

KEL

Intake at Missing Persons Day

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death

Today we were given the opportunity to volunteer at “Missing Persons Day in Harris County”.  My role today was to help with the intake.  I was one of the volunteers responsible for taking personal information from the families who are missing loved ones.  While this event was open to everyone, we were charged with recording information for the people who went missing along the border.  I was eager to help, except there was a problem…  I don’t speak Spanish particularly well.

I took Spanish in high school, but I feared that my remedial language skills might jeopardize any chance of identifying the missing.  Lucky for me I was paired with a native Spanish speaker.  I couldn’t have asked to be paired with a better partner.  Not only did she translate, but she helped our families to feel welcome and cared for during this incredibly trying experience.  She made sure that every member of the family was treated with compassion and respect.  She made them laugh, comforted them while they cried, and even played with the children.  I cannot express how much I learned from her, and how grateful I am for all of her help.

The intake process started by going over an informed consent form.  The form itself was fairly short but was essential.  The most important part of the form was the “informed” portion.  We spent a lot of time making sure that every detail was combed over, so that the families understood and were comfortable with everything we were doing.  Many people were naturally hesitant to sign anything.  Many of these families are fearful of police and border patrol, and are understandably reticent.  It was important that the families knew how the information collected will be used.

The next step was collecting information about the family members themselves.  After that came the difficult part, collecting information about the missing.  These questions included where the person was last seen, the clothes that they were wearing, and any information that could help to identify them.  The questions themselves were simple, but forced the families to reflect back on their loss.  I cannot imagine the pain of reliving the feelings of grief, or the sorrow of not knowing what happened to their loved one.  Finally, DNA samples were collected from family members in order to compare them against the different missing and unidentified persons databases.

This event helped me to realize that we are just a very small part of issue that is much, much larger.  Our work is important, but is only one cog in the machinations of something meaningful and significant.  Even in my modest role, I am proud incredibly proud to play my part.

Justin