Category Archives: Reflections

With the school semester at an end and winter break upon us, I realize that there is still much I need to do in order to prepare for my first season working with the South Texas Human Rights Center and the UIndy forensics team.  Between purchasing supplies, packing my bags, and brushing up on my Spanish language skills, I have found myself entirely occupied by what lies ahead in Falfurrias. I am an anthropology student and will be working as a participant observer in order to study the work being done concerning migrant death and identification in Falfurrias, TX.  Further, my work will include assisting the forensic team with the identification process in any way I am capable and qualified to.

This trip will consist of a lot of firsts for me. It will be my first time visiting Texas and the American South in general as well as my first time travelling via airplane.  Most importantly, this will be my first real experience completing ethnographic work where I will be immersed within the inner workings of such a complex humanitarian crisis.  Unsurprisingly, the newness of such an experience is both scary and incredibly exciting.

It is always impossible to know exactly what one will be doing on any given day, but this will be especially true during the eight days I will be working in Texas.  This makes it difficult to truly mentally prepare for the tasks ahead, but this also makes me even more excited to get started.  With so many people and organizations working to assist migrants and their families in this time of crisis, I cannot even begin to fully understand what all work goes into these efforts.

I was instantly intrigued when I first heard about the University of Indianapolis’ involvement in migrant identification.  My hope for this trips is to absorb as much information about the work being completed in the area as possible.  I am excited to discover the culture and meet the people of Falfurrias, and I am so incredibly thankful to have been given the opportunity to be able to witness it for my own.

Sarah

The time is almost here, in just over a week i’ll be boarding an airplane with an amazing group of people to head to South Texas. It seems like it was just a few weeks ago that we sat down for our first meeting and started discussing items on our agenda that, at the time, seemed so far away. I find myself having trouble putting into words how I feel or what I think the next couple of weeks are going to be like. All I can think about is how I still need to go shopping for last minute items, and making sure the animals and my partner have enough food to survive the next few weeks without me. All those things seem so minuscule and unimportant compared to what our group will be doing while we are in Texas.

While in Texas, our time will be divided up into doing excavations at the Sacred Heart Cemetery and most recently, we found out that we will be spending time at the Sacred Heart Humanitarian Respite Center, among other items on our agenda. At the center, we will be volunteering our time to assist immigrant families while they wait to be reunited with their family here in the United States. I wish I felt more prepared but I don’t think there is any real preparation one can do to make yourself feel 100% ready.

I have never experienced first hand a crisis like what has been happening in South Texas and other states along the border. What compelled me to want to participate in this humanitarian effort, is the thought of being able to give closure to families. To assist in getting these unidentified border crossers identified and then return them to their families. If I was in this position, I would like to think that someone would do the same for my loved one and my family although I cannot really understand what these families and gone and are currently going through.

As for now, I will continue procrastinating my packing and shopping for last minute items. I am actually looking forward to my first blog post after being in S. Texas for a few days. I am as ready as I can be when it comes to the amount of emotions I will be feeling and the culture shock that I will experience. Until then, cheers to the New Year and when I come home, I welcome the change that this experience will give me- just like with every new year, we strive to be different, to be better and never the same.

Jessica

This holiday season, I am fortunate enough to be spending time at home with my family in west Michigan. In light of all of the family fun times and holiday cheer, I find myself thinking of those who aren’t as fortunate as myself – those who are unable to spend time with some of their family members who are lost or missing. So many take for granted the opportunity to be with family during the holidays, and it is all too easy to forget those who do not have that opportunity. As the day of the UIndy team’s departure to South Texas fast approaches, my own family has been asking me: “Are you nervous?” “Are you excited?” “Are you ready?”

Yes. YES. ….I think so?

I am absolutely both very excited and maybe a little bit nervous to embark on this journey. I’m generally not the kind of person who gets very nervous; I like to take things as they happen and try not to stress myself out unnecessarily ahead of time. However, this journey is something that I don’t think any first-timer can truly be “ready” for. I am definitely ready to get down there and get to work, but there is no way to predict what might be in store for our team. So yes, I think I am ready. But it is very likely that I will be proven wrong once I am down in the middle of everything, though in the best of ways. No matter how much I read about this project, no matter how many lists I prepare, no matter how many reps I do in the gym, I know that unexpected and exciting things are going to surprise us during this experience and that I, and everyone else on the team, will be challenged in ways that we cannot even begin to predict.

It is going to be an adventure, and it will be a challenging one, but I know that by keeping in mind the purpose of our work in South Texas – to help families finally discover what happened to their loved ones so that they may find peace – will give me, and everyone else on our team, the strength to push through and accomplish amazing things.

So yes, I am excited and nervous and ready to get to South Texas and do my part in helping make a difference in the lives of so many.

Happy Holidays!

Erica