Category Archives: Human Rights, Migrant Death

Talking about the project itself

Group selfie of five people in a car.

Day 9: Trench Warfare

Human Rights, Migrant Death

Today the 5 of us moved approximately 21,000 pounds of dirt (or about 4200 pounds of dirt per person).  Let that sink in for a moment…. TODAY each of us moved about 4200 pounds of dirt! We calculated that from the measurements of the trenches we dug today. That doesn’t even include the fact that we had to move some of the dirt to a pile and then move it back to the trenches (making it closer to 6,000 pounds of dirt for each of us).  It got hot in the afternoon, so we had to enforce a dig for 5 minutes and rest for 5 minutes rule. Not only was this necessary for safety but it also kept the momentum going late into the afternoon.

UIndy team member digging a trench.
Leann digging test trenches
Team members digging trenches
Erica, Jessica and I digging test trenches
Team member using a t-probe.
Justin probing the test trenches
Sister Pam shoveling into a dirt pile.
Sister Pam helping to move the dirt pile

Tomorrow is our last day working at Sacred Heart for this field season.  We still have about 30% of the area that needs explored. Every excavation season we seem to be down to the wire and fighting time to finish. So this year will be no different.

~KEL

Gracias por Todo

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death

It would be impossible for us to do this work alone.   There are so many people that are essential in making our efforts successful.  I would like to take a moment to thank some of the people who were vital in making this trip so great.

UIndy team members with shovels in front of a dirt pile
From Left to Right – Rachel, Dr O’Daniel, and Sarah

The Cultural Anthropologists

This year we have had the honor of working with a team of cultural anthropologists from the University of Indianapolis.  Last year, Dr. Alyson O’Daniel joined us for skeletal analyses in San Marcos.  She has joined us again this year and brought along two of her students, Sarah and Rachel.  They have had an amazing influence on our team, bringing  much-needed different perspectives to everything we do.  They also have made our job easier by helping with all of our work such as digging, troweling, moving buckets of sand, and pretty much anything and everything else.  They have far-exceeded all of my expectations, and I am incredibly proud to work by their side.

 

Two UIndy team members working in a trench.
El Strando

Ryan

Ryan and I have a long bro-mantic history.  He was one of the original members of the UINDY crew and my former roommate.  Since then he has worked with Texas State and at the South Texas Human Rights Center.  He is incredibly informed and hard working.  I can think of very few (if any) people that I would rather have working by my side.

Sister Pam and UIndy team members.
Sister Pam and the Cultural Crew

Sister Pam

I first met Sister Pam in 2014.  She is one of the most driven and compassionate people that I have ever met.  She now spends her time helping the people passing through the Sacred Heart Respite Center.  She has an amazing way of changing all of the lives she touches, and I’m proud that I have been able to work with her so closely.

A man and a young child in front of a group of people
Jorge and Eleanor

Jorge

Only two of our dig team (Erica & I) speak Spanish, but neither of us speak it very well.  This year we have had the luxury of having Jorge with us as a translator.  He was essential to communicating with families at the respite center.  I believe that I have seen him grow from this trip, and that he has seen the issues of the border in a completely new light.  Muchas gracias, Jorge.

The UIndy team with the Lasater's
At the Lasater Ranch

The Lasater’s

Our visit with the Lasater’s is always a highlight of our trip.  Bill and Peggy have been incredibly generous hosts and I am incredibly grateful for the insights they give us into the history of Falfurrias.  This year they invited us (and the people of Texas State) into their home for cheese, crackers, tamales, and to view the hundreds of turkeys that gather in their yard.  I want to thank them, an all of the other people who have made this trip so amazing.

Day 8: And then there were 5

Human Rights, Migrant Death

UIndy team selfieThe UIndy group is decreasing in numbers rather quickly. Ryan was only able to join us for his day off from work. He essentially came straight to the cemetery when ending one shift, worked the entire next day in the cemetery with us, and then excavated a partial day with us before driving straight back to work. Our three cultural anthropologists have other tasks associated with the South Texas Human Rights Center and are leaving to go back to Indiana in the morning. That means for most of the day today we were a group of 5 tackling what seemed like the impossible: Clear a 32 meter by 10 meter patch of land to a depth of 100cm.

Two team members standing knee deep in a trench with shovels full of dirt.We recreated the 8 quadrant grid that was originally constructed over this portion of the cemetery to organize the excavation efforts. We have started strategically dividing each of these quadrants into a series of deep test trenches. We create 2 parallel trenches running north-south that are 8m in length and 2 trenches that are parallel to each other running east-west that are 5m in length. Essentially we are diving each quadrant like a large tic-tac-toe board. We dig each trench to approximately 60cm in depth and then use a metal T-Probe to investigate beneath our trench floor. Additionally, Team members measuring and probing a trench.we probe at angles down into the dirt that we did not dig to investigate whether or not anything is buried under the surface as well as probe the surface of the undisturbed areas. If we find something while digging our trenches or with the probe we stop to investigate whether it is the remnant of a burial that was already removed or whether it represents a burial not located by the methods applied in the 2013 field season. Our approach is slow, tedious and back breaking, but it has proven to be successful. Over the next few days the temperatures will be increasing, so we will be challenged by both the heat and our small team numbers. With three quadrants down that leaves five to go in our last two days in Falfurrias.

~KEL