We spent just a few hours at the Humanitarian Respite Center at Sacred Heart Church in McAllen, TX back in June. Yet, we will never forgot our time there. Hundreds of tired, hungry and broken migrant refugees come through their doors weekly and the volunteers never skipped a beat. Through the sadness they witness daily they keep smile and hope on their faces. What started as a temporary response to the influx of migrant refugees across the border has been going for over a year. Sister Norma Pimentel and her volunteers provide assistance and a place to rest for men, women and children along their journey. Their ability to provide food, clean clothing, baby supplies, toiletries and humanitarian aid is based solely on donations and volunteers. We view their donation request list frequently to see what supplies are needed. This month we noticed a need for toiletries and began collecting items. Many people do not donate to various causes because they think their contributions are too small. We have learned over our course of working with the humanitarian crisis on the border, that many small contributions can make a huge difference. So please consider a donation of new or gently used items or a monetary contribution.
Daily requests for the Humanitarian Respite Center for volunteers
If you live near McAllen, TX or can travel there for a few days please consider volunteering. You can keep up with their needs on their Facebook Page where they post daily how many refugees are arriving. Sister Norma and the Humanitarian Respite Center were recently acknowledged by Pope Francis for their selfless acts of courage and aid in the face of this crisis. Please click on the red shaded words in this passage for links to more information.
A society will be judged on the basis of how it treats its most vulnerable members
Things are finally starting to take form in my brain. I’m learning my role at the STHRC, what I’m expected to do, and what gaps need to be filled. I’ve also found it difficult to answer the question “So what do you do?” to my friends and family who ask.
A quick answer to the question usually involves an extremely brief description of the humanitarian crisis happening on our border (“Wait, so kind of like what’s happening in the Mediterranean, but it’s only 6 hours away?!” Yes.) and then I explain that my role is to manage the incoming missing persons reports from families all over the world so that we can figure out how to best respond to each case. I’m also responsible for managing any and all data that is available on unidentified people that have perished in Brooks County. And then ultimately, I help create a system that allows the two sides to function efficiently so that unidentified people can be identified, providing closure for loved ones. Eddie refers to my position as a forensic investigator, and so that’s what I say I am.
But I don’t feel like that explanation really encompasses what I spend most of my time doing. In fact, it misses the skill that Eddie and Sister Pam find most important in our work; a skill, that, while emphasized to students pursuing careers in their field, is rarely fully understood by students (in my humble opinion…). That skill is building relationships. This process is often termed ‘networking’ or ‘collaborating’, but I think those terms miss the point that Eddie and Sister Pam are getting at. When Eddie and and Sister Pam network, they don’t simply mean saying “Hey, we should collaborate on this project together” through the phone or in a brief conversation after a meeting. They shake hands, call often, set up meetings with in-depth agendas, and most importantly, simply recognize each meeting as a human-to-human relationship. And so while my job description hits on this idea briefly, I feel like I spend most of my time building relationships, as part of STHRC, with so many people.
These past few weeks have been full of meetings. Some are large, some are with only a few people, but every single one is extremely meaningful and a step forward. Some are across the phone, some are across Skype, and some include simply showing up at someone’s office. But every meeting has a set agenda and has the intent of building trust and progress. We meet once a week on Skype with Derechos Humanos, a human rights group in Arizona that is focused on Search and Rescue efforts across the border. We share cases and build off of each other’s strengths and abilities. We’ve also met with Border Patrol to discuss ways to go about Search and Rescue missions, and ultimately to save lives. We continually meet with consulates, law enforcement, Justices of the Peace, and anyone else we can.
One of the best meetings I’ve ever been a part of happened yesterday while we were in McAllen with Dr. Kate Spradley. We decided to drop by a consulate’s office to introduce ourselves and let them know that we are all here to help in any way possible. We really didn’t know what to expect. The consulate quickly welcomed us in, and as soon as the meeting began, I realized how perfect a meeting this was. Eddie spoke on behalf of the families missing loved ones and was able to discuss efforts on search and rescues for people who had recently gone missing. I briefly talked about how I work with missing persons reports as well as unidentified people found on ranches. Dr. Spradley represented her lab and was able to affirm to the consulate the efforts made to identify those found on ranches. And Sister Pam, as she said, was there to provide spiritual support for all of us. Instantly, we all had each other’s trust. There we were, each one of us from a different perspective of this crisis, in McAllen, TX, in the consulate’s office to offer support and information. The consulate had so many of the same concerns we did, and was elated to know that all of the people she needed to help her with many of her issues as a consulate were sitting right there in her office, unannounced, voluntarily. These meetings can’t happen across the phone or email. This kind of trust can only be built face to face.
Dr. Kate Spradley shows Sister Pam and I a cemetery in South Texas with the remains of unidentified individuals.
And so that’s what I do for the time being. I meet with people in person as much as possible with Eddie and Sister Pam. I email and call people from all over the country, trying to find ways to create a better system (it can always be better). I set up times to meet with people in person to have real discussions. And ultimately, as Eddie and Sister Pam put it, I build relationships and trust with people.
I have started my internship position as the Forensic Anthropology and Administrative Fellow at the South Texas Human Rights Center in Falfurrias, TX and I can easily say that I’ve hit the ground running. I hadn’t even been in the state for a week before Eddie called and asked if I’d be interested in joining him at the Texas State Capital to observe a meeting. Fortunately, I only live a couple of minutes away from the Capital in Austin, TX, and so of course I jumped on the opportunity. For the sake of brevity, the meeting was mostly about the progress being made and the next steps that will be taken to keep the ball rolling. It was an exciting experience to say the least.
Last week I began making the 4hr commute from Austin to Falfurrias to begin the internship. I take back roads instead of the traffic-jammed highway, and I’ve loved the drive every time. Mentally, it serves as a reminder that while the humanitarian crisis might feel far away, it’s extremely close.
I have huge shoes to fill. The amount of work that Hailey was able to accomplish in such a short time is mind boggling. I’m extremely thankful for and inspired by the amount of data she’s collected, collaborations she’s created, standard procedures she’s developed, and wheels of progress that she’s set in motion. I’m determined to meet the bar she’s set, and set the bar higher if that’s even possible.
I’m in my second week now. I meant to write something last week, but my brain was exhausted after the first week here. I spent the week looking over spreadsheets of data and folders of missing persons reports in order to figure out the standard procedures Hailey set in place for me. I kept getting distracted by each individual missing persons report; each story was extremely intense and it was hard to put a report down without wanting to research every detail. I found myself following highways on maps, researching cell phone companies, and jotting down notes that I could research later when I had time to look through other databases. I know that right now that my goal is to help centralize information, and so I’m trying to stay focused, but it’s so easy to get distracted by each individual’s story.
A side project that I’ve become interested in involves the water station project put in place by Sister Pam. If you’ve been following our blog, you’ve probably read about the strenuous task of building and maintaining the water stations throughout Brooks County that are used as potential humanitarian aid. I asked Sister Pam if I could start analyzing her logbooks of how many jugs of water are being taken, when they are being taken, and from which areas to see if there are any patterns. I know that this entails a ton of assumptions (one being that a missing water jug is only assumed that it’s being taken by someone in need, and there are tons of other assumptions), but in my spare time I’m working on creating ‘heat maps’ that can be used to visualize this data. It’ll take some time before we’ll know if it means anything, but I’m enjoying working with some cool data.
A quick heat map generated (with only a few water stations and a few months of data) as an example of what we’re hoping to create
There’s no telling what the rest of the week will look like. Every day involves new volunteers, impromptu meetings, and news to adapt to. We have a lot of events coming up in the next few months that I’ll make sure to keep everyone updated on. If anyone has any specific questions on the internship or what we’re up to at the South Texas Human Rights Center, feel free to email me at sthrc.ryan@gmail.com and I’d be more than happy to chat!
