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2024 Beyond Borders Team Circled Together in Conversation

Day 1: The Learning Curve

Today was our first day in the field. We were able to sleep in a bit, at least compared to our 4AM start yesterday. The day started with breakfast at the hotel which prompted the conversation of how toasted toast should be. We also made some homemade wellness shots using Emergen-C and the hotel’s juice selection. From there, our team visited the South Texas Human Rights Center for the first time.

South Texas Human Rights Center Facility
South Texas Human Rights Center

We met Eddie, one of the organizations three founders, and he gave us the run-down of how the South Texas Human Rights Center came to be and what the center has been able to accomplish in the past few years. Eddie and his two colleagues, Nora and Vanessa. answered phone calls from those who need help throughout the moring. Much of the help they provide comes in the form of information. They answer so many different questions depending on the information someone needs. Where should I go? Who should I call? What does this mean? Though the help they provide is important, Eddie remarked the most important aspect of answering calls is being willing to listen. Many who call the center may be experiencing a tragedy, and speaking with someone who is willing to listen can be a great comfort. Eddie and his colleagues told us stories of how they were able to help and sometimes when help didn’t come soon enough. It was heart wrenching.

Meeting at South Texas Human Rights Center (From Left to Right: Eddie, Claire, Chastidy, Hannah, and Ella)
Meeting at the South Texas Human Rights Center

At about noon, Eddie headed out to tend some of the water stations with a service learning group from South Carolina University just as Don and Ray arrived. Don and Ray will be our guides and support system as we head into the field. Don is a skilled tracker wth extensive experience doing searches in the remote ranchlands here in south Texas. He is able to tell so much information from what he sees in the field. Ray is also an expert in search and recovery, and a medic. He makes sure the team can give our best out in the field. Ray carries a large backpack that holds medical supplies if we need it.

Don (Pictured on the right) and Ray (Pictured on the Left)
Ray and Don

We packed into Don’s Jeep and Ray’s truck and headed to the area we will be searching. Our search today was based on GPS coodinates where someone was reported missing. First, we did a systematic line-search, which was a new technique for the whole student team. The struggle of keeping pace, while making sure to search the area effectively was a new challenge.

Individuals Performing a Line Search (From Left to Right: Chastidy, Claire and Hannah)
Line Search Formation

Don scouted ahead disappearing and reappearing multiple times. Just when we thought we had not seen him for a while, he would chime in over the radio about our progress waving from his vantage point. Don was also followed closely by his dog Socks. She often ran through our line to check in on us before returning to Don’s side.

Socks, Don's Dog
Socks

Ray followed behind us, giving short anecdotes as we searched. We then moved into a more difficult area with dense vegetation and mots (mass of trees). The area required us to partner up so we could search without losing our way. Over the course of the afternoon, we found some trash and debris, which was evidence of migrant activity in the area, as well as a plethora of animal bones.

Animal Skeletal Remainas
Animal Skeletal Remains

Overall, today offered so many learning opportunities. I look forward to how we will improve as we continue throughout the week.

The team with Don and Ray eating dinner at Stricklands
Day 1 dinner at Stricklands

Claire

Traveling to Falfurrias

We’ve made it to Texas!  Starting with an early morning wake up, we all made it through security in Indianapolis with only two of our bags being checked (TSA questioned my bag full of quarters for laundry but after a quick check we were good to go). The rest of the trip went off without a hitch.  We flew from Indianapolis to Dallas, and then from there to San Antonio.  

The team in the Indianapolis Airport ready to head to Texas.  In the front row is Hannah, and behind her from left to right is Ella, Claire, Dr. Latham, and Chastidy.
In the airport ready to go!

For some of us this is our first time traveling to Texas, while others have been before and can give a little more insight into what we can look forward to in the next week.  I can tell we’re all excited to finally be on our way. After several weeks of discussing and reading about what we’ll be doing we’re all anxious to begin, and our cross-country journey was the first obstacle in our way.  We landed in San Antonio and after a very delicious lunch at Torchy’s Tacos took the 2 and a half hour drive to Falfurrias.  Honestly the hardest part of our drive was playing tetris to fit all of our luggage into the minivan.  We began our drive through San Antonio and into the countryside, passing Mexican restaurants, ranches, and oil refineries.  

Hannah, Claire, and Chastidy smile as they wait for their lunch in San Antonio
Just landed in Texas and ready for tacos!

As much as I’m struck by how different Texas is, it still feels eerily similar to my own home thousands of miles away.  Large expanses of trees, with tiny little towns sprinkled throughout and populated by family-owned restaurants, churches, and the occasional gas station.  The food the restaurants serve is different and the trees are a lot different here, but it still has the same feeling of small town America that is surprisingly similar to how I grew up.  My hometown is even about the same size as Falfurrias, it’s been really interesting to really see first person just how much variety can exist in one country.  Driving into Falfurrias felt climactic.  We’ve been preparing so much and it feels surreal that we are actually here now.  Deputy Don White joined us for a preliminary meeting and dinner at Whataburger, where we talked a little more about the structure of Falfurrias and the work we’ll be doing this week.  

Deputy Don White, Hannah, Ella, Chastidy, and Claire sit in a circle discussing what they should expect out in the field.
Deputy Don White explains to the team what they should expect and what to look out for

It was at this point that I realized that we begin working tomorrow, and while that excites me it also scares me a little bit.  So, after a late night run to the grocery store for food and supplies, and then another tour of Falfurrias as we searched different gas stations for a Styrofoam cooler, we’ve settled down for the night to prep for our first day.  Prepping for our first day includes double checking the batteries in the camera, making sure the walkie talkies work, and triple checking our field bags to make sure we haven’t forgotten anything that could be important out in the field.  I think the worst part of a new experience is the anticipation beforehand, so I’m ready to start the day tomorrow.

Ella

What to Expect

I keep getting asked if I’m excited to go to Texas and I never know what to say.  On one hand I am excited to get hands-on experience and to try to help in whatever way we can, but at the same time I feel like I can’t anticipate what we will encounter while we are in Texas.  This is a very grave crisis happening in our own country and I myself haven’t put much thought into it in the past few years given my location.  It makes me feel guilty that it only came back into my attention because it was something that could benefit me.  I think that at the moment I feel more anxious, while in theory I know what we will be doing and can anticipate some of the challenges we’ll be facing, I know that there is a lot I don’t know.  I’m looking forward to becoming more skilled in field techniques such as line searches and photography, and I’m looking forward to traveling and getting to experience even a fraction of what life is like in South Texas and understanding the difficulties of migrants forced to travel through rough terrain.  

We are coming in effectively as foreigners. Meaning the culture in northern Michigan where I’m from is a lot different from south Texas. So, while I’m interested in seeing how “different” life is in Texas, I realize people living in border communities will view my experiences and perspectives as “different” as well. I recognize that my education and upbringing has given me privilege. I realize the way I say and approach things are a part of that privilege. I think that will be a big challenge for me, balancing my desire to help with my nervousness of doing or saying the wrong thing.  I want to help in any way that I can, but I don’t want to give off the impression I think I can solve any part of this crisis.  

We’ll only be in Texas for a week, and there’s only so much we can do to help in a week. So, we must push ourselves to get as much as we can get done safely and try to make as much of a positive difference as we can.  Even though it is just a week I know we will do good work and through this blog hopefully show others that there is still a humanitarian crisis, and that the issues don’t end when the news stops reporting on them.  While I am nervous and anxious about the work we’ll do in Texas I am also hopeful.  I hope that what we do will help better the people affected by the migrant crisis, whether it’s a family member waiting for news on their missing relative, or a migrant who stops at a water station and gets a necessary break from their difficult journey.  I think it will be important for us as a team to remind ourselves that whatever we get done is still progress, and by participating in this program and doing good work we can hopefully inspire more people in the future to donate their time or money to assist the volunteers who do this work in Texas year-round.

Ella