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Six people standing in a field in front of a red cross flag holding up nine fingers.

Day 9: How to Build a Water Station

Community, Environment, Human Rights, Migrant Death

One of the many ways that the South Texas Human Rights Center contributes positively to this humanitarian crisis is by constructing and refilling water stations to help prevent migrant deaths.  Every year, countless people die while crossing the harsh desert scrub land of Brooks County.  The water stations prevent more deaths by providing a waystation of relief in an otherwise unforgiving environment.  Building and replenishing the water stations is full-time endeavor that requires the aid of multiple volunteers.  Please check out this short video that demonstrates how much work goes into the creation of one of these stations.

To check out the South Texas Human Rights Center, please click here.

Justin and Helen

Day 8

Environment, Human Rights, Migrant Death

For our second day in Falfurrias, we surveyed cemeteries with Dr. Spradley and Dr. Gocha from Texas State University and Eddie Canalas from the South Texas Human Rights Center. The cemetery survey project was created to locate all the cemeteries in south Texas that have graves with unidentified migrant remains. Cemeteries in several counties have already been surveyed and mapped and more will be added to this list. The goal is to eventually excavate the remains in these cemeteries, so that they can be analyzed, identified, and then returned to their loved ones.

Today we assisted in surveying a total of 3 different cemeteries. Dr. Spradley used GPS to create maps of each cemetery and plot each unknown grave. This was also our first full day actually working outside. It was a beautiful sunny day, but it was also really hot and humid. We were sweating after the first few minutes of being outside, but we survived a whole day of this so we should be okay for helping with the water stations tomorrow.

As we were surveying, I noticed how beautiful the Texas wildlife was. There were lots of colorful birds and flowers. In some areas, it felt like we were in a jungle and not in Texas at all. Palm trees weaved with tall branching trees and created canopies for us to drive under. We looked out the windows of our truck in wonder. I captured some of this beauty on a short video for you all to enjoy!

Driving in Texas

Thanks for reading and watching! Tomorrow should be another busy, but exciting day.

–Amanda

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