Mission
Trip Participants
Florence Adibu
Cassie Kildow
Joey Martinez
Morgan Crouch
Stephanie Holmes
Elsa Pfaff
Naja Christmas
Jackie Valentine
Amanda Murphy
Ben Canade
Ben Schemper
Josh Capleton
Aaron Cash
Tim Rudolphi
Natasha Helmick
Stuart Whitmore
Chaperones
Jessica Corlett
Ryan Gregory
Mark Nelson
Gretchen Wahl
Richard Williams
Brian Gleichauf
Jenny Gleichauf
Our
trip to Nogales was quite different than anything
I had imagined. I will
hold
close to my heart for a long time to
come the amazing way in which God worked
in our group. We had an amazing time
learning about the people of Mexico—people
who welcomed us into their homes, their
stories, and their lives. We were recipients
of tremendous hospitality. We learned
so much from those who are trying to
make their lives amidst poverty. We had
our eyes opened to new ideas about US
foreign policy and issues on the Mexico/US
border. We met migrants and those who
work with migrants, and we heard many
stories—some heartbreaking, some
inspiring. We bonded together as a
group and questioned where God is moving
among
us. We came back with much to share
and much still to learn. Thanks be
to God.
––
Jenny Gleichauf (chaperone)
Mucho, Mucho, Mucho Gracias!
We arrived in Nogales weary from travel and hungry,
And from Ms. Torres received a taco meal fit for kings.
We found shelter at the Casa and were as happy as could be.
Monday began with the children of Nogales at kid’s
camp, where everyone sings,
Mucho, Mucho, Mucho Gracias!
With the children we created hand puppets, said hello and
played kickball.
While talking was a challenge, smiles and laughter came with
ease.
By the end of the week we could all say thank-you and please.
We learned from teachers who were four feet tall.
Children, Mucho, Mucho, Mucho Gracias!
We met Jose*, a 25 year US resident forced to leave his children
and wife.
On his fourth try to cross the border he walked 18 hours
towards Phoenix.
He was caught and returned to Nogales looking like he’d
been in a brawl.
His stay in the shelter is brief; he will walk again to regain
his life.
Clearly, the border does not only divide; it is also a great
wall.
Jose, Mucho, Mucho, Mucho Gracias.
Awakened at dawn by roosters, falling asleep to barking dogs,
Rained on each day by unusually heavy monsoon storms,
The ways of life in Nogales became our own.
We shopped, ate, and played a mean game of human foosball.
Laughter balanced the sad realities that surrounded us all.
We left with a perspective before we had not known.
Borderlinks, Mucho, Mucho Mucho Gracias!
–– Jessica Corlett (chaperone)
What
can I say about Nogales that won’t sound trite?
If you’ve been to a third world country, then you know
what it is like where the houses are made of scraps found
in the nearest dump, where the dogs lie panting in the dusty,
red road, and the sun-baked children roam the streets, throwing
rocks and playing those myriad intricate games that children
invent when left to their own devices. If you’ve never
been there, no words can adequately describe the feelings
one gets: the twinge of middle-class guilt one gets when
listening to someone talk about risking their life to get
a job you would not want even if the pay were above minimum
wage, or the tears inspired by simple generosity from children
who give necklaces and carvings to you for being their friend
for a few days, or the hope and faith that impels a woman
to continue providing lunches and love for hungry children
even when the world stops caring. That was Nogales––fear
mitigated by kindness, indifference made bearable by
faith, and poverty survived by hope.
–– Cassandra Kildow (11th grade)
Dear Congregation and Church friends:
Traveling to Tucson, AZ and Nogales, Mexico was one of the
most enlightening experiences of my life. Our venture through
Borderlinks, an organization focusing on the issues of the
US/Mexican border in which Jonathan played our tourist guide,
allowed my church friends and me to gain a firsthand experience
of the extreme poverty in Mexico and its culture and people.
My trip to Mexico touched me in so many ways. By going to
a new country I was able to enhance my ability to communicate
with others and bond with my church members. Meeting with
groups such as Groupas Betas, an organization that protects
migrants, speaking with John Fife, and our trip to Altar
enabled me to meet those who believed impossible was nothing
and anything is possible. Their willingness to give and their
undying devotion to improve their lives showed me how much
life in the United States is taken for granted.
While there, I interacted with the children at de la
Miserecordia where we played games and taught English.
By teaching their
little hearts, it made my heart stronger. Although
I touched many hearts in Mexico, many more touched
mine.
Pearla, Fabiola,
Alejandro, Jorge…I can’t name them all
but their effects on me will last a lifetime. No exact
person
or experience
could be pinpointed, but their loving songs that touched
me mentally, physically and emotionally will always
be remembered in pictures, memory and love. I would
like
to thank Fourth
Church for this amazing, life-changing experience and
I think I can speak on behalf of the Senior Highs when
I say we are
all very grateful for this experience.
God bless all.
––
Florence Adibu (11th grade)
How
I Found Jesus in Mexico
As my fourth and final work camp, I had mixed feelings
going into the Senior High trip to Nogales, Mexico this
August.
Unlike previous work camps, which focused on physical labor,
this Border Links trip was a different kind of mission:
education. We were all somewhat disappointed when our group
leader announced that we were not there to do work, but
rather listen and learn. The work wouldn’t begin
until we returned home.
The basic background of what we learned was this: In 1994,
the US, Mexico, and Canada entered into the North American
Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which meant goods and products
could be moved and sold throughout the continent without
being taxed. While this sounded beneficial to all parties
involved, and was to the United States, it hurt the Mexican
economy in unexpected ways. Suddenly, US farmers could sell
their mass-produced, subsidized crops for a fraction of what
local farmers in Mexico could sell theirs for. American industrialists
looking to minimize costs realized they could set up factories
right along the border where they could pay Mexican workers
a tenth what they paid US workers. This shift in the Mexican
economy lead to mass migration that took scores of Mexicans
to border towns, like Nogales. Towns grew into cities overnight,
but under NAFTA, factories didn’t pay taxes to improve
infrastructure to accommodate this growth. This created a
dismal situation in Mexico, causing many Mexicans to cross
the border and work illegally out of desperation. The surge
of illegal migrants caused the United States to panic. The
US Government responded by building a gigantic wall in heavily
trafficked sections of the border, a poor attempt at cutting
off illegal migration. NAFTA was supposed to open the border
up, but instead closed it down.
While the walls cut off migration in large cities, the need
to escape the ever-worsening situation grew. Desperate to
escape, migrants took a new, much riskier and often fatal
approach: sneaking across the vast desert that constitutes
the majority of the border. We saw picture after picture
and heard story after story of people so desperate that they
risked their lives just for the chance of a better life living
illegally in the United States.
We spent the afternoons of our week in Nogales talking to
groups concerned for the safety of those crossing the desert.
There are groups that will not sit by as their countrymen
die of dehydration and exhaustion in the desert. Rather,
they risk their own lives by attempting to rescue migrants
on their journey across the desert.
These dark stories and serious issues were offset by our
mornings running a kid’s camp at the Casa de
Misarecordias. It was often hard to remember the
situation outside was as
bleak as it was amid the giggles, songs, and dances
of the children from Nogales. We had several opportunities
to eat
in homes around the Casa, most of which were made
of cardboard and trash. Yet despite their humble
abodes, the children
were excited, energetic, and happy to be at kids
camp each morning.
The
week culminated with a trip to Altar on Thursday. Often
referred to as the ‘waiting room,’ Altar is an
area where migrants prepare for their journey across the
border. We spent the evening in a shelter for migrants who
had been deported on previous attempts to cross the border.
While living in community with them, we were fortunate enough
to talk to several Mexicans whose previous attempts to cross
into the United States weren’t successful. Sitting
in the courtyard listening to stories of people who had already
risked everything and failed and were willing to do it again
put actual faces to the experiences we had heard about. Listening
to story after story was more than unsettling to me. I have
struggled with life in America and the ‘American Dream’ that
leads to disillusion in our capitalist economy
that is fueled by greed. I have considered not
living in the United States
in the future, but talking to these migrants
who were literally risking everything just to
get in made me ashamed of my want
to leave.
When we woke up the next morning, the license
plates were stolen off our vans. The explanation
was that
this was this
was not unusual and the work of coyotes that
will use them to smuggle Mexicans across the
border
illegally. Suddenly
we, too, had our own role in the problem. No
longer just bystanders, were we victims? Not
exactly,
as we still made
it back to the US without problems. Were we accomplices
to those that would traffic humans? Not by choice.
We were part
of the issue, but couldn’t discern our
role.
So now we’re home and the work begins. What it is,
I’m still not sure. I am sure, however,
that there is no simple answer. As I try to sort
out the feelings of
desperation, need, struggle, hope, resilience
and need I saw in the faces of the people we
meet, I am sure there is
no way any of us left Nogales unchanged.
––
Jackie Valentine (college freshman)
What
a week! And what a great introduction to the
issue of Mexican immigration,
an issue that, here in Chicago, just
doesn’t get strong media coverage. Yet this trip has
convinced me that it is not only an important issue, it’s
one that has such a profound impact on our lives.
I will never forget the night we spent at the
shelter in Altar exchanging
questions with Mexicans that had been deported
and hearing stories of why they wanted to go
to the US. Their faith and
conviction was impressive.
Perhaps the most impressive aspect of this trip
was how our youth responded to what they experienced.
I have rarely
heard such deep comments from them as I did
this week during devotions and sharing times.
From discussions
on NAFTA
to dinners in residents’ homes to the kid’s
camp we led, our youth provided much for us to be proud
of. (When a 17 year old says that a discussion on NAFTA
was the best thing we did all week, you know you’re
having an impact.)
––
Mark Nelson
Border Crossing
Everything in my head said that it wasn’t a big deal,
but my heart knew that crossing over that painted line
was important. My pulse quickened, my breath shortened.
Crossing into the Mexico is not a big deal, right? In a
car full of US citizens on an educational mission trip––there
is nothing to worry about, right? What
I would come to realize in our next week
in
Nogales,
Mexico is that small
dose of anxiety that I felt crossing the
border is a daily part of the lives of
many of the
people who live in Nogales.
The sixteen youth who were on the Senior
High trip were able to learn about the
issues that
surround the US/Mexico
border through conversations and meals
with people who experience those issues
day in,
day out.
While we may read
stories or see brief news clips of the ‘immigration
crisis,’ in Mexico we were able to talk with migrant
workers first-hand. While in Chicago we hear of globalization,
in Nogales we were able to talk with people that experience
it from a very different perspective. And through it all,
we had reflections and devotions that delved into what
our faith says about migration, hospitality, and reaching
across borders. So if you see one of the Senior Highs or
one of their leaders, I hope you’ll stop and ask
about the border––what they felt, saw, and
tasted. You’re bound to get an answer
that will help you grow in your faith.
––
Richard Williams
