I Can Hear Mexico Calling
Following the call as a YAGM through the ELCA
As many of you know, I went on a trip with the other YAGMs in Mexico to better educate ourselves about life on the US-Mexico border. We spent a little bit of time in Tucson, but mostly stayed in Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora (Mexico). We slept in a church in Agua Prieta. We met with people, organizations, and ministries on both sides of the border. We spent a lot of the time walking along the border—both in Douglas and Agua Prieta. I’m still processing the experience, and am generally speechless, but I want to share just a few of the thoughts and a lot of images that I am left with after walking a couple miles on both sides of the barrier... I wish that everyone knew what the border really feels like,
that they felt the breeze through the fence and smelled pollo asado and truck exhaust in the distance. I wish that everyone appreciated the culture that tacos come from. I wish that everyone shook the hands that make the tortillas that can’t be bought from a store. I wish that everyone was familiar with the various forms of salsa — both the dance and the sauce, knowing that here, they seldom come out of a jar. I wish that everyone knew that most drugs are smuggled through official immigration entry points. I wish that everyone knew that the US-Mexico border barriers are only as old as I am. I wish that everyone could see how Douglas and Agua Prieta could be, and were once, a single community. I wish that everyone could hear it come from a person's mouth when they say, "living on the border makes it look like the US and Mexico are at war." I wish that everyone could see how the sun washes over the mountains that cross the border morning, noon, and night. I wish that everyone felt the crunch of the earth that soaks up all the desert’s beauty and pain in the same dry cracks in the ground. I wish that everyone walked along the border to experience how life keeps going. And I wish that everyone had the chance to appreciate the murals on the other side of the barrier…
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AuthorMy name is Kathryn Ophardt. I am spending this year in Mexico City as a Young Adult for Global Mission with the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. During this year of service, I'll be working with the non-profit, Casa Refugiados. Archives
October 2018
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