Day 5

Alright Day 5 is finished! Today was another exciting day in Arizona! We started off the day by driving to Arivaca, a small community south of where we are staying.

When we got there we got to speak to a woman named Catherine Gaffney who spoke with us about No More Deaths. No More Deaths is a humanitarian organization that consists of individuals, faith communities, human rights advocates, and grassroots organizers. They join together to bring justice to the U.S/Mexican border. They have an action plan that includes movable desert camps, support of migrant aid centres, maintenance of water stations, patrols that search the desert for migrants in need, and advocacy on behalf of migrant related issues. What Catherine and her volunteers do in Arivaca is go around to peoples homes and inform them on what they can do to help any migrants who happen to knock on their door, without breaking any laws. On the way back we actually got pulled over by Border Patrol! We all had to give them our passports and they actually asked if their were any Mexicans in our van. It was kind of funny because Johnathan actually is from Mexico. Luckily we didn't have any problems! So that was our first interaction with the Border Patrol!

When we drove back after lunch, we got to speak with a man from Brazil who was detained for 8 years while trying to immigrant to the United States. He had the option to be deported back to Brazil, but he chose not to because he was scared for his life back there. This who conversation just reiterated the fact that most people want to immigrate to the United States because they are looking for a better life. To them, anything is better than the life they are trying to leave behind. Afterwards we had dinner and then a couple of us went to see another movie! We went to see the new Paranormal Activity and let me tell you, we were definitely scared. The most amazing part of the night though, was when Alessandro found his wallet in the movie theatre, after losing it there last night. We were all convinced that it was gone because we had called and went to guest services, and they hadn't found anything. Then when we went to the movie, he went to look for himself and FOUND IT! God was looking out for him. We got back home after the movie and finished off the night with a good work out demonstration from Alessandro. Tomorrow is going to be intense because we're actually going to see the border. It's going to be really interesting. We're going to try and talk to some of the border patrol who will be walking around, just to hear their opinion and what they do everyday. It should be fun!