The week after Easter was Verbum Dei's spring break. For the past several years they have had alternative break service trips that take place during spring break for a select group of students that wish to participate. This year the trip was to San Diego and I volunteered to be the male faculty chaperon on the trip. It was one of the best decisions that I have made during my year in JVC!
The trip left on the evening of Easter from our school. There were ten students, Julie, Krista(FJV who now works at the school), myself, and one of the student's grandmas who spoke no English. It was quite the eclectic group from the start, but in hindsight we couldn't have picked a better group of guys.
Before leaving the school on Sunday, we had a brief prayer service with all of the students and their parents. It was short, but a nice opportunity to share some of our hopes and fears for the week with all of the parents present. After the prayer service we packed up the vans and took off south for the quick two hour drive to San Diego. One of the students moms made papusas (a Salvadorian dish) for all of to eat as a snack on our way down. They were AWESOME. It was fun to hang out and eat dinner at some random truck stop with all the guys. I knew at that moment that it was going to be an awesome week.
The group that we were working with all week is an organization called Border Angels. Their primary focus is to encourage comprehensive, humane immigration reform. Along with this central mission, they engage in other direct service activities such as leaving water in the desert for those trying to cross the border through the desert and giving out sandwiches/water to day laborers who are waiting all day to find work. Out of the ten students that we brought on the trip, 9 were of Latino heritage. So there was a direct connection that most of our guys could make.
We stayed at the headquarters of the organization, which is in the offices of a church in a town called Lemon Grove just East of San Diego. It was essentially one large room that had a kitchen, one couch, a few tables, a television, and plenty of floor space. Even thought there was plenty of floor space, it soon dawned on me that I would be sharing a room/bathroom with ten high school boys for an entire week. Sleep was not something that I was going to get a
lot of during the week!
Isabella was the worker for the organization that was going to be working most directly with us for the week. When we showed up Sunday night she was waiting for us with a smile. Literally everything we needed for the week was taken care of by her.
On Monday morning we started off the week with the Border Patrol. Being from the Midwest, I have never had much interaction with the border patrol. Walking into their headquarters, I really did not know what to expect. They were awesome. The job of a border patrol agent is not an easy one, but the three agents that gave us a tour were so enthusiastic and informed. After a quick presentation at the headquarters, we loaded up into two vans and headed for the border. The driver of our van was named Rudy and looked like GI Joe. He was from Texas and spent four years in the navy before joining border patrol. He was very candid and answered any questions that any of us had. If you ever go the the border, you will notice that there are two fences. The first is called the primary fence, and this fence runs along the actual border and is intended to keep vehicles from crossing the boarder. Then there is the secondary fence, which is much higher and covered for the most part in sharp razor wire. In between the two fences is a road that the border patrol uses. This is that same road that we drove on during our tour. It was incredible noting the difference between the two sides of the border. To the south was a shanty town section of Tijuana and to the north was a cluster of beautiful homes in America. We drove all the way to the ocean where the border ends. No matter what a persons feelings are on immigration, a trip to the border is a very powerful experience.
After the border tour, we met up with Enrique Morones, who is the man who founded Border Angels. He came to Verb once last semester to give a talk, and it was nice to hear from him again. He gave a general overview of the organization and how he came to found it.
That night a man from San Clemente came and talked about some work he was doing in Sausiby, Mexico trying to fight the drug cartels on the other side of the border through education. It was a great perspective on why so many people are trying to cross the border and how reform on the Mexican side of the border is one of the greatest things that can be done to help the immigration issue in our country. Also his wife is from Nebraska and went to undergrad where I am going to law school at next year, so we naturally bonded.
After a semi-restful night of sleep, a Phd student at SDSU who has done research on day laborers came over and led us on a tour to the various sites around San Diego where day laborers are found. We brought sandwiches and water with us and it was very interesting hearing the various stories of the workers (some documented and others not). The issue definitely takes on a more human element once faces and stories are involved. After the tour we decided to take all the guys to Coronado island. If you are ever in San Diego, Coronado is a must see. It is absolutely beautiful. We rented bikes and rode around the island with the guys where Julie and I immediately realized that you can take the kid out of south central, but you cannot take the south central out of the kid. Within two minutes of riding, one of the guys tried to stand on his bike while riding and crashed..... It was a blast though, one of the most fun things we did all week. That evening we decorated crossed that we would be using later on in the week.
Wednesday we had the day off and decided to go hiking East of San Diego. Despite the long drive and the fact that we got lost several times, it was wonderful. It was not an easy hike though, and some of the students did struggle a bit.... however everyone (including grandma!) finished the 6.5 mile hike in the mountains. After the hike we watched a documentary called the "Lemon Grove Incident" that told the story of a segregation case that took place in the 1930s where the school board tried to separate the Mexican children from the Caucasian students in school. It failed, which is without a doubt a good thing.
Thursday we spent the day with Enrique. We started by driving to a valley an hour or so East of the city to drop off water in the desert. People die often of dehydration walking through the desert, so hopefully our actions helped save a few lives. Plus it gave the kids another opportunity to climb around in the desert. After dropping off water, we drove another hour or so to a potters grave. It was located in an unmarked location behind the towns normal cemetery. Over 700 unknown people were buried in this location, the largest in the country that is not a military grave site. We placed all of our crosses we decorated in the cemetery as a sign of respect for those who died. It was one of the saddest experiences I have participated in in a long time. On the way home we took one more quick stop at the border. It was a very powerful day, and I think that the guys really got a lot out of it.
Thursday night we had a bonfire on the beach. It was the first time that many of our guys had ever had a s'more. We definitely opened their eyes to a new world, ha. We sang songs, talked, and it was one of the greatest experiences that I have had with the verb guys all year. They are simply great guys, and I am proud of all of them.
Friday consisted of clean up, a failed attempt to serve lunch at a homeless shelter, and a final reflection about the experience. Of course no one wanted to leave, so we spent roughly 4 hours on Coronado again playing volleyball and just hanging out on the beach. Our last reflection took place on the beach and it was incredible. We had dinner at a Verb student staple: Dennys. By the time we got back home it was after midnight, and I still didn't want to go home.
I am so blessed to be at a school like Verb for my year in JVC. The guys are incredible and the faculty/staff are even more incredible. My spring break could not have been better and I am so grateful for the experience.
This past week was Teachers appreciation week at Verb, so much food and fun. It was also my birthday and cinco de mayo, so the celebrations just went all week.
I am already 75% done with my time here in LA and I don't think I am ready to leave. I can already tell how much I am going to miss it, but I still have 3 months left and I intend to make the absolute best of it!
As always I miss and love all of you. I hope to see everyone soon and talk even sooner!
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