Day 3--BORDER IMMERSION in EL PASO - February 6, 2023

Lisa Novotny

Our van was more quiet than usual as we drove away from A. and R.'s home in a Colonia outside of El Paso.  We have been cooking food and serving meals to refugees for the past few days, as well as listening to stories from people about their lives and their journeys to and across the border.  As A. served us her delicious tamales she shared her family's story of hardship and hope, failed border crossings, a family torn apart for years, a fingertip reunion through a hole in the border fence, and the trauma of living with daily fears of capture and deportation and imprisonment.  A. and R. had lived and worked in the U.S. with undocumented status for years, with three young children.  R. returned to Mexico to visit his ill mother and was detained and unable to reunite with his family.  The children did not understand where their father had gone, and thought he had abandoned them.  A. could not sleep for fear of immigration officials coming for her and her little ones.  Failed coyote-guided crossings resulted in more prison time for R. and more trauma and separation for the entire family.  Years and years of fear and stress and loneliness and dire poverty.  "We pay a high price to stay here," she told us through tears.  R. miraculously returned to his family after years of separation, but the trauma for all of them remains.  And yet...when she was asked what she wanted us to share with our church family at ECLC she said unequivocally "Faith, hope and love prevail, and these three have been constant in our family's story.  Love is the most important, and in everything God is the center of my life."  This has been the consistent theme of every person who has given us the gift of their stories.  The faith and hope and resilience of people who have seen and experienced unimaginable suffering has been both uplifting and humbling.  The universal message is "We are seeking to work hard and take care of our families and help to make this country a better place."  "We have hope that God will help us."