Day Two- Volunteering in a Migrant Shelter

For our second full day in El Paso, we mostly volunteered at a shelter for migrants. Before that, we went to Cafe Mayapan to learn about some local issues in El Paso. We talked a bit about NAFTA and TPP. What’s difficult with these agreements is that, in aggregate, it has made us better off but if you are one of those who get left behind, you don’t care about the aggregate. It makes one think about what role the government should (or shouldn’t) take in regards to globalization. I won’t go to into this topic but it is certainly a big topic and we should think about the consequences of trade agreements on local communities
The big thing of the day was volunteering in the migrant shelter. I want to make clear that this shelter cooperates with Border Patrol and ICE so that people who have applied for asylum won’t be out on the streets at night. My first task was to clean the showers. Not a great task but it had to be done. With some good help, it took me about an hour. I was just happy to help.
I then helped hand out wash towels for migrants to shower. Next to me was a bunch of little kids playing with toys. They were having so much fun. They were playing soccer and with toys and they were running around a lot. We then had dinner which was beef and rice from Salvation Army. Was not bad. There were moments where people shared their stories with me. Many Guatemalans left because of a serious drought that is killing the ecosystem. Many others left because of gang violence. I must say, if I were in their shoes, I would apply for asylum as well. One woman said if she had stayed in Guatemala, her daughter would be kidnapped and sold by the gangs. I would also leave if I were put in such a situation.
I did not realize how quickly eight hours would go by. The hard work hardly felt like work. There was one moment towards the end where a tiny child kicked a beach ball towards me. He wanted to kick it around with me. I figured it was time for a break anyways. This little child was so funny. Every time I kicked the ball high into the air, he would raise his arms up and have the biggest smile on his face. That was a special moment for me because in all that was happening in the shelter and in all this child may have experienced, he still had the biggest smile. on his face. It was almost as if all the noise of the outside world had been shut out because of this one beach ball. But perhaps it was more than just the beach ball. Perhaps it is because he came to America and an American played a game with him. That in spite of all the political noise, we can see the humanity in each other and play a fun little game. For me, this could have been some form of a "God moment." I truly felt special with the work that I did this day.