Week 2: Update from Sonia

My Name is Sonia Lauer. I am from Eugene, OR and go to school at Lewis and Clark in Portland, OR. This is the first time that Lewis and Clark has joined Earlham on a study abroad program. I think that we all agreed this was a wonderful opportunity.
In Tucson, I am living with the Dominguez family. We are seven total, five girls, Isa the mom and Sergio the dad. As a family they are extremely gracious and a really fun family. I have really enjoyed them so far. This is my first time in Tucson, and it is a lot warmer and sunnier than I am used to for January. This is the second week of classes so for the most part we have been reading a lot of theory. In our class called the Roots and Routes of Migration we are currently studying the “roots” portion. We are studying a lot of economic history in Latin America, discussing the topic of development and rethinking the paradigms through which we look at the world.
On Monday morning, I met with the woman in charge at my field study site. I will be working at the Southside Day Labor Center. The Southside Presbyterian Church started the Day Labor Center, which was also an active part of the sanctuary movement during the 1980s. The Day Labor Center takes the same idea that the Church can be used as a sanctuary and a safe predetermined area for workers and employers to meet. It will be very interesting to better know the organization.
Wednesday some of the girls on the trip and I went to a meeting put on by community members about the e-varify law that has been affecting many in Arizona. The law requires employers to check the papers of all employees hired after January 2008. A year later the confusion, misunderstandings and fear of the law have left a lot of different people hurt. There have been many abuses of the law and frequent racial profiling. There is a lot to learn about Arizonan politics. Today we already started talking about our Altar trip. This semester is going to go by so fast.

Tucson isn't Oberlin, and other orientation lessons: Week 1

Hello, Alice Ollstein speaking. I'm in Tucson, Arizona, on the Border Studies program run through Earlham College. Now you might be thinking that Arizona isn't exactly abroad and Tucson isn't exactly on the border (it's an hour north), so let me explain. I was accepted to this program months ago, when it was supposed to be in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. When the drug war escalated there and shootings in broad daylight became commonplace, the program was moved to the smaller, calmer town of Nogales, Mexico. Then, recently, the drug war made its sinister way to even the smallest and calmest of border towns, shaking up Nogales with random acts of violence, and the program was moved to Tucson. Now initially I was upset. The program had become something I had not signed up for. I wanted to be immersed in Spanish and Mexican culture and be challenged on a day to day basis. I didn't want some safe, easy program in the U.S. where I could study immigration from a distance and not really experience it.

But ever since arriving to this unique program, my fears have been washed away. Starting in a few days, I will be living with a Spanish-speaking host family in the south side of Tucson (which I've heard described as "more Mexican than Mexico"), working with an organization called Border Action Network that does community organizing and resistance among migrants in Tucson, and taking a month-long journey throughout Mexico with my program, visiting communities that are important to the immigration story.

Today, after meeting my fellow students at the airport (by the way, there are only six of us, and we're all women) we ate incredible Mexican food, held an orientation explaining the days and weeks ahead of us, hiked up a saguaro-studded hill to watch the sunset, ate more incredible Mexican food, got to know each other and talked about how we had all chosen this program, then crashed (that's where I am now, typing as my eyes droop).

The next day, we found out that you don't need your passport to cross the border, only to return. We drove from Tucson down to the ugly metal wall that divides Nogales, Arizona from Nogales, Sonora, told the officer we were going for the day, then cruised on through. There were no lines, a sign of how the increased drug war violence has led to a sharp dive in tourism. We then went to a station of Grupo Beta, a Mexican government organization that helps deported migrants by giving them food, clothes, a phone call and a couple of nights of shelter. We sat on metal benches outside and talked with a group of men who had recently been detained in the U.S. and shipped across the border. I talked to one man who had tried to cross four times, but now wants to go home, saying the attempts were a waste of time, money and his health. By far the saddest was Felipe, a man that had lived in Phoenix for 22 years, and one day the ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) knocks on his door and drags him and his wife away, leaving a 13-year-old and an 11-year-old alone in the U.S. Then he was separated from his wife in the detention process and has yet to find her. One girl on my program lent him her cell phone to call to check on the kids, which he did, but we all left feeling helpless.

We then visited a center for deported minors, mostly 15- or 16-year-old boys, called the DIF. It was a brand new building, much nicer (apparently) than the ones in most border towns, but the kids were just sitting around, bored, waiting for a family member to come claim them. There was a paved outdoor area with a basketball court and room to run around, but the door was chained shut. Maddie explained that they were afraid the kids would try to escape. She said the only time the kids were allowed outside was while the DIF was filming a promotional video about what great work they do and how happy the kids are. There were also framed pictures all around the center of the governor's wife posing with kids (obviously models and not actual deported children) and pictures of kids frolicking on grass. There was no grass.

Lastly, we walked back and forth across the border to compare prices in grocery stores and discuss what those numbers mean. I'm an English and Latin American studies major, so I had a hard time wrapping my head around it, but basically, even though prices are "the same" on either side of the border, because of differences in wages there is a great inequality. An American has to work only half an hour to buy a gallon of milk, but a Mexican has to work five. This means thousands of people cross the border every day just to buy groceries in the U.S., then return home to Mexico. So American factories move across the border because of cheap labor and non-existent environmental regulations, and most of those wages go back to the U.S. to buy groceries. So much for the myth that the maquiladoras are boosting Mexico's economy. I look forward to learning more about this in my classes.

We rounded off the intense day with a delicious dinner cooked by our program assistant and a late-night ice cream run. Nothing takes your mind off dysfunctional U.S. policies like Ben and Jerry's.

The next day we toured the University of Arizona for the first time, because one of their expert faculty members will be teaching our Research Methodologies class. With 50,000 students, the U of A is a bit overwhelming. Everyone on my program is from a small, liberal arts school, so we looked like hicks in the big city as we wandered wide-eyed through U of A's brick buildings. I think I'll miss Oberlin's weirdness while I'm here.

Our last activity of the day was Spanish conversation with Jorge, a Cuban artist at a local café. We talked about everything from our travel experiences to Cuban politics to issues of gender. He was sweet and hilarious and I can't wait to meet with him again.

I'm so happy I chose this particular program. With four incredible staff members for the six of us, I've never had so much personal attention in my life. Oberlin's small size has meant a lot of personal attention (from my professors, advisers, TAs, etc.) but nothing compared to this, where I'm driven from place to place and asked if I need a cup of coffee or a snack. Just so you don't think I'm a spoiled brat, know that this cushy treatment will end tomorrow. From then on out, I'll be getting up at my host family's house in South Tucson and busing to class and work. As our director Riley said, “Camp is over, girls.”

Eileen reflects on time spent in Tucson, Nogales, El Paso, and Ciudad Juarez.

My name is Eileen Sanderson, and I am from Virginia, specifically a little peninsula on a slightly larger peninsula. I am a junior at Hope College in Holland, Michigan, studying Mathematics for Elementary Education and squeezing in Spanish classes where I can!

This semester is turning out to be one of the most challenging- emotionally, physically, and academically! BUT I am having great experiences, meeting some amazing people, and learning a lot.

In Tucson, my host family is a retired couple, Stan and Sally, who are incredibly loving and warm, doing everything in their power to make me feel at home (and they are succeeding!). We have great conversations all the time, and I tag along to their church, Southside Presbyterian, whenever I am here!

My field study is at Cesar Chavez Learning Community, a charter
school that caters to mostly Latino and Native American middle and high school students. I've been helping out in two middle school math classes, an English Language Learners class where I work individually with one student, and a handful of afternoon project-based learning sessions. This school has offered me some great (and tough) experiences that I know will help me when I start teaching on my own!

In Nogales, I lived with an amazing family, too! My mom, Noemí is a nurse; my dad, Reyes, works at the Instituto Tecnologia; my sister Leslie is studying psychology at university; my brother is a senior at the preparatorio/high school and plans to go to the Instituto Tecnologia next year; and my sister Mitzue is in secundaria/middle school. I also met a lot of relatives, but I don't think I have room to talk about all of them!

My field study in Nogales was at a primaria/elementary school. I only got to teach a couple of times before I left, but I got to sub in the English classes, and I started to teach computer classes. I had so much fun with these students, even when I struggled to understand what they were saying or to be understood! I definitely think elementary school teaching fits me better than middle school teaching, but who knows what I'll end up doing!?
With all the papers and projects that are due in the next few weeks, it is hard to think about everything we've already done! So, I'll just talk about right now. We have come to El Paso, Texas, which is especially exciting for me because my mom's family is from El Paso, and my grandma and aunt's family still live here. I got to visit them once!

Friday, we had a tour of the border, met with two professors from UTEP- Ben Saenz, creative writing, and Tony Payan, political science. Ben Saenz talked about the community and how it had changed and grown over the years, and Tony Payan explained a bit about the drug violence and its history.

Saturday, we got to go to Ciudad Juarez (honestly, a surprise for all the students…even though it was in the schedule). We spoke to Maricela Ortiz about the organization Nuestras Hijas de Regreso a Casa and the femicides in Juarez. It was very interesting but difficult and sad to hear (of course). We also got to feed carrots to a giraffe named Modesto! We walked back to
the US in a 30 minute line, but Amy and Lily had a four hour wait to drive across! We had lunch at a church gym that also housed a thrift store, and few students made it out without buying anything. I bought *It's a Wonderful Life* Christmas cards and earrings! Then we spoke with a local artist who works with youth in El Paso. He also gave us a mini-walking tour of some murals in El Paso. There was a fantastic mural in (and out) of the public library. Then we went to Cinco Puntos Press Publishing House, where we learned a bit about the publishing process, and again, everyone left with bank accounts a bit emptier. After dinner on Saturday, some of us went to the movies! Most of us saw the new James Bond movie, Quantum of Solace, while others watched W.

Sunday, we took a tour of Annunciation House, a shelter almost exclusively for undocumented migrants. I got to talk to a resident who gushed about her grandchildren, especially her nine-year-old granddaughter. We also played paper football with a young boy who was there. Then we headed off to Maternidad La Luz, a midwifery clinic that caters to mostly Mexicans. It was so interesting to hear about natural birth and everything that they do at the clinic and the school. We wandered around downtown El Paso, taking the opportunity to compare downtown El Paso to downtown Nogales, Arizona… (Well I did). We relaxed or tried to get work done.

Monday after we packed up the van, we went to UTEP for another meeting. This one was with a former maquila manager. We ate more danishes than is recommended, and as we were leaving, we got at least two free books (more if we found some we liked)! Then we loaded up again and headed back to Tucson…I will definitely miss El Paso!