Impressions at the Border

After an early departure from Tucson on Tuesday, March 29, St. Mark’s delegation to Frontera de Cristo’s Border Immersion Experience bounced painfully along the dusty, rutted Border Patrol road that parallels the border fence just south of Douglas. The “St. Mark’s Seven,” joined by twelve others from congregations in Tucson and Green Valley, had come ready to encounter the realities of life on both sides of the international border and to understand the binational ministries of Frontera de Cristo. The day, filled with both sadness and hope, accomplished both.

For part of our drive “the fence” was an ugly, looming wall of rusty black, towering over the arid desert landscape. In other places it was painted mesh, allowing glimpses of habitations on the other side. As we struggled up the hill to our destination, occasionally sliding back on the loose silt and gravel of the roadbed, the fence became an open cross-hatch of heavy steel beams, a vehicles-only barrier.

At the rocky summit, we paused for biblical reflections with Mark Adams and contemplated the results of U.S. paranoia and xenophobia: millions of dollars spent and thousands of families splintered. The prospects for restoration and healing seemed as bleak as the   landscape.

Once across the border, however, we encountered  the hope engendered by the ministries of Frontera de Cristo. A Migrant Resource Center in Agua Prieta meets the needs of recently deported migrants and documents any abuse that may have been visited on them by the Border Patrol or others. Another ministry lies in supporting a small community called the DouglaPrieta Permaculture Project, where people are working together to develop a sustainable lifestyle through agriculture and practical skill development. They produce food, recycle waste, harvest water, build their own shelters and      acquire expertise to work outside the community.

We visited a live-in drug rehabilitation program that partners with Frontera de Cristo to provide water in the Mexican desert (Agua para la Vida.) It was inspiring to meet these men, who are struggling with addiction but nevertheless are committed to filling and maintaining water tanks so that others might live.

Still in Agua Prieta, at the Just Coffee roasting and distribution center and office, we shared the excitement and optimism of this mission, which keeps families and communities thriving in their own homes rather than migrating  north in desperation. The smell of roasting coffee – heated by a whooshing blue flame of gas, then spilled into waiting containers – permeated our senses as hope filled our hearts.

A final prayer vigil reminded us of the tragedy Café Justo was created to prevent:  We carried crosses to the border. Each cross bore the name of a person who had died while trying to cross the border into Cochise County. As the group approached the border, each migrant’s name was read out, and all responded, “Presente!”

It was a sobering and uplifting day.

Bob Turnbull, Marilyn Simmons, and Mari Helen High