Brenda- Humane Borders- Day One

Day One of working with Humane Borders was full of surprises. We pulled up to the House of Neighborly Service in South Tucson where the offices were located. I was anxious and nervous and had no idea what the water run would entail. We met our primary contact Betzi. Betzi grew up in Kansas; she lived in Wichita so it was nice to see a face familiar with where we were from. We also had another guest, Mike Wilson, as in the Mike Wilson from the movie Crossing Arizona. Mike Wilson is a member of the Tohono Ohnhom nation and sets up gallons of water on the reservation as the tribal leaders do not want to place. They and the director of Humane Borders, Juanita explained to us their mission. To stop human beings from dying in the desert from lack of water. They make water runs once a week to different areas. That day we were doing the North and South Arivaca run. We split into two groups, three with Betzi, and three with Mike Wilson. I headed to Mike Wilson’s truck and we set out. On route to the first water station took 30 minutes and we passed by border patrol. We took a dirt path that was very bumpy. Betzi explained to us how she checks the water levels and this water station was empty so she showed us how the pump works and had one of us fill it up. Mike Wilson had other ideas and took some of us on an adventure and we hiked around looking for migrant trash or migrants crossing. We did this for every water station, in total about 6 or 7 and each road to getting there was even bumpier and hillier than the last. It took all I had to not get motion sickness. Something I also noticed while doing this water run was that some stations would be vandalized: Bullet holes in the signs, spigots broken and hidden or just missing. I was appalled. Migrants crossing the desert run out of water after the third day, and are forced to drink out of cattle ponds. This can make them very sick and leads to further dehydration out of diarrhea, and vomiting. To know that someone would willingly stop someone from getting water just because they are looking for a better life shook me. Mike Wilson commented on these acts of vandalism: “Some people call it vandalism, I call it sacrilege.” Day one set the tone for the rest of the trip, and I knew that I would learn and experience many many things.