Encountering our Southern Border: guest blogger

By Betsy Wiest

      When the call came for volunteers to assist the staff at Annunciation House in El Paso, Texas care for the refugees crossing the border, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Northwestern Pennsylvania answered.  Betsy Wiest, Social Justice Coordinator and SSJ Agregee, contacted Annunciation House to find out what was needed.  She and Deb Seng, SSJ Agregee, made arrangements to travel to El Paso for two weeks to serve.  Betsy then collaborated with Patrice Swick, Social Justice Director for the Diocese of Erie, to join them on the mission.  As a result, the Erie Diocese and Sisters of St. Joseph provided a serving presence for refugees in need of assistance.  We worked along side of the Annunciation House staff to first of all develop a trusting relationship with those we served.  We provided clothing, fed them meals, helped them settle into the shelter until travel arrangements could be made for them to unite with their sponsors and provided travel bags for each family with food to help make the next portion of their journey a little easier.  Although we don’t speak Spanish and those we served did not speak English, caring and love of neighbor didn’t need words.  We served with compassion, tenderness, caring and most of all with love.  We didn’t preach the gospel, we lived it.  

You can follow our experiences through Betsy’s blog posts at www.ssjerie.org. 
Click on mission & spirituality and then go to truth and justice matters: a blog.    

Left to right: Deb Seng, Patrice Swick, & Betsy Wiest in the "office"

Encountering our Southern Border: Reunions

By Patrice Swick

      One of our main tasks throughout the day is to 'run' families to the room that they will be staying in after they have completed the registration portion. We, the volunteers, take our guests to their room and make sure they have the necessary hygiene products to be comfortable - shampoo, tooth paste, tooth brush, soap. Some days we only have a bar of soap to offer. When we get to the room we explain how the shower works, show them that they can wash their clothes in the sink, and make sure they understand that the water from the tap is safe to drink.

      This is a tiring job, but quickly became one of my favorites. Offering to help carry what little belongings families have or holding the hands of kids as we cross the parking lot has allowed me to extend an arm of hospitality. Chatting in broken Spanish to learn names and share my own has broken down walls to allow for human connections to flourish. Showing my sisters and brothers to a safe place to lay their heads has brought tears to both parties.

      On Wednesday, one of these 'runs' was extra special. A gentleman and his daughter arrived on the morning bus and went through registration as normal. When he got to the part where Deb was assigning him his room, he looked at our board of names and said that in the one room was his wife and daughter and asked if it was possible to stay with them. Deb moved some things around and happily made it possible.

      When I went to inform the woman that we were moving her to a room with her husband, she jumped up in excitement and gathered her things. The reunion of the sisters, a father and a daughter, a mother and a daughter, and a husband and wife was so joyous and relief-filled that I couldn't help but be brought to tears. They were separated upon crossing the border and did not know when they were going to be reunited. I can't say what the chances were of them coming to the same center of Annunciation House, but I can say that I encountered Love through witnessing their embrace.

I have started leaving words of affirmation around
the office to bring moments of encouragement
and joy to those who encounter them.

Encountering our Southern Border through Prayer (pt 3)

Join me prayer

We walk, Lord, guided as pilgrims,

with confidence that your presence gives us life,

and is stronger than the weariness of the road.

When we walk, Lord,

we know that you keep your promises,

that a seedling of hope

has sprung up in the midst of a dry people.

We walk, Lord, with out hands empty,

seeking to filled with you presence.

We go full of poverty to be enriched.

Amen.

Copyright. Catholic Relief Services. Prayer Without Borders. Celebrating Global Wisdom.

Crossing the United States and Mexico border 

Encountering our Southern Border: Sickness

By Patrice Swick

      With such long travels in varied conditions many people are arriving sick. We have a doctor who comes by the center as often as he can. When he arrives, we find all those who indicated that they were sick on their intake form. We have limited supplies of medicine, but the doctor does what he can. We have had a few serious conditions and prescriptions were needed. One young girl started to have a severe nose bleed as she waited in line for intake. She is around 4 years old. We learned that she had been having nose bleeds for four days, severe stomach pain and no appetite. She was taken to the ER and we are waiting to hear her diagnosis. It is tiring and painful to be surrounded by this kind of suffering, but it is also a privilege to accompany our sisters and brothers at such vulnerable times.        

Father and daughter outside the Annunciation House center

Encountering our Southern Border Through Prayer (pt. 2)

Join me in prayer

 A Prayer for Refugees

God of our Wandering Ancestors,

Long have we known

That your heart is with the refugee:

That you were born into time

In a family of refugees

Fleeing violence in their homeland,

Who then gathered up their hungry child

And fled into alien country.

Their cry, your cry, resounds through the ages:

“Will you let me in?”

Give us hearts that break open

When our brothers and sisters turn to us with that same cry.

Then surely all these things will follow:

Ears will no longer turn deaf to their voices.

Eyes will see a moment for grace instead of a threat.

Tongues will not be silenced but will instead advocate.

And hands will reach out—

working for peace in their homeland, working for justice in the lands where they seek safe haven.

Lord, protect all refugees in their travels.

May they find a friend in me

And so make me worthy

Of the refuge I have found in you.

Amen.

Copyright. Catholic Relief Services.

Waiting in lines is a common sight at our center.

Encountering our Southern Border: Donations and sacrifice

By Patrice Swick      

       We have been receiving around 100 refugees a day at our one site alone. A bus usually brings them around 2pm. They receive a welcome so they know that this is a safe place where we will do our best to meet their needs. We explain meals times and general expectations are laid out. Lunch is usually pizza or a volunteer group comes in and provides a meal. After they eat, they line up along the halls and wait to be registered. During registration volunteers are in contact with our guests’ family members or friends who are sponsoring them here in the states. Phone calls are made back and forth until travel details are confirmed. Our guests stay with us until it is time to go to the airport or bus station.

       Donations of clothes and hygiene product are put to good use. When families reach our border they often have very little. The little they have is then taken when they are in detention. Babies in only diapers and kids with no shoes is a common sight. Some days our clothing room is empty and all we have to give is ‘lo siento mucho’. One day when we had clothes to give out, a mother came in with her young child who was only a few years old. Her child had worn out shoes and when we offered her a new pair she said ‘no, keep them for the next child’. I can only imagine the sacrifices this mother has made to find a peaceful home for her family.

Donated children socks asking the question we should each be asking.

Encountering our Southern Border Through Prayer

Join me in prayer

Bearing Witness to Peace

Lord God, we come to you in our need.

Create in us an awareness of the massive forces

that threaten our world today.

Give us a sense of urgency

to activate the forces of goodness, of justice, of love and of peace.

Where there is armed conflict,

let us stretch our arms to our brothers and sisters.

Where this abundance,

let there be simple lifestyle and sharing.

Where there is poverty,

let there be dignified living and constant striving for just structures.

Where there are wounds of division,

let there be unity and wholeness.

Help us to be committed to the building of your kingdom.

Not seeking to be cared for,

but to care.

Not expecting to be served,

but to place ourselves in the service of others.

Not aspiring to be materially secure,

but to place our security in your love.

Teach us your spirit.

Only in loving imitation of you

can we discover the healing springs of life

that will bring new birth to our world.

Amen 

Copyright. Catholic Relief Services. Prayer Without Borders, Celebrating Global Wisdom

Clothes drying before the next stage in their journey