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.