As part of truly understanding what Humane Borders is about, Betzi and the organization’s operations manager, Joel, drove us about sixty miles south to the border. It was shocking to see the massive, metal fence that divides our countries both literally and figuratively. The first part of the fence we saw was where it turned from a looming reminder of our countries’ separation to a meager barbed-wire fence about ten miles out from the city. The fact that it changes so drastically made me think that it was more symbolic than practical in purpose. Betzi talked about how most of the Arizonan people think of the fence as a gloomy eyesore.
Next, we traveled to Nogales, Arizona, a border town of about 30,000 people. Directly across the border, though, is Nogales, Sonora, a border town with a population closer to 300,000. Despite containing many fun shops and restaurants, the small city is in the shadow of the fence. Joel told our group that, when crossing the border into Mexico in an automobile, it takes almost no time; however, when coming back to the States, it isn’t unusual to wait in line for nearly two hours.
After splitting from Betzi and Joel, the seven of us went to a local elementary school classroom that was studying the University of Kansas as a means to encourage students to attend college. There, we talked about KU and how important and attainable college is. Before long though, we got a chance to talk and hang out with the second-graders one-on-one where they talked to us about their lives and asked us questions about ours. We taught the whole classroom the Rock Chalk chant, handed out KU stickers, and possibly met some future Jayhawks! One student named Ricky informed me that he wanted to go to KU to play football and study science so he could “mix the chemicals together and make smoke!”
As an afternoon/evening trip, we went for a hike up the Catalina Mountains and then went to a gelato shop. We finished the day with homemade cactus stir-fry (they sell cacti in the grocery stores here, so naturally we had to try it) and rice. In random, other news, our group got approved for a field trip to the Tucson Zoo with a seven dollar discount on nine dollar tickets, so that’s another fun thing we have to look forward to. I really love seeing the connections in our group being made stronger all the time. Today was definitely the best day so far, but I know the best days are still to come.
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