The Borderlands – Feliz Navidad from Cuidad Juarez, Mexico
By: Hugh Truempi
Tags: Migrants, Us Mexico Border, Migration

Thus far my experience here in the borderlands has been full of new experiences, challenges, and friendships. My first two weeks were spent in orientation which consisted of daily group reflections, a few sessions about the history and work of Annunciation house, and daily projects at the house where we were staying.

A mural in one of Annunciation House’s houses of hospitality in El Paso, Texas. In English, it reads: “I was hungry and you fed me; I was thirsty and you gave me drink; I was a stranger, and you welcomed me.”

Orientation was really enjoyable, mainly do to the wonderful four other volunteers who also arrived in November with me. Between cooking and doing dishes together, our morning reflections, sweeping, mopping, and organizing for hours on end together, celebrating election results, and collaborating to tend to the needs of our Covid positive guests, we quickly became quite close.

During orientation, my fellow volunteers and I would typically end our nights with a movie, jam session, or just hang out and chat.

Perhaps me interacting with Covid positive guests caught you by surprise? It certainly did for me! Although I had been forewarned that Annunciation House was accepting Covid positive guests, I did not expect to be interacting with them just a few days after arriving.

The house where our orientation took place has ample space for guests who recently tested positive for Covid to self-isolate (fortunately most were asymptomatic). The majority of guests were not only Covid positive, but were also injured. Their injuries, usually broken legs, feet, and backs, were sustained from falling from the border fence where they were then picked up by Border Patrol and brought to the hospital. After being released from the hospital and processed by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, they are dropped off at our doors. We provide meals and a place to stay for them while they continued to recover. We also help them coordinate transportation to their family or relatives in the US where they can continue their recovery and pursue their asylum case.

Amidst all of this I kept thinking about how just a few months ago I would have never imagined myself interacting so closely with people who are Covid positive, not to mention occasionally helping them perform simple life tasks such as getting out of bed and getting dressed. In fact, I can recall my stomach dropping this past March when I came across a video of nurses and doctors wearing full body suits and face shields to treat Covid positive patients. I remember feeling grateful I didn’t work in health care because I thought I could never do something like that. And here I am a few months later in a full body suit, face shield, and N95, interacting with Covid positive refugees. Life has truly felt like an adventure lately!

Me suiting up with my personal protective equipment to check in with our guests and bring them lunch.

After orientation in El Paso I was placed in a house of hospitality in Cuidad Juarez, Mexico. There are currently five Central American families, only women with children, residing here while pursuing their US asylum court hearings. Due to the current administration’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ policy, they are required to stay in Mexico while they pursue their cases, a process which takes a minimum of several months.

My weekly duties consist of assigning chores, helping cook and clean, enforce the rules of the house, go grocery shopping, and help the guests with anything in particular that they need. I also spend a lot of time playing games, watching movies, and hanging out with the guests – especially the kids.

One of my highlights has been spending time in the kitchen with the moms. They’ve taught me how to make several delicious Central American dishes. For Thanksgiving I made a traditional Thanksgiving feast. It was the guests’ first time trying an oven roasted turkey. Most of them loved it.

Trying to master the art of stuffing, enclosing, and flattening a Salvadoran pupusa.

While being here has certainly been filled with graces, I have to admit, living in a relatively small house with 15 other people has been a challenging transition for me. As my need for quietude has become more and more clear to me recently, the constant commotion and emotion here has required me to get creative with and to maximize the periods of alone time for myself that I do have, which include mornings and my weekly day off.

Finding solitude in the Organ Mountains, just outside of Las Cruces, New Mexico.

Since most of the guests don’t roll out of bed in the morning until 9:00 or 10:00 am, I’ve established a routine of waking up at 6:00 am in order to have a few hours of quiet time to start my day. My mornings typically consist of practicing yoga, relaxing in silence or with music, cooking and enjoying a hearty breakfast with an excessive amount of tea, and a group reflection with Mary and Justine, the two other volunteers here.

Every week I have a day and a half off. Annunciation House provides an apartment in downtown El Paso for volunteers to use on their days off, which I have been utilizing as my home base while exploring nearby mountains and bike trails. The Franklin Mountains state park, which sits a new minutes north of downtown El Paso, has been my go-to quick escape to nature. I have also enjoyed exploring the mountains around Las Cruces, New Mexico, located 40 miles northwest of El Paso. I’ve went on several beautiful bike rides as well. My favorite was along the Rio Grande river valley which runs between El Paso and Las Cruces and is lined with pecan orchards and wineries. As for weather, the past few weeks has been 60s and sunny during the day and 30s at night. It has rained once the entire six weeks I’ve been here.

Riding amongst the pecan orchards of Mesilla Valley, New Mexico.

In addition to the beautiful weather, I’m feeling particularly grateful for the leisure time I have at the moment at my house in Juarez. Soon after moving in, I became frustrated with the weak and spotty internet connection in my room, and in our house in general. However, this resulted in me spending much of my leisure time reading and journaling when not interacting with the guests, which has turned out to be quite life-giving. Plus, with limited internet access, I find myself less distracted and more present.

Overall, living in Juarez has been really enjoyable, although I haven’t been able to explore a whole lot due to the pandemic. One unique aspect about living here is crossing the border multiple times per week. I usually cross by bike, stuffing my backpack and pannier with everything I’ll need for my trip. It’s like a mini bikepacking adventure every week!

Taking a ride along the southern side of the border.

With Christmas coming in a matter of days, the spirit of house is full of excitement. While I’m sad I won’t be with my family during Christmas this year, I‘m looking forward to celebrating with the guests and experiencing their traditions.

Our house is decked out with Christmas lights, decorations, and we even have two Christmas trees. Santa will be coming with gifts for all of the guests as well (most of which are hiding under my bed at the moment and need to be wrapped). We plan to leave a mask and some hand sanitizer out for him on Christmas Eve.

For our Christmas feast, we’ll be making traditional Central American tamales which are wrapped and cooked in plantain leaves. I could only find one supermarket here that sells them, and only in limited quantities. Since we will need several bags, I brought up our dilemma to the store manager and he offered to put in a larger order for next week and save some in the back just for us! We’ll be having a gingerbread house making party soon, too. I’m especially looking forward to making lots of Christmas cookies with the kids. The teenage girls and I made our first batch – peanut butter blossoms – a few days ago. They were a huge hit.

Wishing everyone safe and cozy holidays.

Feliz Navidad,

Hugh