Hannah Venman Clay on No More Deaths and camping

February 9, 2008
By Hannah Venman-Clay
After a night of reflection with the group around the campfire, we head on into our third day in Arizona. As a whole we feel that this trip could not be going any better, and meeting around the campfire last night really gave us a moment to sit as a group and remember that we’re here together. None of us can truly believe that we have 12 days left on this trip and so much more to come.
This morning Dan woke us up early so that we could eat breakfast and pack up our things. Tents and everything had to be stuffed in the vans so we could move down south, out of Catalina State Park on the northern outskirts of Tucson to Pena Blanca Lake, a more remote camp site only ten or fifteen miles north of the border. No running water at this campground. Let us all bond in a… new way. This campground is beautiful with lots of things to look at. The toilets smell, but the view is one of a kind. Right at our campground there is even a sign warning people of immigrants and how they are around. Most of us found this very funny and there were lots of pictures taken. Hopefully we’re not disturbing our neighbors too much with our big group.
Today we met with the organization No More Deaths. No More Deaths provides humanitarian aid to people who have crossed the border and were deported. They also go into the desert and try to find migrants to give them aid. NMD’s base is located in Tucson in a nice church. NMD talked to us about the different aspects of their organization. Danielle, a woman who was the representative for NMD, talked to us about what the immigrants go through, before and after they walk through the desert. It was hard to listen to because it was so intense but it gave us a nice warning of what we may experience when we go to the tent. A man named Oscar also did a brief first aid training, teaching us how to treat wounds that we might see when at their tent tomorrow. Many of us did not find this very helpful, but mainly because he didn’t know we were actually going to be helping at the tent. As a group we are ready to start working with the migrants, and also go into Nogales, Mexico to look around.
We have recently been doing our Become an Expert Presentations. Become an expert presentations are research projects that we did before we left for Mexico on topics that we would be covering in Mexico, a person covered NAFTA, another covered the Minute Men. The point of the project is to have an idea of what it is before we meet or experience it. So far they have been a nice introduction to the different things.
Most of us have just come from food shopping for the next couple of days. A few people went with Andy and got supplies to make crosses for migrants who died while making the journey across the desert. Hiking, exploring and game playing could potentially go on today if we have time. At least today when we set up camp it wont be dark, and we won’t be exhausted
The group is excited to be getting closer to the big destination of Mexico. With a small taste of Mexico yesterday and more tomorrow, the group is eager to experience more of this much talked about country. But for now we remain in Arizona, where the days are beautiful, and the nights are cold and clear.
We miss everyone very much and hope that life in New England goes on without us and that you don’t miss us too much.
To those of you at The Compass School, how does it feel to have a 4th of the school gone?
Love and Peace
The Junior Class, Staff and Emmy