"If you have come to help me, you are wasting your time.
But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,
then let us work together."
-Lilla Watson, Australian Aboriginal Activist
The first time I crossed the border from San Diego into Tijuana, I was sick to my stomach in shock. I remember peering out the van windows as we sped along to our volunteer destination, eyes wide in wonder. I don’t know what was racing faster, my heart or my mind. The economic realities were unlike anything I had ever experienced, and to a high-schooler growing up in middle-class America, the poverty was horrific. I found myself in Mexico, out of the United States for the first time, thinking I had come to help poor people. Ten years later, I realize it was the Mexican families in Tijuana who did more for me than I ever did for them. This August, I will return to Mexico to open the next chapter of my service-immersion commitment; instead of volunteering in Tijuana, I will be working in the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca as a program intern for Esperanza’s invigorating new service-immersion opportunity, working alongside Rio Grande residents and delving into their wisdom and stories, steeped in cultural tradition. I hope you will join me!
I have experienced more love and generosity from strangers in a week’s time in Tijuana, than I have in a lifetime in the United States. By the end of my first week in Tijuana, I felt alive in a way that I had never experienced before. Growing up, I never thought I would be one to travel, but since that first volunteer trip, I have fallen in love with cultural immersion; of both losing and finding myself in the world experiences of others. The families of Tijuana planted in me the seed of cultural sensitivity. They opened me up to a world much larger and brighter and invigorating than my homogeneous hometown. During a second trip to Tijuana with Esperanza, women shared their experiences of working in the maquiladoras, the corporation-owned factories that draw many people to Tijuana in search of work. My image of the “poor people” was replaced with names and faces and stories, giving context to the economic realities I had been so shocked by. While differences in economic realities still exist, that is no longer the lens with which I engage the world. It’s about people; relationships; sharing stories; and breaking bread together. Crossing the border from San Diego into Tijuana this past weekend for Esperanza’s 20th anniversary celebration, I found myself arriving home.
It is from this context that I’m ready to engage in Esperanza work at an even deeper level. No longer do I arrive in expectations of helping poor people; I go because I’ve realized that my personal liberation is bound up with theirs. There is a community of families in the southern state of Oaxaca, Mexico, who have extended an invitation for Esperanza volunteers to work together with their community. To build homes; to laugh and share stories; to learn of their strong indigenous movement; their eco-consciousness; their preservation of tradition in the face of adversity. There is much for me to learn from the people of Oaxaca. The town of Rio Grande where we will be working is rich in natural resources and steeped in cultural tradition. Esperanza has created a fortifying service-immersion opportunity, to work alongside Rio Grande residents and to delve into their wisdom and stories. I cannot wait!
