Water Stations

The honored "Group B" went to the water stations today - the first run of the trip. We met with the Humane Borders representative at 7 o'clock in the morning, but we were up at 5:30 with the rest of the group.

We drove down highways and then nasty dirt roads, miles and miles of cactuses (cacti?), mountains with huge, jagged, peaks, and border patrol. We past checkpoints, vans, officers, and warning signs. It's serious business - you can tell that the US has got these people out if FORCE.

We visited four water stations. The first three went off without a hitch, and some were more empty than others. It ended up mostly being driving and then standing while someone checked the level of the water and filled it. However, at the last station, we got our first real look at any resistance to the Humanitarian movements down here.

The barrels of water that Humane Borders placed there were all shot up - someone had opened fire with their shot gun to drain the water and damage the property. The station was reachable only by a road that ran next to a Pecan Orchard (they were trees, I assume orchard is the appropriate word?). The owners of the trees had placed a gate along the road that led to the station, welded completely shut. The truck couldn't get through - we couldn't reach the hose out to the station to refill the new barrels that we had grabbed to replace the destroyed pair.

We ended up moving the station to the other side of the gate. We gathered up the stand, the flag, and the new barrels and marched to the nearest public land - a hill that would hopefully be visible to immigrants hiking by. That WAS a group activity, but it was disheartening to know that the next time the Humane Borders truck drove up to that station the new barrels might be punctured with bullet holes.

Susanne went looking for migrant trash while we were filling the stations. She found a kids piece of clothing. The more time we spend down here, the more apparent the problem becomes.

But for now, we're off to the pool. You better believe we're all looking forward to that.

Have a FANTASTIC day y'all,
Maddie

P.S. Love you, family.