Thursday, April 16, 2009
Six KU students decided to drive down to southern Arizona this spring break to do volunteer work for a local humanitarian aid organization, No More Deaths. The non-profit organization works to prevent the deaths of migrants crossing the U.S./Mexico border through the heavily traveled Tucson corridor by leaving food and water on the trails. They also provide medical aid to anyone in need. The program for the students was organized through Alternative Spring Breaks at the University.
Juan, a hopeful migrant, said he and his group thought they knew where Tucson was, but they didn’t. They had been hiking in the desert for four days, the last two of which they spent separated from their group, lost and with very little food and no drinkable water. They ate just one meal a day in the morning: three tortillas and a small amount of beans. They drank cattle water for the last few days, even though they knew it was bad for them. “We had no choice,” Juan said. “We were thirsty.”
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No More Deaths
No More Deaths is a volunteer organization in Arizona that provides food, water, and first aid to migrants found in the desert.
They hadn’t seen anybody during all four days of hiking. They thought about just turning themselves in and facing the consequences, rather than risking death from exposure in the desert; a reality many seem to acknowledge as a possible ending when crossing.
In the safety of the first aid tent, the migrants might have been thinking that if they hadn’t encountered No More Deaths in the middle of the desert, they would have had to turn themselves in for deportation. The reality, though, is that they likely would have died.
KU student Mohammad Basit, Lawrence freshman, decided to spend his spring break helping No More Deaths carry water to drop points on migrant trails. He was one of the volunteers who found Juan and his group. He said that at first he was apprehensive about the group of migrants.
“You’re always seeing the negative side first,” Basit said. “I thought for a second they might be dangerous.”
But he said his perception quickly changed. “They are just innocent people trying to make money for their families,” he said, “and that’s why they are traveling to the U.S.”
Many who choose to make the crossing don’t know how difficult the walk through the desert is and are often lied to by coyotes, people who make money by guiding groups. The organization found Roberto, a grandfather in his 50s, alone in the desert on March 19. He had been told it was a 10-hour hike to Tucson from the border. When No More Deaths located Roberto, he was still 63 miles from Tucson, barely able to walk and nearly out of food and water.
— — Photos and text by Jon Goering
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Comments
Students aid humanitarian cause
I'm pretty sure they were helping people who are lost and dying in the desert. If you aren't able to see people helping other people, then woe is you I'm afraid...
Students aid humanitarian cause
They are just doing the dying in the desert that other Americans won't do.
Still pretty sure it is illegal to help people ILLEGALLY enter the country.
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