Thursday, June 30, 2005
Tucson Activities
On Saturday, 25 June 2005, the Arizona Christian Peacemaker Teams Delegation arrived in Tucson. The purpose of our delegation is to observe and report on migrant issues on the Mexico-Arizona border, where, in the past decade, aproximately 3,000 people have died attempting to cross the desert into the US. Upon our arrival in Tucson, we were taken to Southside Presbyterian Church, and for the next few days, we stayed in their fellowship hall. On Sunday, we worshipped at this church and heard Rev. John Fife speak. He soon to retire after 35 years with this church.
Reverend Fife’s sermon focused on the history of the Southside Church during the 1980s. In those years, civil war in El Salvador and Guatemala killed and made refugees of many people. When refugees attempted to enter the US, Southside Presbyterian led the movement to open churches as places of sanctuary. During this time, Southside gave sanctuary to over 13,000 refugees. Eventually, over 200 churches followed Southside in this movement. Today, Southside continues to serve the stranger and leads in the movement to prevent loss of life in the desert.
After worship, the delegation attended, at Southside, a training for No More Deaths, an organization that provides water and medical aid to migrants stuck in the desert. No More Deaths is allowed to transports migrants in medical emergencies to Southside Church, where they can receive medical care.
Monday morning, a history professor at the local community college who is a native Tucsonian Mexican-American briefed the delegation on the history and context of today’s border issues. It was very helpful to hear about how the border came to be what it is today.
We spent lunch on Monday meeting with one of the No More Deaths volunteers, who gave us personal stories about working with in the desert and providing humanitarian aid to migrants. Overall, we are beginning to see the picture of a failed border policy—a policy of increased enforcement and militarization begun in 1994, that has not stopped migrants from crossing, but has increased the chance of death for them.
On Monday afternoon, our delegation drove the two hours from Tucson to Douglas. We were thankful to settle in at the CPT Arizona headquarters. We are looking forward to a full week of learning about border issues in the hot, dry Mexico-Arizona border region.
Reverend Fife’s sermon focused on the history of the Southside Church during the 1980s. In those years, civil war in El Salvador and Guatemala killed and made refugees of many people. When refugees attempted to enter the US, Southside Presbyterian led the movement to open churches as places of sanctuary. During this time, Southside gave sanctuary to over 13,000 refugees. Eventually, over 200 churches followed Southside in this movement. Today, Southside continues to serve the stranger and leads in the movement to prevent loss of life in the desert.
After worship, the delegation attended, at Southside, a training for No More Deaths, an organization that provides water and medical aid to migrants stuck in the desert. No More Deaths is allowed to transports migrants in medical emergencies to Southside Church, where they can receive medical care.
Monday morning, a history professor at the local community college who is a native Tucsonian Mexican-American briefed the delegation on the history and context of today’s border issues. It was very helpful to hear about how the border came to be what it is today.
We spent lunch on Monday meeting with one of the No More Deaths volunteers, who gave us personal stories about working with in the desert and providing humanitarian aid to migrants. Overall, we are beginning to see the picture of a failed border policy—a policy of increased enforcement and militarization begun in 1994, that has not stopped migrants from crossing, but has increased the chance of death for them.
On Monday afternoon, our delegation drove the two hours from Tucson to Douglas. We were thankful to settle in at the CPT Arizona headquarters. We are looking forward to a full week of learning about border issues in the hot, dry Mexico-Arizona border region.
# posted by BrianY @ 9:42 AM 
