First thing first, the title is a sentence from one of my favourite songs, "Immigrant Punk", by Gogol Bordello. Check it out if you're into (gypsy) punk/rock! I chose it as a title because today in the comedor (I hadn't talked about it yet, it's the place where i work in the afternoons: migrants can come in between 4 and 7 pm to have a shower, hot food and, in some cases, the possibility to call home), we had a very interesting visit. A group of migrants were bringing along two guitars and amazing voices, so they gave us a private concert after eating. They were singing Christian songs (they were part of a church - surely catholic, but I don't remember exactly which denomination) in spanish...it was really cool (*free spanish lesson* in Mexico, to say "cool!" you can say "chido!" or "padre!". The last one is particularly interesting for me, because it also means "father")!
Now I have completed a whole first week of working with migrants and it's been extremely intense. I wanted to write my posts in a logical order, so the next one was gonna be about getting ready to come here, but I really needed to reflect on my experience tonight...so here I am! Today it was a particularly emotional day as I was, for the first time, in charge of interviews. Let me explain, there's four main areas in the comedor in which volunteers are needed: the kitchen (where you cook and serve the food), roperia (=literally, clothes shop...of course it's not a shop, as everything is for free for migrants), interviews and door.
The door is where the first selections is made: only migrants who are passing through Guadalajara before continuing their journey can come in. The comedor is in a street with a lot of homeless people, so you need to be able to distinguish them. Also, sometimes migrants decide to remain in Guadalajara for a while, but they can't come in to shower and eat more than a few times, so you have to tell them "no" if you realize they're not continuing their journey. The first day I talked with my supervisor here in FM4 Paso Libre, he explained to me that it is important to understand that the organization, as it is small and voluntarily-founded, has its limits and cannot welcome EVERYONE. Sad but true!
When they come to the comedor for the first time (or their first time in this camino, as sometimes they have been deported so they're repeating their journeys), they have to go through an interview before showering and eating. This serves many purposes: it lets us know them better, it is useful for research aimed at improving the protection of human rights, and it gives us the opportunity to know if there has been any abuse, and of which kind. So, today I was at the interviews for the first time. It wasn't easy as my spanish is not so good yet (I know the grammar and everything, but I don't know that many words), but all in all I think nobody complained. However, it really gave me a lot to think about. Sooo many of the migrants just took it for granted that in their camino, it was normal for them to be robbed and to be pointed guns at. When asked "have you been victim of a crime?", they might often say "no", but then once you talk to them a bit more they'll tell you that one night, as they were waiting for the train, a dozen of armed men with their faces covered robbed them of all their money. And maybe even killed a guy who was travelling with them. Say what???!! Yes, it happened to one of the migrants I interviewed today. What's more, a couple of them told us that the federal police, at the border with Guatemala, asked them for money, otherwise they wouldn't let them come into Mexico. Interestingly, only migration police can deport people, but obviously most (...all?) migrants don't know it, and therefore they pay. It's disgusting and very saddening, but I always try to put on a brave face, as obviously I am not the only one who witnessed these things in person, so I don't really have anything to complain about compared to the people I'm talking to.
At the interview we see if they need anything - shoes? a new t-shirt? a hat? - and, if yes, we write it down on a piece of paper that they bring to the roperia. After receiving these things + a towel and a soap, they can go and take a shower. They then have to wash the towel they use (which, I find, is a very intelligent method to do it!) and finally they can go and eat a nice, hot meal, served with some agua fresca (a drink made of water, sugar and some kind of fruit, depending on the type) and/or coffee. Before today I generally worked in the kitchen, and I loved it. You really get the chance to talk to people (yes, you do that in the interviews too, but that's a more formal setting) and you see these big, beautiful smiles when you serve them food.
Well, to (hopefully) cheer you up after all the talk about robbery/human rights violations, let me put a few pictures I took today. All taken in the kitchen area, in the first one you can see three volunteers, in the other two the migrants playing and singing.
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Hopefully next post is gonna be about getting ready for Mexico, but who knows...Vamos a ver! ;) (=we'll see)
Ciao!
Caterina
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