By Ryan Kees
Meeting at 4 a.m. outside OVS on the first morning of Spring Break doesn't sound like the best start to the holiday, but the 17-strong Border Plunge team had no idea of the treat that they were in for. Transported by the controversially named vehicles Thrasher, Cloud-Fairy, and Betty, the team made their way from Portland to Tijuana. Stops at Stockton and San Diego broke up the 20 hour drive, giving the team an opportunity to hang with Border Patrol, learn what a 'fence' actually is, and to crash a Filipino baptism.
Spreading across two Salesian community center sites in the city, we helped build support for a football (soccer) pitch, lay cement, paint items at the schools, and carry out whatever manual labor was needed. This involved fighting off fearsome tarantulas and engaging with many other 'niños del terror.' Several epic games of footy with the local kids and builders also provided us with much laughter (especially when you score a goal with your face) and lots of sore muscles! I believe everyone else on the team would agree with me when I say that this was the best week of food of our lives. Local families took us in each day and provided us with five-star, waited service, and the most awesome food you could imagine. Sometimes we were even entertained with break dancing lessons.
We had the pleasure of hanging out at a shelter for those who had been recently deported from the USA, perhaps after living in the States for 20-plus years, with kids, families and lives still remaining across the border. The stories we heard were wrenching, and somehow just didn't seem to match up with the 'service' that Border Patrol suggested that they provided. Along a section of the wall (or 'fence' as Border Patrol would say) is a monument dedicated to those who have been lost trying to cross the border in order to better their lives and provide for their family. It was littered with crosses, some ranging from the age of three upwards, and some which simply read 'no identificado.'
We got the chance to compare life on each side of the border through important, personal reflection and via our adoption by local families. None of us will forget the time we spent on the beach, on each side of the border, and how the atmospheres once again just didn't seem to match at all. All in all, the Border Plunge left us completely blessed and completely disturbed. We'll never forget the friends we made, the love we found, the fun we had, or the lessons we learned. I just wish I was here next year to do it all over again!
