Hello from the US of A

June 29

It is 10:20 AM, and I have arrived in Minneapolis after a 1 and a half hour flight from Winnipeg. My flight to Tucson is less than an hour away.

I will be in Arizona for the next 5 weeks. I am going to be volunteering with a humanitarian/human rights group called No More Deaths. NMD is one of several groups in Arizona that provides food, water and medical aid to Mexican and other mostly South and Latin American migrants coming across the American border illegally to look for work. They do very controversial work.

Mexico is the third largest country in North America. It is also one of the signatories to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) that was passed between political and business leaders in Canada, the United States of America and Mexico in 1994. NAFTA was supposed to make doing business easier for all parties and in theory to raise living standards. While in Canada and the United States the pros and cons are debatable, in Mexico one of the results of the deal was the impoverishment and displacement of millions of Mexican farmers who lost their jobs after rules were passed severely limiting their corn exports to the US and Canada, while forcing Mexico to buy American corn. Millions had to leave their farms and only source of income. NAFTA and other trade agreements between Mexico and other countries in Latin and South America with the States and Canada, as well as conditions imposed by institutions like the World Bank and IMF, resulted among other things in cuts of local government services and aid to farmers as well as lowering of wages in some cases to make business more profitable for Western companies. These measures have greatly contributed to poverty in Mexico and other countries in the region, making it impossible for many to support themselves. Other factors include corruption in these countries.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Mexico and other countries try to cross the border into the US to work so they can make enough money to send home. Most cannot get in legally, and given the choice between not being able to support their families and breaking American immigration laws and crossing the border illegally to work at very low paying jobs by US standards but that will help them support the people back home, they choose the latter. They cross through the Sonora Desert, where thousands make it, other thousands are caught and deported; and hundreds each year die trying to cross. The most common causes of death are dehydration and heatstroke. Others are killed by bandits who prey on them, seeing an easy target. Some die in US Border Patrol custody in disputed circumstances. Victims include men, women and children.

NMD sets up camps in the desert close to the US-Mexican border, and volunteers go out on patrols to look for migrants who are in need of assistance. We do not help anyone cross, as that would be illegal. Migrants are provided with water, food and first aid. The work is legal but very controversial. Many Americans feel the migrants are coming to steal jobs and fear of criminal elements coming across. While it is true that most migrants come simply because they want to work, gangs also do come across the border and drugs are smuggled as well. There is resentment among many towards the migrants and those who help them.

I am here because as a Christian, I am honoured to take up Christ’s call to serve Him- what is done to the hungry and homeless and sick is done to Him directly, as He says in Matthew 25:31-49. Dramatic as this may sound, by meeting the migrants I am given an opportunity to meet Him. That is what He says though and who can pass up an opportunity like that?

I am also here because, like it or not, a major reason people are crossing the border and dying in the desert is the result of American and to a lesser extent, Canadian trade policies. As a citizen of a democratic country, I help elect leaders and in a way therefore share responsibility for their actions. Mexico too is a democracy, but it is a democracy where being too vocal against some government decisions can end in death. Political repression in Mexico is a very grim reality, as reported by groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and other human rights NGOs. We have more opportunity to speak out against exploitation and unfair trade practices and should do so. Therefore I feel obligation to the people who have been made desperate partially because of our decisions.

Thirdly, it is fun to travel.

I am looking forward to this ministry and thank God for being able to do this. My deepest thanks to my family, friends and people from church who have supported and continue to support this through prayer, financial help and encouragement. God bless you.


There will be some differences between this blog and my Israel/Palestine one. Unlike in Jerusalem and the West Bank, I will be having access to my blog only once or twice every week or perhaps every 2 weeks after we head off into the desert early next week. I will write the actual date an entry was written at the top of each blog post in boldletters. Also, it is very likely that most of the migrants we meet will refuse to be photographed.