When Wyne Cler from
Denver Colorado heard volunteers were needed, she signed up, booked a flight to
McAllen, and came with her 13-year-old daughter Lucy to the Humanitarian
Respite Center. She did not know what she would be doing, knew her Spanish was
rudimentary, but she knew she wanted to help in any way she could.
As she held and
rocked a baby from Honduras in her arms so the mother could rest, Cler said “We
have to do this. How can we not come?” She knows what it is like to be an
immigrant. Cler was 2 1/2 years old when she came to the United States with her
parents as refugees from Vietnam in 1975. “I don’t care what your politics are;
we have to do the right thing,” she said.
Retirees Steve, 85,
and Ruth Mohyla, 82, from Cypress, Texas also acted on the impulse to help. “We
wanted to do something.” The couple drove down to the Rio Grande Valley and
heard about the Humanitarian Respite Center at their hotel.
Awakened by the
cries of immigrant children who have been separated from their parents, people
locally and from different parts of Texas and the United States have stopped
what they were doing, some taking time off from work, to take action.
We have all been
impacted, shocked that this could happen in our nation, that children could be
used as pawns in a deterrence measure that is cruel and unjust. Bishop Daniel
E. Flores in an early statement said, “the systematic separation of immigrant
parents and children at the border is simply cruel…This nation, for the sake of
its soul, must learn to weep with these children, and all the children who are
being instrumentalized and commodified in our midst.”
As we cry with the
children who must feel lost and alone, we cannot even fathom the long-term
damage this is causing them and our nation. It is heartbreaking to hear the
cries of children who are calling out for their parents. The cries published by
ProPublica are but a glimpse of these dark days. Dr. Amy Cohen, a child
psychiatrist who came from Los Angeles and talked to some of the children and
mothers, estimates that 90 percent of the people who come through the respite
center door have had some type of moderate to severe trauma.
But we find hope in
the midst of tragedy. We find it in each other.
A documentarian who
came to the border to cover the story, asked some good questions that we see
answered here by the response of hundreds, even thousands — “How is God at work
in the midst of this crisis? And how can we see that and participate?”
We see it every day.
Because of our humanity, we look for ways to help a brother and sister in need.
For four years volunteers have helped to keep the Humanitarian Respite Center
open. To date, more than 100,000 immigrant men, women and children have found
rest at the center, which first opened at Sacred Heart Church in McAllen and is
now at a temporary site nearby. Sister Norma Pimentel, with the Missionaries of
Jesus, who oversees the work of the respite center as executive director of
Catholic Charities of the Rio Grande Valley, reminds us we are restoring
people’s dignity with our simple acts of kindness — with a warm welcome,
“Bienvenidos!” a warm meal, a shower, a smile. You can see the transformation
occur within minutes.
While at the respite
center one evening, a nine-month old baby delighted after a fussy spell when
his mother fed him small pieces of carrots and potatoes from a warm bowl of
soup. As she first mashed the pieces between her fingers, she told me this was
his first warm meal in days. Across the room, a three-year-old boy was taking
turns feeding himself and feeding his father with a spoon. Witnessing these
simple moments, filled me with joy, and with a renewed energy to do more.
God is certainly at
work daily through the volunteers from here in the Rio Grande Valley who help
year round and from the volunteers who are coming from Los Angeles, Laredo,
Dallas, Kansas City, Toledo Ohio, New York City, New Jersey and countless other
locations. They all have come in response to a spontaneous desire to help in
some way.
We are witnessing
“an extra measure of cariños and solidarity as an expression of support” said
one volunteer coordinator. This is evident in the overwhelming response from
people from across the nation, via donations, prayers and volunteering.
Four years ago, when
Sister Norma asked the parish priest to borrow the parish hall for a few days,
no one imagined it would continue this long. The days, weeks, months ahead are
filled with uncertainty in regard to the different immigration realities, but
we cannot lose hope. In the words of Bishop Flores, we must continue “as a
community to pray for families and children affected by this enforcement
policy, and that our country’s laws be crafted and administered with human
compassion.”
What we are doing,
taking action with our prayers and fasting, by speaking up and contacting our
leaders, by staying informed, by donating, by volunteering, is the visible
reality of God at work in our midst.
Even children of all
ages are doing what they can. One group of children from San Francisco sent a
bundle of cards with hand drawn pictures and messages. “Sending love from San
Francisco” read one written in crayons. An older child wrote, “les
quería enviar un cariño mensaje de apoyo y solidaridad....Todo el país está
pensando en ustedes y no les van a dejar solos.” “Eres bienvenido aquí. Estamos contigo.”
At a prayer vigil on
June 20, Bishop Flores said, “We recognize that God puts us on the road that
other people travel so that we might help them. That is the spirit of this
walk. That God puts us really today on the road that helps to be servants of
those who walk....”
A nine-year-old from
Dallas, Sean Bertram, who came with his father to the respite center, served
water his first day to thirsty immigrants who had just arrived. He said it was
his first volunteer experience, and his best decision ever. “It’s the least I
can do,” he said. His example reminds us all that we can each do something.
(Originally
published in July 2018 edition of The Valley Catholic newspaper)
