Student Reflections from the Alternative Spring Break Trip

Although this isn’t a typical blog post, we thought it important to share experiences from our group that went on the Alternative Spring Break Trip to San Diego & Tijuana this year. There are profound words here and we pray that all might learn from these reflections & stories! If you want to hear more, join us for pause this week, April 13th at 9pm, as this group will lead and share from their trip.

“Our overall “mission” was to form connections, to develop understanding, and to gain perspective in a time in our history, and the history of others which is extremely turbulent and frequently misunderstood. We get all of our information from the media; this time we got it ourselves.”

“I thought I was traveling to San Diego and Mexico to learn about immigration and deportation, but I ended up learning more about how love and compassion entwines humanity as one. I feel so blessed to share this opportunity with these incredible people.”

“We gave our full attention to our surroundings, to the environment of each place, to the hearts and stories of each person. We did not go there single-mindedly focused on one project and leave ignorantly satisfied. Our trip consisted of learning about anti-immigration and deportation with Enrique, discovering Mexican culture, history, and idealism through the murals of Chicano park, and hearing the stories of migrants and deportees. We are bringing that knowledge back with us, which is exactly what everyone we met asked us to do.”

“A recurring theme that I noticed throughout the trip was family. Deportees often have to leave their families when they return to Mexico. Their wives, husbands, children, and grandchildren are left behind with no way to help their loved one as they start their life over in a far off place. Once a year, on Children’s Day, a select few families have the opportunity to re-unite for a mere two minutes before they have to return to their separate lives on opposite sides of the border.”

“We went with a mindset that we weren’t going to change the world, but to learn what was broken; that we weren’t going to heal people, but to walk with them; we weren’t going to pity the stories of deported men, but to hear them, and laugh with them, too. We don’t deserve pats on the backs or a gold star, but we owe it to others to share what we learned.”