When I first reached out to the amazing Randy Mayer about volunteering during sabbatical, all I really knew was that people from his church brought water out into the desert for migrants.
Now that I know much more about Samaritans (more info on Samaritans in a future post I promise), I'm aware water drops are just one of their many important activities. But it is definitely one that saves lives.
Today I had the honor of journeying with Peter and Ricardo, along with three college students spending January volunteering at El Comedor. I lost track, but I think we visited eight water drop sites.
The back of the water drop vehicle is stacked with water bottles, blankets and other supplies.
We drove out on incredibly rough roads, at some points traveling on dry riverbeds. The guys were using GPS devices to get us to each remote spot, then we'd hike a bit, often on trails created by migrants (a geology professor had helped the group identify appropriate sites several years ago). At each water drop there would be two overturned milk crates, corralling sealed water jugs. We'd check to see if any of the jugs had been used, and replace as needed, taking any trash with us.
The guys had warned us we might not need to replace any water bottles today. This is a slow season for migration, in part because of how (relatively) cold it is (there was thick frost on the car this morning), along with the increased activity of Border Patrol. But each site is still checked every week or so; volunteers are haunted by the thought that someone near death might find a water site with no remaining water.
As it turns out, one of the sites had been accessed in the last week.
We saw footprints in the sand as we approached on the trail. Several bottles were missing, with two opened jugs still corralled under the milk crates with their lids screwed back on, one with a little water left in it. Perhaps someone arrived at the site, drank their fill, left the jugs they drank from behind and took two full ones for the journey.
We replaced the jugs, dating the new ones and labeling them "GVS" for Green Valley Samaritans. We added messages of encouragement in Spanish.
We took the open jugs with us. I thought maybe volunteers would refill them for the next trip, but the guys flattened them. These sites are occasionally vandalized - water bottles slashed and emptied, tossed about. They want to do what they can to provide a safe water source, so that means leaving only sealed jugs.
At one of the sites, a blanket was draped in the tree, the same sort we had in the back of the truck and saw wrapped in trash bags. Ricardo said it had probably been left behind as a migrant was getting more and more tired and couldn't carry it anymore.
We visited a memorial site on our way home. According to the story passed along to Samaritans, remains found here belonged to a Vietnam Vet. While he probably would have been eligible for citizenship after serving in the US military, he hadn't completed the process. At some point he'd left the US, perhaps to visit family, then tried to re-enter. The memorial site is near a road; perhaps the man stopped under the tree to wait for a car to pass by. But he wouldn't have known he was at the edge of a dead-end road, one only used occasionally by ranchers. If only there'd been a water drop site closer by. Or reasonable border policy reform.
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