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this is francisco. i would guess he's around 60 years old and he works primarily in tending goats that are used for various purposes. however, he is also a prominent leader in his community, Tamaula, made up of about 50 families, in which the most prominent problem is the lack of a clean water source. (the goats were donated, partly through the work of the foundation i'm working with.)

francisco founded Tamaula when he was 18. i imagine he hiked up this hill, with a few other people and the few animals he had, and began living. there were no roads. in fact, there was no road up to the community from the nearest highway until about 5 years ago. when the director of the foundation first went to see it, she had to go on donkey. (11 years ago.)

over the years, things had their ups and downs in the community. and at times, Francisco had to migrate to the states. and he depicts it like that: if things were going well and he could support his family, he didn't have to migrate. but, when things weren't going as well, he was forced to go.

he told us of one trip at some point in the 90s, which began with the dangerous hike through the desert with a coyote for guidance. most of us can have NO idea how horrible of a journey that is. many people go with the understanding that they may die, but figure they have very little to live for anyways, so it's worth a try. how many of us (people reading this blog) can even understand that mind set? there is an amazing organization i'm learning about called no mas muertes (no more deaths) which works by training volunteers to be in the desert where people typically walk, and giving them water and food to help them survive. one of the guys i'm volunteering with here is going directly from here to work there for a month and has done it before. he's taught me a lot. did you know that the primary strategy of the border control helicopters is to fly close to groups of migrants in the desert so that they scatter, lose each other, and die? these aren't the crazy "minutemen" with rifles (although a lot of them do exist), but rather the employees of the US government.

anyways, back to francisco. when he made it through the desert, he was put into the back of a truck with 40 people. he said it was the most terrifying and painful thing he's ever experienced. he thought for sure he was going to die in the truck. he made it out, and was put on a plane (proof that this was a while ago, and pre-9/11). he didn't speak any english, so he didn't know that the food on the plane was free. he hadn't eaten for 3 days, but he didn't eat it because he didn't have any money.

during that trip, he stayed for a couple years, sending the money back to his family in Tamaula, and returned as soon as he was able. i believe he has gone to the states a total of 3 or 4 times (in the same manner), for a total of 6 or 7 years.

francisco is a very intelligent and eloquent man. he explained clearly that he and his family are very happy in tamaula, they just need to figure out a way to find clean water and buy a tank to store it in. he didn't complain, he wasn't angry, and he offered our group a really delicious lunch.

i don't want to idealize the situation. tamaula isn't perfect. there are issues between francisco's family and the family that owns the other half of the goats. i'm also not proposing a solution to US migration or saying that everyone should be allowed to enter the states. i'm simply trying to offer up a realistic example of a migration story, like the ones i hear every day, rather than many of the things reported in the news of drug-traffic-ers and swine-flu-carriers.

i hope to add more of some of the things i'm learning through the people that live them. thanks for reading.