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Well, it’s been over a month since being back from Texas, but it feels just like yesterday that we were there.  This trip has drastically changed my perspective of people and life in general.  I hear Spanish and think about the people we came to know along the border.  I hear others talk about immigration in the same way I did before ASB, and it shows me how truly uninformed the public is about what is really going on down south and around the United States.  I’m so glad that I was able to experience this and meet so many amazing people.  I feel connected to this social issue even though I am about one thousand miles away from the wall.  I’m really excited to be working with HSL this April to put on immigration week.  Hopefully we can spread the word about immigration, border corruption, and workers rights to the student body.  It may be cliche or overused, but ASB truly was a life changing experience.  Thank you Amber, executive board, and Maggie for helping make my freshman year an unforgettable one!

Whether it was Sarah’s loud, musical burps, Maggie’s cat noises, the uncountable times our ASB team has bonded on a personal level, or the amount of insight we have gained dealing with all aspects of immigration in the United States. I thought I was decently informed about the issue before the trip, but it turns out that I was vaguely educated.

For starters, San Juan, Texas was very welcoming. I felt at home seeing a vast population of Hispanic people, reading signs in Spanish, feeling the warm, invigorating weather, and – most importantly – eating homemade Mexican food! I appreciated the fact that our learning partner, John-Michael Torres, who works for the non-profit organization LUPE (La Unión del Pueblo Entero) we partnered with, taught us about immigration in the US without sounding politically biased.

I won’t forget the march we did on Martin Luther King Day (how convenient :) ), which was to celebrate and accept individuals of different races, economic backgrounds, citizenship status, and sexual orientation. I was dumbfounded when I realized that it currently takes up to more than 10 years to be granted citizenship/residency here, especially in terms of marriage. Also, I did not realize how privileged and lucky I am after hearing stories from undocumented immigrants who live in “colonias” and strive to attain a college  education.

Witnessing “colonias,” low income communities established outside city limits with large populations of migrant workers, was eye-opening to me. I thought it was cruel and inhumane to see that undocumented immigrants do not have proper plumbing and electricity nor someone to pick-up their trash. The whole time I pondered, “This is the United States?” I honestly felt like I was in a third-world country. It is inspiring that immigrants still try to make the best out of their lives here.

I am eternally grateful for being part of this service-learning project, but I know I can do more by educating students on campus or spreading the word about the impoverished lifestyle in colonias. I hope our team will be able to bring all the experiences we had with LUPE to Lafayette.

Yes, ASB Texas is the most rewarding decision I have made at Lafayette thus far.  I am convinced that I am not finished discovering the impact ASB has had on me after 11 days back in Easton.  On my trip, I learned that the potential rewards of embracing something with every ounce of effort I have.  ASB Texas was so rewarding because I put forth the effort and wanted it to be rewarding.  I can say I have taken that concept home with me and that my life and approach to situations in it have never been better.

I had no idea what to expect while on my way to Texas.  This forced me to dive into the situation with a completely open mind.  I learned so much about Texas and the complications behind immigration in the United States that it has become a top interest in my mind.  I have even found myself reading articles when I come across them to learn more from time to time.  ASB was educational and showed me how much I can do to influence the big issues I will quickly grow up to eventually face directly or indirectly every day.  I learned how much work it takes to truly understand something enough to make an educated decision about it. That has motivated me to want to share my experience with others who do not have a week to spend surrounded with information about an issue for which they are passionate.

Working with locals and hearing their stories to dancing the bachata, I was exposed to a culture I have never truly known.  Aside from the educational benefits, the benefits of cultural awareness have led me to have a greater appreciation for people most different from me.  I could not be happier with the experience in Texas!

Upon showing up at LUPE this morning we were told we would be helping with some maintenance at the office for the morning. While waiting for further instruction, Pancho, the volunteer cook at LUPE, sang the most beautiful song for us in Spanish. He told us we would have to learn the chorus by lunch time so when he sang for us again we could join in. Pancho’s voice was absolutely beautiful and when the song was translated into English for those of us who don’t speak Spanish it became clear that the message of the song was equally as beautiful. Pancho clearly enjoyed singing for us and was so pleased at lunch when we were able to join in. His face lit up and it was impossible not to be moved by his song.

When we began work, some of us painted the inside of a shed, some of us trimmed Agave and removed the thorns, Josh and Eric dug a ditch and Tom rode a tractor around. He asked for ear plugs to drown out the sound and was told LUPE did not have earplugs but they had a sombrero, but that he needed a tan anyway so he could not wear the sombrero. After a few hours of working on maintenance at the office we went to one of the colonias and passed out flyers. Most of the people who we spoke to about LUPE while passing out flyers were very receptive and friendly, which is not at all what some of us had expected.

After passing out a few flyers we returned to LUPE for another awesome lunch cooked by Pancho. Delicious!!! After lunch we began cutting out material and helping to make the flags LUPE will be using during the Caesar Chavez march in March. We helped with the flags until the work day was finished and had a chance to get some Texas BBQ and go dancing. We all had a dance lesson and learned the bachata and then continued to dance  for the next couple of hours. All in all, it was a successful and cheerful day.

Today officially began our week of service with LUPE.  We spent the morning learning about what the organization does, the facts and fictions of immigration, and policy changes taking place in the US with regards to immigration and where it looks like we are headed in the future.  Our education also included a quick trip to “the wall,”  which surprisingly wasn’t actually on the border of Mexico and the US.

LUPE is an organization the gives services in both community organization and individual growth and support.  As we saw yesterday, they are instrumental in creating public awareness around the key issues such as working conditions and immigration in the communities and in local, state, and federal governments.  They also provide tax services, English lessons, and many other services to those in the surrounding communities.

The most eye-opening part of the day was our discussion of immigration.  We began with a quick fact or fiction exercise where we had to guess whether certain statements were true or not.  I found this particularly interesting as I found that many of my prior understandings of immigration and undocumented workers was not entirely true. We talked about how difficult the current process to legally immigrate the the US is and the effect this has on how people decide to come to the country.

Regardless of why or how people make their way into the US, it is impossible to deny that the culture of the country is changing.  While discussing the current legislation being discussed in the government today we talked about the role the growing Latino population is having on the outcome of elections.  It was undeniably a big support in helping President Obama win a second term in office and will most definitely shape the face of politics in the future.  There are sure to be some changes taking place, which will be most necessary, as this issue progresses and the country is once again shaped by the people who choose to call it home.

Eight months ago when I first found out that I would be leading this trip to Texas, the one I saw develop into a real trip from its beginning, I was not at all nervous to be going. Now, as I’m sitting in the airport with my amazing team as we’re waiting to board our plane, I’ve got some minor jitters about the journey we are about to take, but mostly the upmost confidence that we will have a terrific experience.

I’ve taken several service trips in the past couple of years since I started going to Lafayette, two of which were ASB trips, all of which were amazing. There is something about this particular trip, however, that stands out to me as being almost “magical”. Maybe it’s that it’s the first one that I’m leading, or maybe it’s because I’ve never been to Texas before and it seems like an entirely different world. Maybe it is my fantastic team I have the pleasure of spending the week with. Whatever it is, the entire trip seemed to come together in the most perfect way. We’ll get to meet a former Lafayette ASB president who happens to live in the exact city where we’re staying. We’ll also be doing a combination of direct service and educational training, what I think is the best formula for a rewarding ASB experience. We have a solid reorientation plan in place already and we haven’t even started our trip yet. Everything down to the activities we’ve been recommended to do during our down time: visiting a nature preserve, going to the beach, salsa dancing?!?!

I’m so so incredibly excited to see what this week has in store for our team. Whatever minor incidents happen along the way, I’m positive nothing will be able to drop the high bar this trip has set for us. Maybe it’s a mistake to be so sure, but for me, I think believing in a little magic is a good thing.

So excited for Honduras. All packed as of this morning. I am looking forward to my first ASB Trip.