Students' Experiences
Ian Smith-Overman
Ian Smith-Overman (Latin American Studies, 2009) traveled to Guanajuato, Mexico with support from the Julia Crane Award to study crime against Latino immigrants living in the United States. His journey began when he boarded a bus for a 47 hour trip to Dolores Hidalgo, a city in the Mexican state of Guanajuato. The bus trip put him face to face with recent trends in return migration, where he met individuals who had been living and working throughout the Southeast. From roofers and tile workers to orange harvesters and grandmothers visiting newborns, he was able to witness the joys and anxieties that come with returning home after living abroad. In Mexico, he interviewed individuals who had been living in Texas, North Carolina, and Tennessee about their experiences living as immigrants in the United States. He was particularly interested in their experiences with U.S. law enforcement, perceptions of crime and racial relations with other minorities. He plans to continue working on this issue and to conduct further interviews with North Carolina-based immigrants and local law enforcement officials.
Tessa Bialek
INTS 390: Latin American migrant perspectives:Ethnography and action
3 credit course taught in the Spring semester
ASB MEXICO TRAVEL LOG
Day One, Friday March 7th:
We arrived at RDU early in the morning for our flights to Dallas and Leon, Mexico. Unfortunately, a snow storm in Dallas meant that our flight had been cancelled. After more than six hours in the airport, we returned home for three days until our rescheduled flights the next Monday.
Day One, Monday March 10th:
After arriving to the Leon airport, we made our way to Tamaula, a very small, rural town about an hour from the nearest city via bumpy, mountain roads. Tamaula is home to around 55 families, and has no running water, mail service, or internet. We were greeted in Tamaula by the members of a group called ‘Projuve’. Projuve includes boys and girls between the ages of 15 and 18 who are making use of donated computers and a university in nearby Irapuato to attend a make-shift ‘Prepa’ school. Prepa is the schooling that comes between secondary school and university. Prior, Tamaula had no way for students to continue their education after secondary school. Now, these students are working hard to enable ‘Prepa’ studies so that they might continue their education at the university level. It was inspiring to see their motivation and hard work. We spent the night with families in Tamaula.
Day Two, Tuesday March 11th:
The big event of the day was a ceremony recognizing the achievements of Projuve, and laying the first brick for a Prepa school to be built in Tamaula. When the Prepa school in Tamaula is completed, the students will be able to have a more effective and efficient way to complete their studies without commuting, as they do now twice a week. We ate an enormous lunch with the entire community. In the evening, we went door to door in Tamaula with surveys designed to understand the needs of the community. From the surveys, I learned that very few people in Tamaula have a source of income, except those with relatives that work in the United States. Fortunately for the residents of Tamaula, many of the men who work in the United States do so with temporary guest worker visas. This legal working status enables them to spend several months a year working in the United States to earn money, while being able to return to spend time with their families as well. This likely enhances the strong sense of community and hope that we felt in Tamaula, something that was not the case in other places we visited.
Day Three, Wednesday March 12th:
Today we left Tamaula for Guanajuato city, the capital of the state of Guanajuato. Upon arrival, we met with a women’s rights activist named Veronica Cruz Sanchez. She works as an advocate for women in Guanajuato, and explained to us the deficiencies in policies supporting women’s rights. Veronica noted that women are often victims of violence and rape, but they have little legal or social recourse. When asked how she came to dedicate her life to helping others, she responded, “Me encanta tener la capacidad de enojarme cuando escucho de injusticias”. This translates to ‘I love having the capacity to get angry when I hear of injustices’. We left her office feeling inspired by the ability of one person to have such a powerful presence and make a difference in the lives of others. Afterwards, we met Adriana Cortés Jiménez, the head of Fundación Comunitaria del Bajío. Her organization supports communities like Tamaula that are struggling to develop and thrive in the wake of poverty and mass migration. She works closely with members of these towns on community building projects. It was inspiring to hear her talk about her work in these communities, but frustrating to learn about the difficulties faced by families like the ones we had met in Tamaula. At the end of the day, we were motivated to action by people like Veronica and Adriana, but a bit daunted by the enormity of the issues we were being exposed to.
Day Four, Thursday, March 13th:
After a morning of exploring Guanajuato City, we headed to El Gusano, another small rural town greatly affected by migration. Unlike in Tamaula, the majority of migrants from El Gusano don’t have temporary worker visas. Thus, they are unable to easily visit their families and many spend years in the United States without returning. Thus, many children in the town are growing up without fathers or mothers or both. We met one boy who had not seen his parents since infancy. A woman we spoke to remarked that every single family in El Gusano has a family member working in the United States. She expressed frustration towards a system that seems ambivalent: occasionally, a beloved family member will get deported, which enables them to return to El Gusano to be with their families, however, employers in the United States call them back. Employment is waiting for them in a country whose laws are against them. El Gusano seemed to lack some of the hope that was so present in Tamaula. This was discouraging for us to see. However, two of our group members plan on returning with another group of students this summer to work in conjunction with Adriana’s organization on community projects. This will undoubtedly benefit the community, creating sustainable projects in which members of the community can become invested.
Day Five, Friday, March 14th:
We spent today in Celaya, a source community for many of the migrants in Chapel Hill and Carrboro. We were shown around by local Rotarians, who have given money in conjunction with North Carolina Rotarians to various projects in the Celaya community. First, we went to a school where the Rotarians had donated a computer lab. Many children in the school have one or both parents working in the United States, which can be very disruptive to their home lives. Next, we visited a school where the Rotarians had built new bathrooms. The old bathrooms had no doors or toilet seats, and many students would go home when they had to use the bathroom, disrupting their school day. The new bathrooms had running water and sparkling new toilets. Local moms cooked a celebration meal that we all shared. One woman was wearing a ‘Carolina Dining Services’ apron, a gift from her husband who had worked for UNC during his time in the United States. Finally, we visited a community in which the Rotary Club provides medical services. While it was great to see the collaboration between North Carolina and Celayan Rotarians on important projects within the communities, it was also enlightening and disheartening to note the vast needs of the communities we visited. Of the available jobs for members of these communities, few pay enough to sustain a family. Thus, extreme poverty leaves little choice for families and many people migrate to the United States. This is not an ideal situation for the families. Instead, migration serves to separate families, which creates a new set of problems for the communities.
Day Six, Saturday, March 15th:
Today, we met with a doctor at a clinic in Celaya. Dr. Mariano explained that migration is a public health issue. He pointed to the extremely high rates of obesity in Mexico today. He said, “The farmer comes to the city and sells his milk to buy coca cola”. This illustrates an interesting phenomenon happening in Mexico: as people move from rural to urban environments and strive to achieve economic success, their eating patterns change. Beans and vegetables are considered food of the poor, successful marketing promotes unhealthy foods, and it has become a sign of economic status to be overweight. This has led to immense public health problems. The clinic doubled as an orphanage, and many children whose parents live in the United States spend their time there. They are able to go home on weekends, both to see their families (often grandparents who can’t care for them full time) and to encourage healthy habits in their home communities. The visit to the clinic highlighted the far reaching impact of migration on the communities we visited.
Day Seven, Sunday, March 16th:
Our cab ride to the airport introduced us to Jorge, an interesting character who had spent 8 months working construction in Texas. He described a phenomenon we had heard a lot about – men and women taking other partners while separated by migration from their spouses, which leads to increased rates of STDs as well as emotional difficulties. Jorge told us that he had “left his heart in Texas”, and sung a rousing rendition of “Leaving on a Jet Plane” as he dropped us off in the Leon Airport. This seemed a fitting conclusion to the complexities of migration that we observed during our week in Guanajuato, Mexico.
