Life on the Border Essay -- Personal Narrative Mexico Immersion Trip E

Life on the BorderI used to be a person who was hung up on material possessions. I was evermore wanting more, never satisfied with what I had. Whenever I would go to the mall, I would want boththing that I saw. If I had money I would always overhaul it. I was constantly buying things that I didnt need or only used once. I felt a similar(p) I was ill-starred because I didnt have a new verbotenfit every week, and I couldnt get a new pair of billet every time I walked out the door, but that all changed the summer of my junior year. I was chosen, along with nine other girls from my school, to go on a border immersion trip to Juarez, Mexico. Our teacher, Mrs.Hartrich, thought that it would be a good idea if we would all get unitedly at least once a week to learn more round what it was akin to live on the border. But, no matter how many times we got together or how many books we read, nothing could have prepared me for what I was way out to experience while I was down at that patch. We left on June 13 on a plane headed for El Paso, Texas. We would be staying at the Loretto School, our infant school, and then every morning we would cross over the border into Ciudad Juarez and go work at a daycare center, Centro del Spiritu Sanctu. Our first day there we didnt go to the daycare center, instead we met some friends of Mrs. Hartrichs, Betty and Peter. They live in Juarez, and what they do is table service out the mountain in their community. They also help people who are coming down from the United States to help out for the first time or people who are coming book binding from Central or South America and need a place to stay before heading back to the United States. Betty told us about the maquilladoras. They are sweatshops that a lot of big corporations in America, like N... ...illadoras, and I now do most of my shopping in thrift stores. I take account what I have more and I dont mind not having a new outfit every day. The people I met while on the trip have given me a better understanding of what life is really like on the border. I try to make other people aware of what life is like in Mexico, because sometimes the best form of help is education. Because of my work at the daycare I now enjoy the simpler things in life, and I appreciate more the little everyday things that I used to take for granted, like running water. The children at the daycare center taught me a very distinguished lesson simplicity is the key to happiness. There is one thing that has stuck out in my mind ever since the trip, Rueban, a man who ran a refugee center in El Paso, told us, The poor dont need us, we need the poor. I will never forget that as long as I live.