WEBVTT - The Importance of Mutual Aid Work on the Border 0:00:01.760 --> 0:00:02.880 Cause media. 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.560 Hey everyone, it's James. I am just recording an introduction 0:00:07.680 --> 0:00:11.000 for today's episode, which we recorded on Sunday night. I'm 0:00:11.000 --> 0:00:13.400 recording this on Monday night and you will hear this 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.599 on Tuesday morning. That's Tuesday, the twenty eighth of November. 0:00:17.760 --> 0:00:21.280 I just wanted to include another ask for donations right 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.640 up front here, because we are tired, broke and sad. 0:00:26.360 --> 0:00:28.440 I spent last night sleeping out by the migrant camp 0:00:28.600 --> 0:00:34.040 in Nocumber, one of the camps. It was extremely cold 0:00:34.080 --> 0:00:35.519 like and I had a good sleeping bag, right it 0:00:35.560 --> 0:00:38.960 must have been much much worse for people have blankets. 0:00:39.280 --> 0:00:43.440 I had a young woman completely breaking down and crying 0:00:43.800 --> 0:00:46.839 this morning, understandably because it's terrible and people have been 0:00:46.840 --> 0:00:49.839 there for five six days now. We ran out of 0:00:50.000 --> 0:00:53.760 food all our distribution sites today. We just desperately need 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:58.200 more help and we need a much larger scale operation, 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:01.080 but we can't find that. So if you're able to help, 0:01:01.120 --> 0:01:03.240 please please do. I know it's a difficult time of year. 0:01:03.920 --> 0:01:05.920 I'm not asking you to give money that I wouldn't give. 0:01:06.280 --> 0:01:10.479 I'm thousand plus dollars deep in this. I'm not asking 0:01:10.520 --> 0:01:13.479 you to do things that I wouldn't do spending half 0:01:13.520 --> 0:01:17.920 my week out there. Like I'm not just preaching something 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:20.080 that I am not part of. Is something I'm very 0:01:20.160 --> 0:01:21.600 much part of. Some think it's very important to me 0:01:21.640 --> 0:01:23.679 and it would mean a lot to me if people 0:01:23.720 --> 0:01:27.200 could help however they can, either materially or with their time. 0:01:27.880 --> 0:01:33.880 Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the episode. 0:01:35.680 --> 0:01:35.880 Hi. 0:01:35.959 --> 0:01:39.360 Hello, it's me James, the guy who does podcasts who 0:01:39.400 --> 0:01:42.400 talks to you when you're driving to work, and today 0:01:43.120 --> 0:01:45.039 on this podcast it Could Happen Here, which is about 0:01:45.040 --> 0:01:47.040 the world falling apart and people who are putting it 0:01:47.120 --> 0:01:49.960 back together. I am joined by two friends of mine. 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.360 We are in the desert in a Cumber at the 0:01:52.400 --> 0:01:55.920 Cumba Hot Springs Hotel, which is open now thankfully. We've 0:01:55.960 --> 0:02:00.560 just spent most of today and the last two months 0:02:01.280 --> 0:02:04.240 doing mutual aid project out here. So if you guys 0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:06.840 like to introduce yourselves in any way you think is relevant, 0:02:06.920 --> 0:02:08.080 that would be great to start off with, and then 0:02:08.120 --> 0:02:09.520 we can talk about what's been going on here. 0:02:10.400 --> 0:02:14.200 I am have aal I use the them pronouns. I 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:19.320 live in San Diego but now currently living in Harcumber 0:02:20.120 --> 0:02:24.120 helping out with the migrant crisis at the border. 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:30.960 Hi, I'm alo like alo Vera, I use she her pronouns, 0:02:31.200 --> 0:02:35.079 And I've been doing mutual aid for a couple of 0:02:35.160 --> 0:02:40.600 years now and recently have come into the scene of 0:02:40.639 --> 0:02:42.680 helping with the refugee crisis at the border. 0:02:43.160 --> 0:02:46.600 Massive thank you, Okay. So I think to start off with, 0:02:47.600 --> 0:02:49.440 can one of you or both of you describe just 0:02:49.440 --> 0:02:53.679 what we've seen today. I think it's very hard for 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.200 people to get a grasp of how the scale of 0:02:56.200 --> 0:02:59.359 what's happening and how bad it is here. 0:02:59.720 --> 0:03:00.200 Yeah. 0:03:00.240 --> 0:03:04.920 So today we are in the wake of a holiday 0:03:06.240 --> 0:03:10.600 where c BP takes off, well most of them are 0:03:10.639 --> 0:03:14.359 taking off for the holiday, and probably what is it 0:03:14.480 --> 0:03:17.040 iss action as well, who picks up the migrants. So 0:03:17.440 --> 0:03:20.920 there's a huge backlog of people not getting picked up, 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:24.920 stuck in these open air detention sites. And this is 0:03:25.000 --> 0:03:26.760 some of the highest numbers that we've seen in a 0:03:26.800 --> 0:03:29.160 long time since like the beginning of this what happened 0:03:29.160 --> 0:03:34.160 in September, right, Yeah, and it's insane, like the amount 0:03:34.200 --> 0:03:36.800 of people that we were running out of food. Basically 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:39.680 we barely made it by on peanut butter and jelly sandwich, 0:03:39.680 --> 0:03:41.200 the world famous peanut butter. 0:03:43.320 --> 0:03:46.320 Because we feed them they just want the sandwich. 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:48.200 And it was wild. 0:03:48.280 --> 0:03:52.280 It was It's it's like the desperation is getting worse 0:03:52.360 --> 0:03:55.640 because as it gets colder, you know, people are suffering more. 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:59.160 They're you know, shivering more, so it's using more energy. 0:03:59.200 --> 0:04:01.520 They're more hungry when we show up there tailing our 0:04:01.640 --> 0:04:04.760 van as we pull up, which doesn't didn't always happen, 0:04:05.440 --> 0:04:07.680 And yeah, the desperation is real. 0:04:08.440 --> 0:04:12.160 We saw what like three sixty I. 0:04:12.080 --> 0:04:15.280 Think at one camp Willows and then at another camp 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:20.480 it was one fifty at another camp totally what seven 0:04:20.880 --> 0:04:21.560 math is hard? 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:24.880 Yeah, yeah, and it varies throughout the day, right, Like 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:28.479 I'm surprised. We should explain, maybe Ali can do this. 0:04:28.880 --> 0:04:31.200 What is it open at detention site? 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:31.360 Right? 0:04:31.360 --> 0:04:33.840 Oads is yacarnoon we use What does that look like? 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:37.600 So an opener detention center from what I've seen, is 0:04:38.360 --> 0:04:42.440 literally just people left out in the desert with nothing. 0:04:43.000 --> 0:04:46.720 The shelter that they have has either been built themselves 0:04:46.800 --> 0:04:50.680 by the shrubs and you know, the manzanita bushes that 0:04:50.680 --> 0:04:53.560 they find around there that they also burn, which creates 0:04:53.760 --> 0:04:57.640 awful smoke, as well as what we provide them in 0:04:57.720 --> 0:05:01.479 terms of tarps, blankets, tents. What I've seen in the 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:07.240 open air detention centers is essentially when Border Patrol has 0:05:07.360 --> 0:05:09.120 the start of a quarter, they have the money to 0:05:09.880 --> 0:05:12.440 really get people out of there. You have a lot 0:05:12.480 --> 0:05:17.200 of people just processed very quickly. It doesn't pile up. 0:05:17.600 --> 0:05:19.880 And then because of that, all the infrastructure that we 0:05:19.960 --> 0:05:23.400 put into these places, and all of the infrastructure that 0:05:23.400 --> 0:05:26.720 these refugees build themselves, right this is not provided by 0:05:26.760 --> 0:05:31.039 Border Patrol, gets basically ruined. And so you have soiled 0:05:31.080 --> 0:05:34.240 blankets that have become the tops of tents because that's 0:05:34.279 --> 0:05:34.920 their only use. 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:35.520 At this point. 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.680 You have not enough shelters, so people are sleeping just 0:05:39.800 --> 0:05:42.320 among the rocks and trees because it's the best they can. 0:05:43.839 --> 0:05:47.880 And I think one of the most notable points of 0:05:47.920 --> 0:05:52.839 these open air detention centers is legally speaking, Border Patrol 0:05:52.839 --> 0:05:56.039 gets around this by not really calling them detention centers, 0:05:56.080 --> 0:05:59.000 saying that they're not detained and that technically they're free. 0:05:59.120 --> 0:06:01.920 But the reality is there's nowhere for them to go 0:06:02.000 --> 0:06:07.719 without getting you know, arrested or deported. But because of 0:06:07.760 --> 0:06:10.400 this loophole, Border Patrol has no obligation to feed them, 0:06:10.440 --> 0:06:12.479 and so when they do feed them at the start 0:06:12.480 --> 0:06:14.360 of the quarter when they have the budget at which 0:06:14.400 --> 0:06:19.000 they blow. It's oranges, it's crackers. It's not enough to 0:06:19.120 --> 0:06:22.480 live off of when you're stuck there for five days. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:27.080 I spoke to a Kurdish migrant today who had been 0:06:27.120 --> 0:06:30.560 there for five days. And you know, we've heard of 0:06:30.640 --> 0:06:33.760 people staying there for an entire week, just stuck in 0:06:33.800 --> 0:06:36.760 these camps as they overflow with people because they're not 0:06:36.880 --> 0:06:39.600 cleared due to whether it be a holiday season or 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.200 whatever it might be that puts us in this circumstance. 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:45.880 Yeah, and obviously most people won't have been here. You 0:06:45.920 --> 0:06:47.560 can look on a map or Google Maps that you 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.000 want to, but all of this is happening like literally 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:52.279 in the shadow of the border wall in some cases, 0:06:52.360 --> 0:06:54.680 or right next to the border wall. Sometimes it's a 0:06:54.680 --> 0:06:57.960 little bit next, a little bit further away. And just 0:06:58.240 --> 0:07:00.960 to explain why there are these where they eye you, 0:07:00.960 --> 0:07:03.080 guys want to explain like how people are getting to 0:07:03.279 --> 0:07:06.200 the because cir Cumber. If you've got Google Maps, if 0:07:06.240 --> 0:07:08.240 you're not driving, like, you can put it up and 0:07:08.240 --> 0:07:09.600 you can look right, we're like an hour and a 0:07:09.600 --> 0:07:12.240 bit east of San Diego, at seventy miles east of 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:15.280 San Diego closer to El Centro in San Diego. So 0:07:15.280 --> 0:07:17.600 can you explain how people are ending up here by 0:07:17.760 --> 0:07:18.960 the hundreds of thousands. 0:07:19.120 --> 0:07:19.680 Yeah, so. 0:07:21.160 --> 0:07:24.000 Talk to many migrants and they stay in a hotel 0:07:24.080 --> 0:07:27.160 in TJ. I have no idea which one, and wouldn't 0:07:27.200 --> 0:07:30.640 give that information if I did, but they, Yeah, they 0:07:30.680 --> 0:07:34.080 stay in a hotel in TJ. And they get separated 0:07:34.080 --> 0:07:37.240 by nationality. So the Coyotes take their passports from them 0:07:37.360 --> 0:07:40.280 and put them in stacks and separate them by their nationalities. 0:07:40.360 --> 0:07:43.440 So you'll get you know, Chinese nationalists together, You'll get 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:46.760 people that are from Turkey together, mostly Kurdish, and. 0:07:46.720 --> 0:07:48.840 Then you'll get whatever their nationality is. 0:07:48.880 --> 0:07:51.480 And I'm sure the outliers get just lumped into whatever 0:07:51.560 --> 0:07:56.040 is the most you know, like group, yeah, language group exactly. 0:07:56.640 --> 0:07:59.320 And then they get in the morning, I guess that 0:07:59.560 --> 0:08:02.760 like five or six am, they drive all the way 0:08:02.760 --> 0:08:05.920 out from TJ to Hkamba and get dropped off at 0:08:06.120 --> 0:08:08.840 there's three points where there's breaks in the walls. And 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.720 these walls obviously they don't go over the mountains because 0:08:12.760 --> 0:08:16.800 Trump was trying to build distance rather than actual stopping people, 0:08:16.880 --> 0:08:20.400 and so these breaks in the walls are very easy 0:08:20.480 --> 0:08:21.120 to cross. 0:08:21.200 --> 0:08:22.720 It's literally just walking over. 0:08:22.800 --> 0:08:26.119 There was some remnants of concertina wire or bob wire 0:08:26.200 --> 0:08:29.000 like in the area, but it's all ripped and super 0:08:29.040 --> 0:08:29.800 easy to cross. 0:08:29.840 --> 0:08:32.120 And so the. 0:08:31.920 --> 0:08:36.679 Coyotes will drop them off near or bits away from 0:08:36.720 --> 0:08:39.640 that point and have them walk in when that's where 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.559 border patrol. After they cross, border patrol will intercept them 0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:45.280 give them wristbands for the day they arrived. We actually 0:08:45.280 --> 0:08:47.000 just saw this last week. They must have ran out 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:51.040 of wristbands because they were giving like Sunday wristbands when 0:08:51.040 --> 0:08:54.000 it was like a Wednesday. Yeah, everybody saying fuck like 0:08:54.640 --> 0:08:57.120 and that makes our job more complicated too. Not only 0:08:57.160 --> 0:08:59.640 their job, I'm sure, because they're trying to process them 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.079 in order, but our job because we're trying to record 0:09:02.120 --> 0:09:03.559 how long have people been here. I remember I was 0:09:03.600 --> 0:09:06.080 talking to a Chinese nationalist and had to call a 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:08.360 translator just to see like because they had a Sunday 0:09:08.360 --> 0:09:11.560 wristband and I think it was Tuesday or something already, 0:09:12.160 --> 0:09:13.959 and I was like, wait, you got you've been here 0:09:14.000 --> 0:09:16.560 for two days. And they were like like trying to 0:09:16.600 --> 0:09:18.800 explain what the language barrier wants. The translated like, no, 0:09:18.840 --> 0:09:20.840 we got here three hours ago. We kept thinking they 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:23.520 got here three days ago. They kept showing the number 0:09:23.520 --> 0:09:26.200 three on their hands, and so, yeah, they give them 0:09:26.240 --> 0:09:28.400 these wristbands and then tell them to wait in these 0:09:28.480 --> 0:09:31.479 areas that are very close to where they are intercepted, 0:09:32.120 --> 0:09:35.360 and Border patrol will tell them there's cameras all over 0:09:35.360 --> 0:09:38.760 the desert, we're watching you, so don't leave, and if 0:09:38.800 --> 0:09:41.079 you leave, it'll mess up your migro process or your 0:09:41.160 --> 0:09:44.040 asylum process, and so they most of them stay. We've 0:09:44.080 --> 0:09:46.760 actually have seen a lot of people walking on the 0:09:46.800 --> 0:09:50.080 eighty here trying to get to town because they're desperate, 0:09:50.120 --> 0:09:53.040 they're cold, they're hungry, and they're probably just like fuck this, 0:09:53.440 --> 0:09:56.720 you know. But it's interesting too, how like border patrol 0:09:57.080 --> 0:10:00.520 in all media aspects denies the existence of the camps. 0:10:00.760 --> 0:10:03.640 Yeah, they're not explicitly to me right later, they don't exist, 0:10:03.760 --> 0:10:06.200 or they don't detain people people that they what they'll 0:10:06.200 --> 0:10:08.600 say to people aren't detained here, that they're free to go. 0:10:09.000 --> 0:10:11.400 Which technically they are and they can walk. 0:10:11.440 --> 0:10:15.280 But I had a Kurdish friend that I met at 0:10:15.280 --> 0:10:17.800 one of the camps that we call Moon Camp, and 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:21.720 twenty year old from Turkey, and he said that him 0:10:21.720 --> 0:10:23.840 and a bunch of friends that he was traveling with 0:10:24.360 --> 0:10:27.120 just walked to the subway up the street, got a 0:10:27.160 --> 0:10:30.120 subway sandwich, and then border patrol showed up after they 0:10:30.120 --> 0:10:32.560 had ordered their food, yeah, and said you have to 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:35.120 go back with us, but finish your food here, because 0:10:35.160 --> 0:10:37.880 imagine them walking in was being taken back with subway 0:10:37.880 --> 0:10:39.560 sandwiches and be like, oh, we can just leave and 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.880 get out of here. Like so they just finished their 0:10:41.880 --> 0:10:43.760 sandwiches and then he took them straight back. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:47.040 So that is detention. If you can't leave, then you're 0:10:47.040 --> 0:10:49.240 in detention. That's the debt. By definition. 0:10:49.320 --> 0:10:51.480 I feel like, yeah, and I don't think people think 0:10:51.480 --> 0:10:53.680 they are free to leave. And I don't think people 0:10:53.960 --> 0:10:58.520 certainly they're not told what situation they were in, right, 0:10:58.559 --> 0:11:01.160 I think that maybe they would assume that, But there's 0:11:01.160 --> 0:11:03.640 also not very many places for them to go. We 0:11:03.679 --> 0:11:05.400 are in the middle of nowhere. 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:09.520 So from what I've talked to different people, you know, 0:11:09.880 --> 0:11:12.960 on top of just like crossing the border, there's also 0:11:13.000 --> 0:11:17.040 an entire period where these people are traveling and all 0:11:17.080 --> 0:11:21.680 of them travel in different ways, and some of them 0:11:21.720 --> 0:11:24.360 are traveling all the way from South America through Panama, 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:26.360 through the jungle, and you know, people are dying on 0:11:26.400 --> 0:11:29.000 the route over here, and some of them are lucky 0:11:29.080 --> 0:11:32.439 enough to just fly in and and you know, right, yeah, 0:11:32.440 --> 0:11:34.520 they have to fight to Cancun, fly into Cancun, and 0:11:34.559 --> 0:11:36.680 then make their way over to TJ and make it 0:11:36.679 --> 0:11:43.199 through the border. And I have seen, like for myself 0:11:43.240 --> 0:11:46.960 with my own eyes, you know, burns from motorcycle exhaust 0:11:47.000 --> 0:11:49.320 from you know, the different methods that they've used to 0:11:50.360 --> 0:11:54.720 get here. And I've seen spider bites, I've seen, you know, 0:11:56.360 --> 0:11:58.520 injuries that are infected that have been infected for a 0:11:58.520 --> 0:12:01.079 long time because they've been that way since they were 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.199 in the jungle, and it's inadequate. I had a woman 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.240 that I was helping give medical care to whose ankles 0:12:09.280 --> 0:12:11.800 were swollen from a steroid that she was given that 0:12:11.840 --> 0:12:14.120 she should not have been given and that she had 0:12:14.360 --> 0:12:19.160 a bad reaction to. And yeah, that's just been their 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:23.600 reality traveling here and trying to get here. On top 0:12:23.640 --> 0:12:26.920 of that, I think that speaking of medical issues and 0:12:27.120 --> 0:12:29.480 speaking on what you were saying earlier about the threats 0:12:29.559 --> 0:12:32.640 of becoming undocumented, the threats of you know, being forced 0:12:32.640 --> 0:12:35.840 to stay in these camps. There's even fear of having 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:40.920 a medical emergency. So like when EMS comes out, when 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.880 we call nine to one one or Border patrol calls 0:12:42.960 --> 0:12:47.040 nine one one, right, they're not like working in connection 0:12:47.120 --> 0:12:48.960 with Border Patrol. They're just going to a hospital as 0:12:49.000 --> 0:12:51.160 if it was you know, someone house person on the 0:12:51.160 --> 0:12:55.920 street going to the hospital. And so they end up there, 0:12:56.120 --> 0:13:01.240 and if they're not given the proper information to get 0:13:01.240 --> 0:13:03.959 a court tape, to finish their asylum process and to 0:13:04.080 --> 0:13:07.199 really like be submitted properly into the country, they are 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.800 at risk of becoming undocumented. And I think that fear 0:13:10.280 --> 0:13:13.400 has spread among people, and I've definitely noticed personally that 0:13:13.480 --> 0:13:16.640 there is fear to have nine to one call to 0:13:16.920 --> 0:13:20.040 be taken away in an ambulance because they fear, you know, 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:22.400 becoming undocumented or being. 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:23.640 At risk or separated. 0:13:24.000 --> 0:13:25.920 Separated has been a big thing because if they end 0:13:26.040 --> 0:13:28.880 up having their process either take longer or just be 0:13:28.960 --> 0:13:31.440 stuck in the hospital or whatever it may be, they're 0:13:31.600 --> 0:13:34.000 away from their family, they have to go through a 0:13:34.040 --> 0:13:37.040 different process. They're not processed that at the detention center 0:13:37.080 --> 0:13:39.400 is the same way or at the same time. So 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.280 it's just it's a it's a there's a lot of 0:13:41.320 --> 0:13:45.440 fear and I think that's led to a lot of 0:13:45.520 --> 0:13:48.960 unnecessary harm. And we do our best in terms of 0:13:49.080 --> 0:13:51.960 medical care, but there's you know, we're limited. We you know, 0:13:52.040 --> 0:13:55.160 it's over the counter, it's you know, it's we can't 0:13:55.160 --> 0:13:55.560 do much. 0:13:56.080 --> 0:14:01.120 Yeah, yeah, yeah, and it's a street medicine really yeah exactly. Yeah, 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:03.880 Like we have some doctors and nurses and other qualified 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:06.480 medical people come and help, but they don't have the 0:14:06.520 --> 0:14:09.000 diagnostic tools that they need. Right, Like today we had 0:14:09.120 --> 0:14:11.840 somebody who had clearly some high issues and like the 0:14:11.880 --> 0:14:13.640 best we can do is say, this person needs to 0:14:13.679 --> 0:14:16.240 go to hospital. But then in this case they were 0:14:16.240 --> 0:14:18.360 able to take the person's partners. Sometimes they won't take 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:20.640 the person's partner. Sometimes the person could be separated from 0:14:20.640 --> 0:14:24.320 their children, and so they're obviously very afraid of that. 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:28.920 And to compound that, I think like the release that 0:14:28.960 --> 0:14:32.160 they're not released in the way they had proviously been released, 0:14:32.160 --> 0:14:35.280 that they're dumped onto the street at certain transit centers, right, 0:14:35.320 --> 0:14:39.040 and then again it falls onto volunteers nonprofits to help 0:14:39.080 --> 0:14:51.960 them get to where they're going to go. The scale 0:14:52.280 --> 0:14:56.200 of the mutual aid operation is really impressive, and it's 0:14:56.240 --> 0:14:59.640 something that I don't think is is like we don't 0:14:59.640 --> 0:15:03.360 talk about enough. People don't really understand it, So could 0:15:03.400 --> 0:15:06.200 maybe we just start like literally what we do every 0:15:06.320 --> 0:15:08.880 day in a day. We havevolity here every day. 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:12.640 Yes, yeah, One thing I forgot to mention is I 0:15:12.720 --> 0:15:17.200 am here every single day now full time, ten plus 0:15:17.200 --> 0:15:22.120 hours a day. It's eight days a week. And so yeah, 0:15:22.120 --> 0:15:24.040 every day we wake up. I wake up around like 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.400 six am, and we try to get to the first camp, 0:15:27.440 --> 0:15:31.119 which is down the street from where I'm staying, around 0:15:31.440 --> 0:15:35.000 seven thirty or eight o'clock in the morning. And the 0:15:35.040 --> 0:15:37.280 previous night we have loaded the van up with peanut 0:15:37.280 --> 0:15:39.200 butter and jelly sandwiches because they have a good hold, 0:15:39.800 --> 0:15:42.280 you don't need to keep them really refrigerated much or 0:15:42.520 --> 0:15:45.800 you know, the YadA YadA, and so it's just peb 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:50.200 and j's water and fruit and we give them each 0:15:50.280 --> 0:15:53.920 one at least sometimes more if we have the capability, 0:15:54.520 --> 0:15:59.080 and then we another person who is also here full 0:15:59.120 --> 0:16:02.160 time will hit another camp on their way because it's 0:16:02.160 --> 0:16:04.280 on their way to meet up at a central location 0:16:04.400 --> 0:16:08.280 we call the Youth Center or the YC, where all 0:16:08.320 --> 0:16:14.080 of our donations end up, whether it's clothes, blankets, food items, 0:16:14.360 --> 0:16:17.640 non perishables, perishables. We have a fridge and in that place. 0:16:17.720 --> 0:16:20.040 Once we get there, we'll assess what we need to 0:16:20.040 --> 0:16:22.080 do is do we need to make more food? Do 0:16:22.120 --> 0:16:24.400 we have enough to go feed the third camp, which 0:16:24.440 --> 0:16:26.440 we call one seven seven, which is all the way 0:16:26.480 --> 0:16:30.080 in Boulevard a little outside of Hakamba, And if we 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:32.240 have enough, we'll just hit we'll leave and hit that 0:16:32.280 --> 0:16:35.840 spot and then come back and start dinner. And in 0:16:35.880 --> 0:16:38.120 the meanwhile, we have a lot of volunteers that will 0:16:38.160 --> 0:16:40.480 show up and make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches because 0:16:40.480 --> 0:16:43.280 that is our easy go to staple. It's quick to 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:45.520 give out. It's you know, not a whole lot of 0:16:45.560 --> 0:16:50.520 prep time to make you know, five hundred sandwiches, which 0:16:50.560 --> 0:16:53.360 seems like a lot, but we've gone through probably tens 0:16:53.360 --> 0:16:55.640 of thousand sandwiches by this point. 0:16:56.280 --> 0:16:59.000 So he gave out a thousand PB andjs today. 0:16:59.200 --> 0:17:00.560 Yeah, yeah, yeah, totally. 0:17:00.680 --> 0:17:03.280 Yeah, we ran out like today, I gave out everything 0:17:03.320 --> 0:17:06.000 and there was even people where like the two we 0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:10.119 got everybody in the line, which was I think I 0:17:10.160 --> 0:17:13.159 think that was around three sixty. No, no, it was 0:17:13.160 --> 0:17:16.920 three sixty when we did account and so in the morning, Yeah, 0:17:16.960 --> 0:17:19.159 and we ran out and but we had two. So 0:17:19.280 --> 0:17:21.560 like a lot of the times, especially the micros that 0:17:21.560 --> 0:17:23.520 have been there multiple days, they'll jump in. There's like 0:17:23.560 --> 0:17:25.720 always two people or three people that are like, I'm 0:17:25.720 --> 0:17:29.560 here to help Kurdish people, our amazing help and are 0:17:29.600 --> 0:17:32.160 always willing to step up. But yeah, this morning at 0:17:32.160 --> 0:17:34.439 Willow one of the camps, we had two guys that 0:17:34.480 --> 0:17:37.280 were kind of controlling the line and helping keep them back, 0:17:37.400 --> 0:17:39.600 and one of them like send them to us one 0:17:39.640 --> 0:17:42.080 at a time. And at the very end of it, 0:17:42.119 --> 0:17:44.199 I had nothing for them, and I was like going 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.480 to hook them up with a couple of sandwiches and 0:17:46.480 --> 0:17:48.520 a little like everybody who helps, I'll cook them up 0:17:48.520 --> 0:17:50.840 with a couple of extra sandwiches or food items or 0:17:50.880 --> 0:17:55.200 water or cigarettes even And uh, yeah, I had nothing 0:17:55.200 --> 0:17:58.520 for them except for kids sandwiches or kid sandwiches kid packs. 0:17:58.520 --> 0:18:01.360 So we make these little sand which bags full of 0:18:01.400 --> 0:18:05.040 like different candies and you know, granola bars and things 0:18:05.040 --> 0:18:06.800 that kids would like to eat and give them a 0:18:06.800 --> 0:18:08.040 lot of nutrition and stuff. 0:18:08.080 --> 0:18:10.119 So I just gave them extra. 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.960 That and once other migrants saw me giving those things 0:18:13.000 --> 0:18:15.040 out that I had been holding and telling other people, no, 0:18:15.119 --> 0:18:18.119 these are for kids, then everybody swarmed and it was 0:18:18.200 --> 0:18:21.160 just like, okay, well, I'm giving all the kid whoever's there, 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:24.520 whoever's arm is there, They're getting you know, a kid's pack, 0:18:24.680 --> 0:18:26.840 and got rid of literally all of our food. And 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:29.160 I think we put in like twelve plus cases of water, 0:18:29.720 --> 0:18:32.320 forty packs, and they were all gone except for maybe 0:18:32.359 --> 0:18:33.680 like ten or fifteen waters. 0:18:33.720 --> 0:18:38.680 It was one of the more dire mornings. 0:18:38.240 --> 0:18:41.440 That we've had, especially Yeah, at these camps. 0:18:42.040 --> 0:18:46.040 I know that three p sixty was the number that 0:18:46.080 --> 0:18:47.800 you guys got in the morning, but I believe that 0:18:48.119 --> 0:18:49.879 by the time that we were working in the evening, 0:18:49.880 --> 0:18:51.800 at least when I was doing medical check, the number 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:54.760 that I was getting told either around the camp or 0:18:54.840 --> 0:18:58.760 from Border Patrol was five hundred at Willows So and 0:18:58.840 --> 0:19:01.200 this is you know, these are numbers that even Border 0:19:01.240 --> 0:19:05.040 Patrol is like freaking out over. They are, you know, 0:19:05.160 --> 0:19:08.919 worried because they can't deal with this quantity of people 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.879 and keep them processing while there's still a consistent flow. 0:19:12.960 --> 0:19:15.480 And that's you know, it puts a lot of strain 0:19:15.520 --> 0:19:17.800 on us because, like you were saying, we're running out 0:19:17.800 --> 0:19:22.119 of food. We don't have enough to feed five hundred people. 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:25.520 You know, every day, even though we're just doing you know, 0:19:25.560 --> 0:19:28.320 two meals, a breakfast and as best we can a dinner, 0:19:28.760 --> 0:19:31.680 and trying to make sure that dinner is a hot 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.800 meal because it is frigid out here. I slept in 0:19:34.840 --> 0:19:38.119 my van and I kept having to wake up to 0:19:38.200 --> 0:19:42.280 try and warm up and do something to keep myself 0:19:42.359 --> 0:19:45.640 from freezing. And I, you know, I can only imagine 0:19:45.680 --> 0:19:50.440 what it's like for them with what minimal equipment they have. 0:19:50.480 --> 0:19:54.000 Some of them don't even have tents. So it has 0:19:54.119 --> 0:19:59.160 been a lot. I know that today, running medical, I've 0:19:59.280 --> 0:20:02.640 seen a lot of people with colds, and I am 0:20:02.720 --> 0:20:05.720 suspicious that that perhaps there is COVID running around, that 0:20:05.800 --> 0:20:09.560 perhaps there is, you know something, there's definitely something, some 0:20:09.680 --> 0:20:12.280 kind of very severe illness. Going through the camps and 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.679 being in this freezing cold is not helping anyone's immune system. 0:20:15.920 --> 0:20:17.960 And on top of that, I've seen broken fingers and 0:20:18.000 --> 0:20:21.160 some other stuff. And that's that's been my today. Yeah, 0:20:21.160 --> 0:20:23.479 has been treating that and then helping out with dinner, 0:20:23.600 --> 0:20:25.960 which I will say I tried a little bit of 0:20:26.000 --> 0:20:27.760 the lentils and rice, and I can say we are 0:20:27.760 --> 0:20:28.600 feeding them well. 0:20:28.680 --> 0:20:33.760 It is delicious, delicious food. Thank you. 0:20:33.840 --> 0:20:38.560 Sam Schultz, an amazing cook and an amazing helper for 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:42.199 us making sure that we, you know, are able to 0:20:42.240 --> 0:20:44.320 do this for like you were saying, for a long time, 0:20:45.040 --> 0:20:48.280 you know, this was put on uh, you know, one 0:20:48.320 --> 0:20:53.040 family of locals to really yeah, one family of Quakers 0:20:53.119 --> 0:20:57.520 to really take care of these people day in and 0:20:57.600 --> 0:21:01.840