Hens and Little Chicks

After three days of working with fathers and sons in the detention center my mind and my soul are shocked. We keep hearing about hazardous journeys from remote rural villages in Guatemala, Honduras or El Salvador; painful stories of kids being separated from their dads, as soon as they arrived, facing the unknown; men who faced months of detention in inhumane conditions, being mistreated and blamed for doing what any parent should do for his children: protect him from danger and attempt to give him at least an opportunity in life.

Yesterday, a beautiful six year-old boy was reading a book to me, he wanted to show me a picture: there was an eagle, and a hen protecting her little chicks under her wing. “Mira – he told me – esta gallina es mi papa, y yo soy uno de estos pollitos” (Look, this hen is my dad and I am one of this little chicks). My heart was broken but still I felt we, like them, cannot afford the luxury of being paralyzed by pain. We need to learn from their ability to fight, we need to follow and support organizations like RAICES, taking the lead to protect human beings in their physical integrity and their dignity.

I am honored to be part, even for a week, of the visitor room in Karnes: it seems to be an oasis of understanding and empathy to parents and sons, in a desert of uncertainty.

This post was originally published at "STU Karnes Project", a blog coordinated by Donna Nasimov. (https://stukarnes.wordpress.com)