Winter Immersion Program participants reflects on El Paso

I distinctly remember sitting on my cousin’s couch last Christmas. She asked me to talk about my impending service trip to the border that my dad mentioned to her earlier that day. I knew this conversation would be difficult because every time I wanted to talk to anyone about what my immersion trip was going to do and our intentions of going, it involved a lot of background explanation. Immersion trips are entirely different compared to other service trips. It is hard to pinpoint anything exactly except the fulfilling and frustrating feeling that comes along with returning.

Being on an immersion trip at St. Joe’s requires a great deal of commitment from the student in terms of money, time, and effort. Immersion trip groups meet every week during the fall semester and each trip costs, whether domestic or international, a considerable amount of money. However, I will argue that because of how much each student puts into their trip, they receive incredible insight and perspective into the human condition coming back to campus.

Every January, groups of St. Joe’s students embark on a trip to immerse themselves in new cultures and lifestyles in Guatemala, Peru, Ecuador, the Gulf Coast, and El Paso, Texas. They utilize fall semester meetings to introduce themselves to the social justice issues that affect the communities that they will soon join. It is the program’s intention to have students enter their communities as humbled learners. Students are not there to save the community. In fact, it can be irritating to feel helpless when confronted with the idea that the focus of the trip is to learn and connect, not to rebuild a school or clean the neighborhood. The trips are not meant to be what many consider poverty tourism, where visitors to an impoverished community are only there to witness the conditions firsthand, and use the experience to confirm their ideas of what it is like to be impoverished or live in a certain country.

True immersion involves an openness in heart and mind, a willingness to be vulnerable and be challenged by the ideas presented to the person. It involves reaching out and establishing communication with the people they talk to as their genuine self, contemplatively listening to the stories of experiences with poverty or the government. That sincerity is reciprocated and joyful moments can be witnessed in sharing a meal made together or playing soccer with kids after school. No one is treated as inferior but as companions that share the same journey. Relationships with the host organizations are forged in these small moments in a manner that donations and email communication cannot fully display.

Contextualizing issues, such as poverty and immigration, from both sides with a human face helps solidify a better understanding that statistics and news reports cannot fully convey. While these moments can be experienced at a local level, the reality of the distance, culture, and language barriers presented in each trip helps make the effort to reach true human encounter much more determined. There are no distractions or lifelines to rely on except compassion and empathy for one another and the support and shared struggles of your group members. The limitations allow each person to be fully challenged to reflect on the day’s experiences and interactions. From the multiple interactions with Cristo Rey Lutheran community members, Border Patrol Agents, and detention center guards and prisoners during my week last year in El Paso, I was able to better understand that poverty and political unrest affects many aspects of the human condition, including the physical, emotional, governmental, and spiritual factors that are not so easy to grasp.

After a week of living simply and learning how these communities experience their joy and struggles, I feel enriched but also frustrated. Having direct interaction with the structural causes of social inequity and the shortsightedness that can disregard human dignity hurts. It is remarkably infuriating at times.

While we are able to learn so much and genuinely connect with community members, we then get to return to our lives of relative luxury. While it is important to gain appreciation of the blessings and fortunate opportunities we have, immersion trips do not end with that conclusion nor should any service trip. In the end, the trip-goers must grapple with the change that has happened, no matter how little it seems at the time. Whether that change has impacted their lifestyle choices, a better way to see both sides of an issue, or the ability to be pushed completely out of one’s comfort zone, the participant is inspired in some capacity. For some, it acts as a taste of working with others in solving social injustices and dedicating a year, even devoting a life, to service. Perhaps it is an invitation to find how to better utilize the passions and gifts one has to benefit others in return. For me, going to El Paso directly led to me volunteering for Weekly Service at Lifting Up Camden’s Youth (LUCY) Outreach in Camden, where many of the after-school participants I get to know come from families that are impacted by Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Deferred Action for Parents of Americans (DAPA). Immersion trips help make certain to humanity that separation, isolation, and willful ignorance should not influence decisions that affect the world.

So I wish the best of luck to all the Winter Immersion Programs trips setting off this January. This experience will ruin you in the most provocative and beautiful way. I am sorry for the difficult conversations with family members regarding what their donation to your airfare will cause. It cannot be avoided. I also apologize to anyone who will listen to a participant detail their experience come next semester for any exhaustive use of Ignatian Spirituality or Catholic Social Teaching buzzwords. I’ll be honest: it’s the toolset we have the easiest access to that can contextualize our week. Be patient with that participant because no Facebook album, Instagram post, souvenir, or gift will truly capture the impressive beauty of what life is like in the communities that we became a part of.