Hey, I wanna tell you a story about this photo real quick. This person’s name is Estrella. This is her in her kitchen in Guatemala, a stone throw’s distance from the border with México
On this particular morning, Estrella got up at 4 a.m. to make lunch for her family -- and to make breakfast for about 70 people who spent the previous night at a shelter down the hill from her house
Estrella noticed in late July hundreds of people from Nicaragua, Honduras, El Salvador getting dropped off by immigration buses coming from as far as Texas. (A lot of families with small kids). Her town, El Ceibo, is small and rural, so no one had any idea where they were
Most people who get deported to El Ceibo aren't just lost, they're also destitute with nothing to eat. Estrella and her husband scraped together whatever they could. She started waking up hours before dawn every day to make breakfast
On this morning, Estrella served eggs, beans, potatoes and coffee. At breakfast, it seemed like everyone had a story about Guatemalan immigration officers squeezing them for money to let them through. That’s why most people migrating wind up with no money or food
Mexico’s national guard over the past week has been hunting migrants trying to pass southern Mexico. And I say "hunting" because uniformed officers follow the migrants, corral them and physically assault them. This has been widely documented
And then you have people like Estrella. She’s been making these community breakfasts daily. An out-of-work truck driver from Honduras told me over breakfast: Only poor people help other poor people. We understand each others problems, so if we can give you a plate of food, we do
Estrella is obviously not gaining anything by helping people she’ll never see again. In fact, some people in town are low-key, high-key not into it bc they want people migrating to be on their way
But Estrella knows what it's like to go on an empty stomach (which is another story). So as long as she can help it, she's not gonna let anyone leave on an empty stomach
📻🔊Anyway. You can hear Estrella here: pri.org/file/2021-08-3…
Many are asking how to send Estrella a donation. I asked, and she said she can receive via Western Union or MoneyGram. Name: Rosa Elena López. Location: La Libertad, Petén, Guatemala. Then DM her the confirmation number: facebook.com/100034605221970

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More from @jorgeavalencia

12 Apr 19
Another makeshift camp is in this park in the center of Tapachula, which is the city closest to the border. I met people here who told me they were from Honduras and had been sleeping here for more than two weeks. Lots of children
There are also hundreds of people from Cuba. They held a rally yesterday where they agreed to go by bus to Mexico City to attempt to have their applications processed there. Today, they staged a protest outside the immigration office in the form of a crucifixion
And 55 miles north, several hundred more also wait. They walked for three days to get there under the promise their applications would be processed. They are sleeping on a soccer field, many on grass, others on cardboard. They say this truck dispenses water once a day
Read 8 tweets
12 Apr 19
Hey. I came to Mexico’s border with Central America to find out whether the Mexican government has been protecting the human rights of migrants as they’ve promised. I want to show you what I’ve seen
There are thousands of people stuck here, waiting to learn whether Mexico will allow them to continue their journey toward the U.S. It is 98 degrees here. The people who got tents outside of this facility in the city of Tapachula are lucky
There are people from more than a dozen countries. Most come from Honduras and Cuba, but also from India, like some of the guys in this picture, or from Angola, like the two boys to the right
Read 4 tweets

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