Today was my first day out in public, among others, among other citizens since the onset of Covid.
I was reminded how much I missed being around community, their pets, and signs, smiling and welcoming each other.
It was such a beautiful day to be protesting threatening conditions that may force more people back on the street in the glaring face of a virus with Greek Alpahbet attached.
The federal funding is here. The will of the people have spoken: Keep the Shelter-in-Place hotels open.
Imagine, if you can, unable to walk out of your home because your hard-earned wages will be stolen by people on the street; or you are of an age sought by actors of corruption within the police force or street-gangs, and sometimes you can’t tell the difference. So you walk for two-to-three months with only a dream to keep you going.
Meet Jorge Joyal. He is 29 years old, from Honduras, and a father to a six-year-old daughter. Mr. Joyal said that he walked for two-to-three months with the hope of coming to the United States. The above exercise in imagination is his life story. While his dream to come to the United States has taken a detour, Mr. Joyal has been offered support and assistance by the Mexican government. He has applied for permission to work in Mexico and hopes to have employment at one of the high-tech companies offering employment assistance to refugees and asylum seekers.
The entrance to El Barretal – the newly designated shelter for asylum-seekers, refugees at the US-Mexico southern border at Tijuana, Mexico.
On Tuesday December 4th, 2018, DIF accounted for a total of 2,331 persons residing in the shelter designated for families with children.
On Thursday December 6, 2018 acting New York Attorney General Underwood: “13 AG’s are filing an amicus brief today to challenge the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict applications by immigrants seeking asylum. This is a de-facto denial of asylum. It is illegal, it is inhumane, and it must end.”
Attorney General Underwood goes on to write: “More than 6000 Central American immigrants, including over 1000 kids, are stranded outside California’s ports of entry waiting to present their asylum claims. They are living outside in extreme weather, without access to basic services, so that they can have a chance at a better life.”
The faces of mothers.
(front) Julio Alberto unloads the DIF van with personal care items scheduled for the families with children.
Jesús Landeros, of Santa Barbara, California is a volunteer with SBRN or the SantaBarbara Response Network; Landeros is also employed with Montecito Union school . “This was a learning experience for me too,” he said referring to El Barretal and his health, safety, and security responsibilities for students, faculty, and the school building itself during the grip of the Thomas fire and the subsequent mudslides. In this photo Landeros distributes personal health-care items donated by Direct Relief.
The contents of care.
In support of the dream to have a better life, and in efforts to assuage the delay of dreams to a better life, a generous wave of individual community-minded people, in coordination with the Santa Barbara Response Network,DIF-Mexcio and Direct Relief of Santa Barbara, California delivered hygiene products – the basics of everyday life such as shampoo, body soap, antibiotic cream, first-aid, toothbrushes, toothpaste, dental floss.. Remember how you felt after not brushing or flossing 24-hours? Imagine for months.
In this newly sprouted village at our southern border at Tijuana, amid lives stranded, one can see signs of former life ritual in children and teens playing soccer, in adding color to hopes and dreams in large scale graphics, and in the power of listening in the peer-to-peer conversations.
Overview of El Barretal. (pictured center) are Mariana Caña and Maritza Escobedo.
Mariana Caña and Maritza Escobedo are doing such work – listening. They are listeners, rendering the power of the compassionate ear. Both Caña and Escobedo are students in Psychology at the UABC (The Autonomous University of Baja California ) Both Caña and Escobedo are student volunteers, conducting health questionnaires of the refugees in affiliation with the NYU School of Medicine, under the direction of Dr. Allen Keller. According to his bio: “Dr. Allen Keller is Associate Professor of Medicine at New York University School of Medicine, Director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture (PSOT) and Director of the NYU School of Medicine Center for Health and Human Rights.
”Caña writes that she hopes “to start giving psychological attention to those who need it most at the shelter.”
Perched overlooking El Barretal, Caña and Escobedo, listen and conduct their health questionnaires as volunteers for NYU school of medicine.
I never thought I’d see this, so I had to get out and see it with my own eyes, and, I had to get some food.
Empty streets, 15 minutes before noon, on Tuesday March 17th, 2020, downtown San Francisco. This was the first full day of the shelter in place order, issued by San Francisco Mayor London Breed. The order will remain in effect until April 7th, 2020. However, just a few days later California Governor Newsom issued an Executive Order, calling on all Californians, all 4o million of us, to shelter in place until further notice.
The Governor is quoted as saying:
We have the capacity to meet this moment — but only if we change our behaviors. We don’t want to look back with regrets — not when the data points to where this could be headed. Let’s bend the curve TOGETHER.
For more information and updates please visit the California Coronavirus (Covid-19) Response website.
If you are interested in the purchase and/or licensing of this image, please contact Alamy-Stockimo.
Oh, heart be still. Nostalgia is in the air … It’s a blast from the past.. Is it a surfin’ safari that’s gone awry? No it’s a 1961 Mercury Meteor station wagon an, automobile manufactured in the United Stated and named for the Mercury space race from a mirrored era gone by.
This surfin’ safari machine, on a warm autumn day, parked under still Acacia trees depicts an era, stood still in time, hopefully an era that hasn’t left us?
An era of civility, peace, and goodness among neighbors.
A crow nestles in a blooming Century plant. The tall yellow flowers may reach a height of 25-30 feet. The plant native to California is also known as an Agave and Agave Americana.
AnaElisa 