BorderLinks trips are best described as experiential travel seminars. We offer the opportunity for participants to carefully examine and grapple with many issues that shape the U.S.-Mexico border.
Our primary activities are visits, conversations, and experiences with people who hold differing perspectives and viewpoints on the wide variety of social, economic, faith, and political issues at play in the border region.
To get a better sense of what a BorderLinks delegation entails, check out these reflections from students at ASU West and the University of Michigan. These writings give insightful first-hand accounts of the BorderLinks learning experience through the eyes of university students.
A typical day consists of three or four visits, shared meals, and conversations in which participants are exposed to the viewpoints of academics, policy makers, and activists. Most importantly, we will talk with individuals whose lives are directly affected by the policies and processes we're discussing.
Each day typically includes time for reflection as a group on our experiences. Part of our programming often includes educational activities such as a role play to explore the dynamics and forces in the global economy or community scavenger hunts to help our participants better understand life on the border. Some groups choose to become involved in an action/reflection project at our community center in Nogales, but all of our trips prioritize time to experience and study the situation of the borderlands.
Although we'll spend some time in the United States, much of the trip will take place on the Mexican side of the border. There, activities will likely include meeting with maquila workers and families in their communities, interacting with migrants on the border or at migrant shelters, and talks with a variety of activists and organizers struggling to bring about social change.
Group participants will often spend one or several overnights in a homestay with families in communities on the Mexican side of the border.
The border region is an area where many of the patterns of international economics and politics affecting all of our local communities can be viewed in sharp focus. Areas of study addressed on a trip will include any or all of the following:
Immigration Policy
U.S.-Mexico relations
Labor Conditions
Human Rights
Environment
Health Issues
Free Trade
Poverty
Economic Structures
International Politics
The Church as an Agent of Change
Women's Issues
Food Security
Indigenous Issues
We hope that participants will return to their communities with a fuller understanding of the problems that face our world and new energy to respond to those challenges.
