Saturday morning I was at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, where a gathering was taking place. For those of you who don't know, that is people are imprisoned while awaiting deportation. Rafael was held there one week, but most detainees are there for weeks, months, even years. There was going to be a demonstration with speakers educating the public of the living conditions within those walls, and people sharing their stories. I went to volunteer, and show my support for other families facing the same devastation as ours.
As I helped set up I saw family after family going inside to visit those detained loved ones. A mother carrying an infant, walking her toddler. A father with three grown daughters all dressed in their Sunday best. As another family passed by.... parents with four children, the children skipped by me and raced each other to the car (they looked like they could be returning from a family outing to Home Depot, and reminded me of my own childhood with my siblings, yet they have this heart wrenching separation that I didn't have in my own childhood. Such different family memories being shaped.
To create a banner, we continually unrolled butcher paper as we glued photo after photo of families broken by the current immigration laws. I'm so glad I was there, for those hours I had before going to work, but it was heartbreaking and difficult to hide my tears under the hat I wore meant to keep out the cold & rain.
I felt depressed and encouraged at the same time seeing so many others affected & the efforts of so many strangers working bringing awareness and support! As usual this journey has been one of mixed feelings. I continue to pray, believe for, and work toward and ending that is more sweet and less bitter.
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