In Nogales, Sonora we made crosses to hang on the border wall to honor the lives of people who have died in the desert. Since October, 187 bodies have been found in the Arizona desert. We printed up a list of names and causes of death and wrote these names on crosses. The majority of these bodies are unidentified, so for them we wrote "desconocido".
I wonder who this person was whose body was recovered in the desert last year. How old were they? What family did they have? Who were they traveling with? What was the decision like to leave them behind? How long did they suffer without food or water in the desert? Why were they crossing?
The last question is the only one I have a pretty good guess about. This person was either attempting to reunite with a mother or father who had left them and now lived in the United States or they were looking to improve their own station in life, or most likely it was a father, probably about my age or a little younger who decided, like so many others do, that he would rather risk his life in the desert on his way to find work in the United States than stay home and watch his children grow more hungry and suffer from a lack of education or medical care. What would I do if I were in his shoes? Would I have made the same decision to cross? Would I have fared better than he did or would someone have found my body scorched from the intense heat, with no identification, and given me a number that would remain my number since my family would never know if I made it or not?
This cross I hang for you on this steel wall that separates Nogales, Sonora from Nogales, Arizona.
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