by Heather Brady

Sorrow and pain are at home here in the desolate landscape of the Arizona desert. Along the borderlands, our Christian Peacemaker Teams delegation walks in the footsteps of the thousands of migrants who make the dangerous journey northward.

Standing still, I close my eyes and feel the burning sun upon my bare skin.
I imagine what it means to be a migrant, to leave everything and everyone you know and love in order to provide for them, to spend days and weeks running and hiding, feet blistered and bloody. Desperate for water, your tongue grows thick with thirst. Cactus thorns stab you as you run blindly through the darkness, struggling to stay with the group.

We hear the story of Josseline Quinteros, a fourteen-year-old girl from El Salvador. Separated from her group, she would wander lost and alone for weeks before eventually laying down, never to get up again.