By Susie Zeiger
For the past two evenings most of us have been serving food prepared by World Central Kitchen to approximately a thousand asylum seekers who line up and wait patiently to be served. I was told that there have been fewer people waiting recently because it’s been so cold in the evening. The temperature has been in the mid 50s, which for us has been a break from the cold New England weather. Most were wearing sweaters or sweatshirts and a few even had hats and gloves.
The asylum seekers are from Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Chiapas, Mexico. I even met a Venezuelan family who told me that there was practically no food in their country.
Despite the cold, I was always greeted with a smile and when asked how they were, they all replied ”frio.” New Yorker that I used to be, I couldn’t resist schmoozing with everyone. I have a particular soft spot in my heart for young children, having taught Haitian kindergartners for 10 years. The children are beyond adorable.
We met the folks from World Central Kitchen in Brownsville and transported the food which was kept hot in special containers in carts across the bridge to a tent camp in Matamoros housing between 2000 and 2500 people.
It pains me to know how these asylum seekers must live as they wait patiently for asylum which will probably not come because of the cruel policies of the American administration.
We returned to our respective Airbnbs where we were free to prepare the kind of dinner we chose. I couldn’t stop help thinking of all the injustices there are in the world. I do know how resilient these asylum-seekers are and I say a prayer every morning that they will find justice.