Commentary:

"... and a little child shall lead them."

-- Isaiah 11:6, King James Version

Melissa Terry's young daughter listened to the July 8 news story on KUAF Public Radio about the refugee children amassing at the southern border of our country. She turned to her mom and said, "What are we going to do about the kids?"

Instead of being at a complete loss for an answer, Melissa began to brainstorm with her two daughters, Luna and Heidi, about ways to help. She also researched what organizations are putting forth humanitarian efforts to somehow show compassion for these refugee children, who have risked their lives on the tops of trains or walking unimaginable distances, sometimes at night. They have encountered the possibilities of rape, theft, extortion, injury, hunger, torture and even death to reach this country. Theirs are stories of incredible courage in surviving journeys across two or three countries and thousands of miles, a feat that most adults would be challenged to undertake.

Melissa learned that the 8th and Harrison Church of Christ in Harlingen, Texas, has partnered with Healing Hands International (455 McNally Dr, Nashville, TN 37211) to put together an emergency shipment of filled boxes to the children who have crossed the border. Their website (http://www.hhi.org/magi/txborder) adds, "We will take any donations and purchase additional product, assemble the boxes and be ready to distribute them as directed by the Texas Border Patrol and the Food Bank of the Rio Grande Valley."

Heidi, 8, and Luna, 6, also had the idea of packaging needed items in backpacks because these children must carry all their possessions. After Melissa enlisted the help of St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Fayetteville as a drop-off location, her friend, Erin Anderson, posted an event notice on Facebook seeking backpacks filled with needed items for children 2-11 years old, as well as coloring books and "lovey" type comfort toys, at Luna and Heidi's insistence. Eight days later, a mountain of more than 100 bags from across Northwest Arkansas was stacked in the St. Paul's office. People wanting to ship directly to the Texas church can do so to the attention of: Rob Sparks, 801 E. Harrison Ave, Harlingen, TX 78550.

"These packs provide for a real need, as these refugees arrive with nothing," Sparks said.

There are numerous reasons pushing these children north out of Central America. The best article I've read about the devastation in their countries, brought on by everything from trade policies like NAFTA to political and economic destabilization, as well as the consequences of drug trafficking, is titled, "Here's How the U.S. Sparked a Refugee Crisis on the Border, in 8 Simple Steps," by the Huffington Post on July 18. Much of the blame can be laid at the feet of our own country's leaders, whose policies over decades are coming back to bite us. There is not only great tragedy in the flight of these escaping children, but great irony. Instead of shooting at us, these poor countries are challenging our nation's humanity to its core by hemorrhaging children toward the U.S., which helped set this boomerang of poverty and crime into motion.

That we have some citizens actually shouting curses at these children, who have suffered so many traumas in their lives already, sickens me. These are children! If you are without empathy or compassion, as well as without ancestors who arrived in this country by ship, plane, donkey, or on foot, perhaps you should examine to what level of hypocrisy you have sunk. Only Native Americans have legitimate justification to be resentful toward people coming into this country. They, after all, have been dealing with immigration issues (us) since 1492, when Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

We should all reread the story (Exodus 2:1-10) of Moses' mother who, during the time when the Egyptian pharaoh had decreed that all Hebrew baby boys be drowned at birth, risked her infant son's fate by placing him in a basket in the bulrushes along the Nile River.

If we want to brag that we're the greatest and richest country in the world, it's now time for us to put up or shut up. Saving children today from suffering and dying in the countries of their birth, including this one, is no different than the rescue of Moses from the river. Obviously, anyone or any organization can initiate similar or different ways of helping. And, if you need creative advice, I'm sure Luna and Heidi will have suggestions.

FRAN ALEXANDER IS A FAYETTEVILLE RESIDENT WITH A LONGSTANDING INTEREST IN THE ENVIRONMENT AND AN OPINION ON ALMOST ANYTHING ELSE.

Commentary on 08/03/2014

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