Email: Sarah Robinson

Hi there Family and Friends,

I am writing you as I finish my first six weeks of service as a Young Adult Volunteer in Tucson, Arizona.  As I reflect on my time here, a quotation by Frederick Buechner about vocation comes to mind. Buechner says, “The place where God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world’s deep hunger meet.” I have felt the deep gladness he speaks of as I make new relationships with other volunteers, with church members, homeless people, and day laborers. I have also witnessed some of the deep hunger of the world as I work at the front line (literally) of many issues that face our country and impact the whole world.

As I reflect on how these two things have come together for me, how my personal joy and some outer need have met, I realize that it has been marked by a coming alive. This feeling of new life has affirmed God’s call for me and fills me with an energy I haven’t experienced before. I’ve learned that along with great consolation usually comes some desolation, that is, not everything is so life-giving, but that some things are taking that life away. I have experienced this as I struggle to keep in touch with those who aren’t here with me. I have become so involved with life here in Tucson, this life that brings me great joy, that I have not left enough room for maintaining relationships or even contact with others. I see this letter as one step in changing that desolation and finding balance between being fully here and maintaining relationships with folks who aren’t here.

The best way to describe my life is to tell you about the three main things: my experiences in community, the work I’m doing, and the issues of the border. These three topics are inevitably linked because my work is done in community with issues concerning the border. However difficult it may be to speak of the three separately, I think they each deserve special reflection. This letter is a special focus on community.

The communities that I am a part of this year play a big role in my day-to-day life. Though I feel connected to many groups and have been involved in lots of activities, I am going to focus on just a few that best describe my time here.

As a community of YAVs, we live together in a five-bedroom house not far from downtown Tucson. Each of us receives a 300-dollar stipend each month, and we all contribute to one “pot” and pay utilities and all food together. There are seven YAVs living here in Tucson and one in Agua Prieta, Mexico. We have committed to an intentional, conscientious way of living by creating a covenant in which we all promise to support the values that we find most important. Some of the values we have committed to are: simple and sustainable living; nurturing of spiritual growth; prioritizing “family” night; offering hospitality to each other and especially to guests in our home; addressing conflict openly, honestly, directly, and with lots of love and respect; and practicing humility. Already, I have seen that having a community create a covenant helps deal with problems when they arise because everyone is held accountable to the same expectations that are outlined in the covenant. But more importantly, I’ve seen how our building a covenant has helped us create community. We have shared many meals together and invited many guests to come and join, and while eating, everyone is invited to share their desolation and consolation of the day (or week). The sharing of what has given you life and what has drained you of it is deeply healing to all, the person sharing and the listeners. We share in order to notice for ourselves God speaking to us. In sharing, we notice what we are thankful for and where we might want to make change. We also share in order to allow the community to be aware of our joys and our concerns and to be praying for us (as I have done in the introduction to my letter). I have found this community to be deeply gratifying, and I look forward to seeing our relationships grow over the year.

Another very important community that we YAVs have become a part of this year is the biking community. As a site, we are all committed to bike, bus, walk, or carpool. None of us have cars, but we were each given a new bike when we arrived in Tucson for use as our main mode of transportation. Tucson is a great city for bikers, and we have found it pretty easy to do everything we need to do on bikes. The local Department of Transportation has free bike-safety classes that consist of five hours of theory and seven hours of on-the-road application and practice. Plus they give you a free helmet, bike pump, lights, and water bottle (more than 70 dollars worth of free stuff!). So, needless to say, we have all taken that class.

We are figuring out how to live without the use of a car, especially when doing food shopping for seven people. The other day, a group went grocery shopping and came home with over 100 pounds of food with the help of our bike trailer, which carried most of the weight, and each person with a backpack. The bike community coordinates many group rides. My favorite group ride happens every Tuesday, when about 300 bikers show up at the university to ride together through town. There is always a theme, my first ride the theme was “dress-up,” meaning everyone wore dresses. I let two of the guys in my house borrow a dress and we rode through town for about two hours in a huge group, stopping traffic as we went.

Tucson also has a lot to offer anyone who is concerned with humanitarian aid to migrants in the desert. Three groups that I have become involved with are No More Deaths, Samaritans, and Humane Borders. Each of these does somewhat different work, but all with the same goal of preventing deaths in the desert lands of southern Arizona. As I become more involved with these groups, I will share with you the work we are doing. I have enjoyed the unification of young activists and older humanitarians (and young humanitarians and older activists). I have felt a true sense of equality and value, even as a new member joining these established groups. Each group meets once a week (many people participate in a mixture of the three), and there is a very organic feel to the organization and facilitation of group meetings, no moderator, president, vice-president, secretary, etc. It’s just people getting together and doing work that needs to be done.

The other few communities that I have become a part of are related to my work. I work at Southside Presbyterian Church, which has graciously accepted me into their church family. Southside has two programs that I collaborate with: the Day Labor Center and the “Shower” program (soon to be renamed because we offer much more than showers). At the Day Labor Center, I spend time with folks looking for a job for the day. It is always a changing population, as some find long-term jobs, others move to new cities to find work, and some leave for other reasons. At first, I thought it was going to be difficult to make friends because I didn't know any of the workers, plus I’m a young female and they are all men. But after a few days, I made friends with some of the regulars, and now I feel very comfortable. I enjoy going in at 6:00 a.m. to spend four hours with the guys while they are waiting for work.

The Shower Program was a little easier for me to jump right in to. I help out in the clothing room where people can come in and “shop” for new clothes (it’s completely free), and we wash clothing for homeless people. I love my job because I get to interact with a lot of the homeless people of south Tucson. The same folks usually come every Monday and Friday (days of operation) and I see them throughout the week around town. I have really felt at home in Tucson because it seems that no matter where I go, I pass someone on the street that I know. The other day, my new friend Theresa was passing on the street and saw me at the Day Labor Center, so she stopped to hang out for a while and we sang songs like “Lean on Me” and other requests from the day laborers. My friends at the Day Labor Center and those who come to the Shower Program are a vital part of what makes Tucson such a great fit for me right now.

I feel very honored and privileged to be part of all these communities. I look forward to building personal relationships and sharing more stories about my experiences over the next year. I will be working on keeping better connected to my communities back home and to all my friends who are spread all over. I hope you all are well, I welcome all emails.

Peace be with you,

Sarah