Always Treat Others with Dignity

Hola chicos,

This is my last blog post on my experience at Centro San Juan Diego and it will probably be a quick one due to the fact that my plane is boarding any minute.

But I just wanted to share with you all my absolute strongest take away from my experience here: the importance of treating others with dignity.

Always treat others with dignity (photo posted with permission)

Throughout my experience here, I have watched volunteer after volunteer, refugee after refugee, truly treat one another with more kindness and compassion then I have ever seen before.I have watched the new refugees come off the immigration bus with sad and empty eyes, wrapped in tin foil blankets, with large bracelet monitors on their ankles, honestly looking like they were defeated prisoners. Only to be greeted by smiles and waves by both the veteran refugees and the volunteers. I have watched them enter into our center, passing a large BIENVENIDOS sign, and shuffled into the comedor where they are given a warm bowl of soup as if they are the guests of honor. I have seen them explained the rules of the house, cheering when they hear they will get a hot shower, and nodding in agreement when they learned that they will be expected to cook and clean and do the household chores alongside the volunteers.

I have seen all of the refugees and volunteers work together to make the center work. I have seen them help take care of the crying infants, wash each other's clothes, cook, clean, translate. I have watched them day in and day out, drive refugees to the airport and bus station, disinfect sick rooms, call doctors, become a nurse until the real nurse can get there, translate across multiple languages, create to-go bags full of sandwiches, water, toys for the children, etc. for the long bus journey home and do so much more.

And most importantly, I have watched every single person treat their fellow global citizen like friend, like a fellow human being...

So that the next day, when yesterday’s refugees become the veterans, they are able to stand outside and greet the new, and often defeated-looking refugees, with the dignity that they deserve.

Thank you for letting me having this experience,

Senora Traub