Three weeks at the border

Apr 13

By Sam Litvin
April 11, 2022

Three weeks ago two women and their kids including one with special needs needed help to get to their relatives in New York. The simple act required navigation through the complex CBP processes and understanding the various organizations that function at the border to help migrants find their way to safety.
Three weeks later, two of the three people involved in fundraising and assistance are now part of a 160 plus volunteer force which includes data scientists, translators, lawyers advocacy and housing reps, and all sorts of other volunteers who help to coordinate and manage the what was nearly a 3,000 person refugee camp in Tijuana.
In the three weeks, the group of 10 or so volunteers from various groups managed to create a QR code online registration and tracking system, create a massive supply network of food, and clothes, and coordinate efforts with several government agencies and non-profits on both sides of the border.
In three weeks refugees grow from 30 a day to 1000 per day. Our group grew from 3 to 160, and the volunteer force went from a dozen or so people to hundreds. The camp grew from 30 people at a bus station to 1500 in gyms and churches across Tijuana. What was done to deal with this? Dozens of churches organized from across the USA to bring supplies. Hundreds of volunteers bring supplies. Dozens of WhatsApp and Telegram channels coordinate. An online system to keep track of people who arrive. The camp includes clothes, kids' play areas, lawyers who give advice, nightly sermons, and even karaoke and concerts. There’s even Elon Musk’s Starlink for all web cruising needs!
You can get a coffee, hot borsh, delicious pilaf at night, and tacos during the day. There is an entire pharmacy and medical unit and own security that works side by side with Mexican police, with background verification for volunteers.
At beginning of the week, we were asking for the UN and Red Cross to come and help. They said they couldn’t. Organizations with budgets in millions of dollars and decades of experience did not want to manage what a bunch of amateurs who took time off work were able to manage.
Why? Maybe it is because of some strange bureaucratic loopholes. Or perhaps because of the entire idea of how a refugee camp should look. Because we didn’t wait for someone to give us systems, we created them. All the tools are there. What is needed to make it happen?
In fact, the Mexican government said that they offered this group far less assistance than in any other migrant crisis. The tools we used are available to anyone: empathetic diaspora to come to the aid of refugees, use of the latest but ubiquitous technology to synchronize communication, use of google documents, Zoom, Telegram, and all other tools to coordinate supplies and people, and of course the use of the most basic of all tools: democracy. Simply calling and emailing elected leaders to ask for help.
All these tools are available to anyone, anyone who chooses to act and help. We are happy to help any other group who would choose to help their people in this way.
We are not perfect. We have blundered and it wasn’t always honky dory in the camp or between volunteers. We had no intention of running this camp, we are tired and stressed. We really shouldn’t be there. But here we are, Ukrainians, Russians, Belorussians, Christians, Jews, and Atheists, supporting our people who ran from the war they didn’t start, who lost everything through no fault of their own.
In some ways, it would be nice to have government or professional NGO help, we would love to have their help and step away and we will certainly welcome it when it arrives as our resources and time and efforts are not endless. There are many things lacking every day and there are many emergencies every day as we are still learning. But I think we would also lament the day that help comes.
We would lament it because it also feels gratifying that here we are, thousands of miles from the conflict, welcoming people from the conflict and showing the world the power of ignoring fear, taking on a challenge, our faith in love, in human cooperation and collaboration.
With those ingredients, no problem is too difficult, no challenge is insurmountable.

ccfr masha b

Three weeks at the border

By Sam Litvin

In the three weeks, the group of 10 or so volunteers from various groups managed to create a QR code online registration and tracking system, create a massive supply network of food, and clothes, and coordinate efforts with several government agencies and non-profits on both sides of the border.

You can get a coffee, hot borsh, delicious pilaf at night, and tacos during the day. There is an entire pharmacy and medical unit and own security that works side by side with Mexican police, with background verification for volunteers.

At beginning of the week, we were asking for the UN and Red Cross to come and help. They said they couldn’t. Organizations with budgets in millions of dollars and decades of experience did not want to manage what a bunch of amateurs who took time off work were able to manage.

Why? Maybe it is because of some strange bureaucratic loopholes. Or perhaps because of the entire idea of how a refugee camp should look. Because we didn’t wait for someone to give us systems, we created them. All the tools are there. What is needed to make it happen?

All these tools are available to anyone, anyone who chooses to act and help. We are happy to help any other group who would choose to help their people in this way.

We would lament it because it also feels gratifying that here we are, thousands of miles from the conflict, welcoming people from the conflict and showing the world the power of ignoring fear, taking on a challenge, our faith in love, in human cooperation and collaboration.

With those ingredients, no problem is too difficult, no challenge is insurmountable.

Coordinating Council for Refugees

CCFR is a non-profit organization and recognized as a public charity under United States Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Donations are tax-deductible per IRS § 170(c)(3) of the United States Tax Code.

Three weeks at the border

By Sam Litvin

In the three weeks, the group of 10 or so volunteers from various groups managed to create a QR code online registration and tracking system, create a massive supply network of food, and clothes, and coordinate efforts with several government agencies and non-profits on both sides of the border.

You can get a coffee, hot borsh, delicious pilaf at night, and tacos during the day. There is an entire pharmacy and medical unit and own security that works side by side with Mexican police, with background verification for volunteers.

At beginning of the week, we were asking for the UN and Red Cross to come and help. They said they couldn’t. Organizations with budgets in millions of dollars and decades of experience did not want to manage what a bunch of amateurs who took time off work were able to manage.

Why? Maybe it is because of some strange bureaucratic loopholes. Or perhaps because of the entire idea of how a refugee camp should look. Because we didn’t wait for someone to give us systems, we created them. All the tools are there. What is needed to make it happen?

All these tools are available to anyone, anyone who chooses to act and help. We are happy to help any other group who would choose to help their people in this way.

We would lament it because it also feels gratifying that here we are, thousands of miles from the conflict, welcoming people from the conflict and showing the world the power of ignoring fear, taking on a challenge, our faith in love, in human cooperation and collaboration.

With those ingredients, no problem is too difficult, no challenge is insurmountable.

An Unusual Tijuana Seder

Coordinating Council for Refugees

CCFR is a non-profit organization and recognized as a public charity under United States Internal Revenue Code Section 501(c)(3). Donations are tax-deductible per IRS § 170(c)(3) of the United States Tax Code.