A Man Was Hurt in Marfa. Help Him and Us Heal.

Hello, I'm writing from El Paso and am organizing solidarity for the young
Guatemalan who was crushed by a trash compactor in early March, while sleeping in a dumpster in Marfa, TX.

He was in the dumpster because he was lost, starving, thirsty, cold, exhausted, penniless, and -- because of his arbitrary immigration status (there but for fortune go we) -- afraid to ask for help.

 

Sadly, he didn't know how loving and generous the people of Marfa and America could be.  We who have not been able to communicate  our desire to show care to people on the move like this young man -- or who are afraid to do so -- also need to heal.

I first spoke with him after he was airlifted to a hospital in El Paso and underwent surgery for a broken thigh bone. He's recovering now. But he'll be  incapacitated for a long time. 

 

To read the entire account of his ordeal,  see this article from the Big Bend Sentinel, told in his words. https://bigbendsentinel.com/2022/03/23/from-the-man-in-the-dumpster-in-marfa/

His name and face can’t be published. He fears that if he's identified, the smugglers he now owes exorbitant money to will locate him and his family and harm them.  

 

He's recovering now just across the border, in Mexico. He needs money for clothing, food, and toiletries while he recovers from his injuries.

He also could use at least a little material hope and encouragement from us -- for his and his family's future. He is one of the millions of people on the move north, who want to help us make a common future, in a better world than what we have now.  

 

He has a young wife and children left behind as he went on his odyssey for them. He needs to figure out how to help them as he plans his next steps, possibly with an asylum claim or maybe by returning to Central America. 

 

He says that for now he's just grateful (including to the people of Marfa) to be alive, and he's trying every day to move his leg a little more.

 

However little or much you can assist him via this mutual aid effort, you'll be doing a good thing -- not just for him and his family and community, but for you and yours, as well.