The sun was just ascending from behind the mountains through a thin layer of clouds as I drove eastward out of LA and descended into the desert on the morning of September 30, 2023. Wind kicked up flurries of desert dust, clouding my view now and then as the road curved southward toward the US/Mexico border. I had departed from Los Angeles at 6 a.m. and arrived in Calexico at 10 a.m.
After picking up Hugo, my translator and ambassador to migrant shelters, we crossed through to Mexicali and arrived at Posada Del Migrante just a few blocks away. Several men staying at the shelter came out and unloaded all the generous donations from Humboldt County. Numerous individual donors gave a total of $600 in art supplies, $1000 in food and hygiene products, and almost $2000 in cash, some of which paid for my gas to get there and back.
Hugo, whose creative interests lie primary in the performing arts, gathered the children by speaking through one of the hand puppets I had made as an example for the project. He (and the puppet) explained what we were about to do as several tables and chairs were being set up in the shelter courtyard. We invited adults to join in the fun, and several jumped right in as we started passing out the pre-assembled puppet heads, which consisted of a foam ball taped onto a toilet paper tube taped on to a small square of cardboard. These were assembled a couple of weeks earlier by several community volunteers in Arcata.
Because I cannot speak Spanish, I couldn’t say what the process was, but I could show it. I taped up a wad of paper for a snout of an animal, then taped that onto a mounted foam ball. Immediately, everyone started crumpling and taping paper shapes and forms, and attaching them to their puppet heads. Along with tape and paper, what I used to call “pipe cleaners”, now called “chenille stems”, were available to use. Many were inspired to use them as the framework for ears. We ended up with many rabbit and mice puppets.
The next step required tearing up small pieces of paper and attaching and smoothing them all over the taped-on shapes with Mod Podge, a very sticky and strong bonding paste that dries clear. Just as this step began, so did the wind which appeared to have made its way down through the desert, crossing the border into Mexico. The outdoor courtyard where we were working had wind whipping over the tables, scattering bits of blank newsprint all over the ground.
Somehow, we all persevered. Approximately 50 heads evolved out of the chaos and were placed in sunny spots to dry. Because we were in the desert, they dried quickly. The artists then picked out the preferred color for their puppet body. A box full of colorful felt, sewn together by Humboldt community volunteers, was opened and dug through by the many excited puppet makers. They all wrote their names on a piece of paper or tape and attached their name to the felt color of their choice. These were then put aside to be kept away from the next step which was painting. Humboldt County residents donated a wide assortment of acrylic craft paints. The puppet heads became alive with color and personality.
At this point, we all took a break for lunch. Hugo and I went out to my car to eat our own lunches, and in the short distance from the shelter to my car, we got covered in a thin layer of grit that coated our skin, hair, and clothes. The car and the windows were filthy from the dirty wind. As we sat inside my car, desert dust and pieces of trash blew past us. Across the street from the shelter in an empty lot was a makeshift tent-like shelter. A bare foot poked out from under a tarp. The poverty and homelessness in this border town are not hidden.
We both noticed a dark cloud forming a few blocks to the east, and watched a fire rapidly consume some small buildings, fed by the voracious wind. It was so strange to witness this tragedy unfold. There were no sirens or fire trucks. Just people standing by and watching as it all went up in flames. I was thankful that the wind was blowing in the opposite direction of the shelter.
We returned an hour later and adults helped children connect the puppet bodies to the puppet heads with hot glue guns between gusts of wind. Everyone added bits of felt and fabric to decorate their puppets. The wind picked up felt and feathers and little pom-poms (which were used for noses) and blew them all over the courtyard. Hugo was trying to cut a pair of felt pieces for the puppet of a young child. The pieces blew right out of his hands while he was cutting. I have never done an art project in a wind storm before! It was discouraging and irritating to me, but everyone else just kept working away at their creations. It was a lesson for me.
By the time 5 o’clock rolled around, the wind had died down and the puppets were mostly finished. Some amazing cleaner-uppers returned the shelter to its normal state. Then Hugo called all who could, or would, be photographed to the steps in the middle of the courtyard. As they assembled with their puppets, I saw the beautiful moment forming. Faces that had seemed blank and uncurious when we first arrived had changed into smiles and laughter, holding a completed creation that each maker got to keep. It was a wonderful moment and a wonderful day, even with the wind!
Maureen McGarry 