My first day in Yuma: Part I

What can I write about today? My day actually started around 5:30a.m. when I woke. Fernie (the humanitarian aid volunteer worker) wasn’t coming until 7:30 but I needed to prepare. I had donations to sort, deciding which will stay here, which we go on to other locations. I had my coffee to heat up, water bottles to fill, check my email and messages – in addition to the teeth brushing, face washing, dressing chores to prepare for a new day.

I’m parked in the Cocopah Nation’s casino parking lot – not legally, but not very stealth either. As I prepare to put my coffee inside the cab, I notice a man approaching who has to be security. He starts a conversation with asking if this is my truck and what does it mean. So I have to begin with the #SayHerName list of the Black and brown womyn and girls who have been murdered by police.

We go on to the MMIW red dress and he asks me if he can take a picture of my truck – to which of course I agree.

He starts to ask me if I slept in my truck last night and I ask him if he wants to see the rest of the truck. I explain how the back is still a work in progress and then show him the anti-monsanto-now-fuckin-bayer side.

When I tell him I’m waiting for Fernie , he talks about being an immigrant, living in Yuma and having two family houses across the border into Mexico – one directly on the border town and one several miles south.

He says there is no trouble, that the hype about violence is just that. At least he hasn’t experienced trouble. He says the trouble is not in the city but out in the desert where the drug dealers, coyotes, and cartel reign.

When Fernie arrives, Raul is telling me about how three years ago he was feeling some kind of digestive issue so he went to see a doctor in Yuma. He said the womon at the desk took him into a room, asked him questions, talked for exactly 5 minutes, then told him she’d share the info with the doc and depending on what he said, she’ll let him know.

He looks at me and says that they billed him for $500 for that visit. $500… Raul asked Fernie to take a picture of us in front of the “End Violence” side before we left for the border. And after Raul told me if I spend the night again, I need to park behind the building – and not sleep in the truck. Or go to the $10 rv parking lot on the other side of the building.