The stomach flu hits Tucson--and us

Wed, 19 May 2010 01:07:22 +0100

I think we're now at eight for the stomach flu. Jessie succumbed today. We still have some holdouts who are confident that they won't get sick. We hope not because the rest of us need their energy.

One student lost, one student gained

Sun, 02 May 2010 12:42:56 +0100

One of our team, unfortunately, had to withdraw from our trip. Amber Bellazaire will no longer be going with us. Luckily for us, another student is able to accompany us. Welcome to Ladan Askar!

Sherrie

The letter that changed all our plans

Wed, 07 Apr 2010 23:56:41 +0100

As horrible as it is, it seems fitting that we start out this blog with the letter that sent all of us into a tailspin. On April 1st, 2010, the University of Michigan informed us that we could not go to Mexico (not an April Fool's joke--we checked). Our challenge is to keep this trip an incredible experience even though we are so disappointed as individuals and a group. Life is what happens when you're making plans. The letter follows:

Hi all--

I want to let all of you know that the university has withdrawn permission for us to go to Mexico. As we've talked about, Nogales has experienced a lot of violence recently. In the past few weeks, the situation has just become way too volatile and, while the violence is targeted, the possibility of being caught up in a dangerous situation is just too high.

Here is the text of their decision: "The ITOC committee met yesterday to discuss the safety and security situation in northern Mexico. We reviewed reports from the State Department’s Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC), which provides incident reports and analyses on security risks for international travel. On Tuesday I also spoke with the head of the US citizen affairs office at the US consulate in Nogales. On the basis of these reports and my conversation with the consular official, ITOC has concluded that the recent increase in killings, gunfights, armed robberies, roadblocks and other serious incidents in Nogales and other parts of northern Mexico, and the increasing unpredictability of where and when such incidents occur, makes conditions too dangerous to allow University-sponsored student travel. I am emailing you some reports concerning problems in the Nogales area that make clear the risks of travel to the area. We realize that this is a disappointment to you and your GIEU students, and we hope that relocating the Nogales portion of the project to the Tucson area will still allow your students to observe and understand the extraordinary and tragic turbulence that is gripping the US-Mexican border."

WE WILL still work with Borderlinks, but in the Tucson area. AND WE WILL still work on the desert portion of our trip--that does not change at all as a result of the university's decision. Everybody has heard the saying that the Chinese character for crisis is the same as the character for opportunity (is that true, Jessie?). Let's look at this as an opportunity to do something even more amazing.

Now, for the good news: We got the technology grant for the photo workshops and I've asked Borderlinks to find us some kids. We also can have some more free range travel. Finally--the restriction of never going out at night has been lifted.

I hope each of you will inform your parents right away so that those who have been worrying about your travel to Mexico can begin to relax. If anyone has any questions, please feel free to contact me or Libby by phone. You can call or you can text anytime. We'll have a long talk about this on Thursday when we meet (at 7:30 am, room 3752, good breakfast, remember?).

Sherrie