Did I ever tell you about the time my husband tried to kill me?

The first thing you notice about Cataviňa is the surreal landscape—exclusively saguaro cactus and giant boulders.  The second thing you see (if you look really closely) is that it would be a great place for your husband, Paul, to kill you, confident in the knowledge that no one would ever find the body.

I first learned of this tiny Baja, Mexico town when a friend told me that she was so creeped out by the place that she had vowed never to spend the night there. Of course, as soon as I heard that, I knew I had to see it for myself. And the timing was good–I had an essay due in Spanish class. I figured I could write about the trip.

So Paul and I, and our son, piled into our old 4-Runner and headed out for Cataviňa. We arrived in the evening, and after checking into a unexpectedly sweet room in the town’s only motel, we skipped across the street to the unnamed café owned by the Ramirez family. Paul struck up a conversation with the owner’s adult son who described the local attractions. Nearby there was a small museum, an archeological site where visitors could find fossils, a grove of rare blue palms, and a nature preserve. Almost as an afterthought it seemed, Paul asked about the Mission de Santa Maria. Young Senor Ramirez explained that it was about 25 miles outside of town, and looking at our 4-wheel drive he said the road, “es no problema por tu coche.” (It’s no problem for your car.)

The next morning our after -breakfast conversation went something like this:

Me:      Okay, how about we go to the museum, the archeological site, and then the blue palms? If there is time, we can drive to the nature preserve.

(My family nods in agreement)

Paul:    Yes, it’s agreed, we’ll go to the Mission.

Me:      Huh?

Thoroughly outsmarted, I didn’t object. We headed out toward the Mission—I drove and he navigated—on a road that went from bad, to worse, to ‘no one in their right mind would call this a road’ status. About every fifteen minutes I asked, “Are you sure this is the right road?” Each time he’d look at the map, then check the GPS, and say, “Yes. This is the road.” (I know now that I should have been asking, “Are you out of your freaking mind!? I have no idea what we’re doing out here. Shouldn’t we turn back before it’s too late?!”) Paul admitted later that he’d learned about the Mission because it was on the cover of a 4-wheel drive magazine. But I didn’t know this until it was far too late, and all I could say was “You…have…got…to…be…kidding!”

Our Baja atlas showed a road just beyond the Mission that led back to town. Paul was sure this road was better than the one we were on—which begs the question, why didn’t we just take that road in the first place? But it was comforting to know that we were going to go back on a different road, because it was clear that there was no way we would be able to go back the way we came. We barely made it through the quagmire-y mud bog and river beds, or across the boulders the first time.

After five excruciating, nail biting hours of driving we discovered the promised road didn’t exist. As for the Mission, there wasn’t much to see. It took us about ten minutes to thoroughly investigate its 2 ½ crumbling walls.

About the time it started to sink in that we were going to have to take that same horrendous road back, we realized three other crucial things: no one knew where we were, we had no way to contact anyone if we broke down, and if we couldn’t make back it up the rock inclines between us and Cataviňa, one of us was going to have to walk out to get help.

At one point our adolescent son asked me if we were going to die out there, to which I replied, “We can’t. I haven’t turned in my Spanish composition yet.” It’s hard to recall now if this happened before or after the “baloney water” conversation.

I was taking stock of our supplies and I opened the cooler to see what was there. A package of baloney had bounced out of the upper tray and into the melted ice water below. I was about to dump out this greasy, nasty baloney water when Paul walked by, saw what I was doing, and said, “not yet.” That’s when I knew how deep we were in.

As it turned out, the way back wasn’t impassible, but it certainly was hair raising. I did put a small dent in the truck when we were cornering airborne through the bog and the rear end hit a small tree truck jutting out into the road (and I do use that word loosely.)

Indeed, I did write an essay about the trip. When my professor, a hilarious and kind Costa Rican woman, turned it back to me she said, “Your husband tried to kill you.” I had suffered just enough to get an “A.”

10 Things You Should Know About Volunteer Travel

Ever wanted to travel to a far off land and put your skills to use for a worthy cause? I say, “Do it!” These trips can be amazing adventures that change your whole outlook.

Here are a few things you should know:

1.   You will get as much (or more) from the experience as those you helped. You go with the intention of helping others, but you’re likely to come home feeling as if you were the one who received. Volunteer travel has a way of putting your life into perspective, and you will gain a great deal from the experience.

2. No matter what your skills are, somebody out there needs you. Organizations are looking for people with skills in the medical, business, agricultural, and education fields. There are construction projects, orphanages, and village schools looking for willing helpers. You can even teach reading or your native language to people excited to learn. There are so many ways to help!

3. Follow your passion. Are you concerned about clear cutting in the Amazon rainforest? Anxious to end modern slavery? Heartbroken over the plight of AIDS orphans in Africa? There is an organization working on the problem that tugs at your heart. Roll up your sleeves and start researching. Keep looking until you find the right overseas non-profit working on your cause.

4. To get the most out of the experience, do your homework on the country and the culture. You are likely to be faced with vastly different ways of doing things. The more you know about the country’s history and the people’s culture, the easier it will be for you to understand why things are the way they are. Remember too, that people in the host country will have a different way of seeing the world. Try to develop an understanding of their perspective before you get there. This will save you from making misinformed judgments.

5. If there’s somewhere you’ve always wanted to go, start your search for opportunities there. Personally, it’s Africa that I hear calling. Where are you called to go? Asia? The Pacific Islands? South America? Every country has programs looking for enthusiastic people to help.

6. There are different kinds of volunteer opportunities for different kinds of people. Some organizations put you to work, others educate you on an issue while giving you an opportunity to get your feet wet. If you want to get your hands dirty, look for an organization that needs help with a specific project such as constructing a community building or digging a well. If you are passionate about a social issue, chances are there are non-profits who want to help engage you on the very cause you are passionate about.

7. The longer you are willing to stay, the more of your expenses will be covered. Nearly all short-term volunteer opportunities will require you to pay your own travel expenses. Some non-profits provide for your food and lodging; others do not. However, if you are willing to stay for nine months or more, there are many organizations who will pay your travel costs, and your living expenses for the duration of your stay. Some even offer a stipend for incidentals.

8. If you are concerned about having a lasting impact, look for an organization which has long-term involvement in the region. For instance, if you’re building a school, does the organization or the receiving community have a plan for paying the teacher? If you are installing a water purification system, will the community receive ongoing support to keep the system running? I recently heard of a village which was the recipient of such a water system. One of the units is now being used as a flower pot, another as a baby bassinet. The non-profit installed the system and moved on—no follow up. This happens more often than you might think.

9. As soon as you arrive, make an effort to learn the most useful words in the native language. Start by learning how to say, “Hello” “Please” and, of course, “Thank You.” Take every opportunity to learn new words as you go. You can be sure that the people you are there to help will be impressed and appreciative of your efforts.

10. While you are there, keep an eye out for needs you can help meet after you’ve returned home. For instance, during a trip to Cambodia we delivered school supplies to an impoverished village. I learned that the village had no medical supplies whatsoever—there wasn’t so much as an aspirin in the whole community. When I got home I raised a modest amount money and put together a comprehensive first aid kit for the community. I then made arrangements to send the duffle bag full of supplies with the organization’s next team going over. It was a great opportunity to magnify the impact of my original volunteer work.

by Tammara Phillips

TamPhi7@gmail.com

Freedom and Justice For All? Part 2

A Push For Reform

There are calls for reform of both the prison system and the judicial methods used with non-violent drug offenders.

The National Criminal Justice Commission Act

After researching the justice and prison systems in the U.S. for the past two years, Senator Jim Webb has concluded that, “We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long…” In March he introduced The National Criminal Justice Commission Act of 2009 in the Senate. The bill aims to create a bi-partisan “commission to look at every aspect of our criminal justice system with an eye toward reshaping the process…and [to] make concrete recommendations about [reforms].”

Should the legislation pass, the Commission will be charged with reviewing all areas of Federal and State criminal justice practices and making specific findings. According to the bill’s fact sheet, the panel would examine and make policy recommendations on such matters as:

• Reasons for increase in the U.S. incarceration rate compared to historical standards

• Incarceration and other policies in similar democratic, western countries

• Prison administration policies, including the availability of pre-employment training programs and career progression for guards and prison administrators

• Costs of current incarceration policies at the federal, state, and local level

• The impact of gang activities, including foreign syndicates

• Drug policy and its impact on incarceration, crime, and sentencing

• Policies as they relate to the mentally ill

• The historical role of the military in crime prevention

Drug Courts

These special courts are designed specifically to address drug offenses. The concept was pioneered in Dade County, Florida twenty years ago. Drug Court judges oversee these community-based programs, and closely supervise offenders’ treatment and rehabilitation over the long term.

A great deal of research has been conducted on the effectiveness of drug courts, and the data points to the conclusion that recidivism rates are lower for offenders who participate in these programs as compared to those who are given probation & mandated treatment or prison sentences through traditional courts. The judicial costs are approximately 40% lower per offender in these courts, as well. (This doesn’t include savings realized by not incarcerating offenders.)

Congress approved a record $64 million for Drug Courts; and the Obama Administration’s 2010 draft budget includes $118 million for Drug Courts. Savings estimates are promising. According to national security analyst, General Barry McCaffrey,  “A $250 million annual Federal investment would reap staggering savings, with an estimated annual return of as much as $840 million in net benefits from avoided criminal justice costs alone and another 2.2 billion in savings to our communities.”

Freedom and Justice For All? Part 1

“An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”

-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

We, as a nation, take pride in the fact that our country was founded on the ideals of justice and the protection of liberty. In reality, we incarcerate more citizens than any other nation in the world—5 times more on average. The United States claims 25% of the world’s incarcerated people, yet we have less than 5% of the world’s population. Keeping such a vast number of people behind bars costs the American taxpayers $68 billion dollars a year.

California Prision

The percentage of our population in prison exceeds that of Russia & China combined, and we incarcerate up to seven times more often than our western allies. In addition, we are the only nation in the world to mete out decades-long prison sentences to adolescent and pre-adolescent offenders. In doing so we violate international law and ignore international norms.

Some might assume that our high incarceration rate, as compared with that of other countries, is due to a higher crime rate. Not so. The U.S. incarcerates more people per incident of crime than other counties. There is no correlation between crime rate and incarceration rate in the United States.

Senator Jim Webb and his staff have been researching the justice and prison systems in the U.S. for two years. His conclusion? “America’s criminal justice system has deteriorated to the point that it is a national disgrace.”

The Facts:

• We currently have 2.3 Million people behind bars
• Children as young as 12 are being tried as adults and receiving multi-decade or life sentences to be served out in adult prisons
• 1 in every 31 adults in the U.S. is either in prison or on supervised release
• There are 4 times as many mentally ill people in prison as there are in psychiatric hospitals
• African-Americans are more than 6 times as likely to be incarcerated as whites; Latinos are twice as likely
• Nearly 60% of the people in state prisons serving time for drug offenses have no history of violence and were not accused of selling drugs.

How We Got Here

According to research conducted by Christopher Hartney and the National Council on Crime and Delinquency (NCCD) the trend over the last 30 years has been for the US to “…rely on imprisonment as its response to all types of crime.”

Three elements have significantly contributed to this trend over the past three decades:

In the 1970s, the ‘Rockefeller Drug Laws’ were enacted in New York. In an effort to deter would-be users, and to isolate those who were caught possessing drugs, these laws promised severe punishment for substance abuse and included mandatory sentences for even first-time, non-violent offenders. A cascade of harsher drug sentences across the United States ensued.

In the 1980s Americans became increasingly anxious about crime. The media sensationalized isolated, but heinous, crimes, contributing to this anxiety. In turn, politicians crafted increasingly punitive initiatives. This led to laws such as Mandatory Minimum sentencing, “Three Strikes”, and other such legislation. The result was longer sentences and an increased number of arrests for an ever-widening range of offenses.

Prison guard associations have grown powerful. For the most part, prior to 1982 Prison Guard Unions had the limited role of advocating for the rights and benefits of their members. In the 80s, guards had a falling out with the labor movement, and guard associations emerged to fill the void. The associations have been committed to a far broader agenda than were their union predecessors. According to reporter, Adam Doster, “[The associations] staunchly protect their workers while appealing to lawmakers who are receptive to ‘tough on crime’ legislation that might prove profitable down the road.” It appears that they have been successful in their efforts to lobby for laws that will effectively increase the number of people in prison.

Over time the combination of these factors has given rise to a very powerful prison-industrial complex which vigorously advocates for tougher laws, more punitive sentencing, and the building of additional prisons.

A Push For Reform

Senator Webb has concluded that, “We need to fix the system. Doing so will require a major nationwide recalculation of who goes to prison and for how long…”

Watch for Part 2 detailing prison reform efforts in the United States

U.S. Citizen Abducted, Tortured in Philippines

Melissa Roxas Los Angeles Press conference

In May Filipino-American Melissa Roxas, was kidnapped and tortured over a six day period while in the Philippines. Roxas alleges that her captors were part of the Philippine Military (AFP), but the government has denied any involvement and says an investigation of the incident is underway. Two companions were taken along with Ms. Roxas, though they have yet to re-surface and their fate is currently unknown.

According to the victim, the three were traveling through the Tarlac province, scouting locations for a medical mission being planned by BANYAN. They had stopped at the home of a local man to rest when approximately eight armed men burst into the home, blindfolded Roxas and her companions, then forced them into an unmarked van.

From there they were transported to unknown location. Ms. Roxas was kept blindfolded throughout her detainment, and says she suffered food and sleep deprivation, beatings, and asphyxiation at the hands of her captors. (Her affidavit appears here: http://philcsc.wordpress.com/2009/06/06/melissa-roxas-affidavit-on-her-torture-by-arroyo-military/ )

A number of agencies, including Amnesty International and the United Nations, have reported that the AFP is responsible for human rights violations, including extra-judicial executions, torture, and kidnappings. In addition, one month before Ms Roxas abduction, the UN Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) made public a report detailing the Philippine Military’s use of torture against civilians.

The Presidential Human Rights Committee, an arm of the Philippine government under President Arroyo, claims Roxas has fabricated the entire incident “…at the expense of the Philippine government.” In 2005, Roxas investigated human rights violations throughout the Philippines under the current  administration. She is a member of BANYAN, a group opposing Arroyo’s administration.

Bayan’s Secretary General, Renato Reyes Jr, stated, “There is credible basis to say that Melissa was abducted by the military as part of the government’s counterinsurgency operations.” During the ordeal, Ms. Roxas recalls one of her interrogators revealing that those who tortured her, “…came from the SOG,” (Special Operations Group).

The Philippine government receives material support from the United States in the form of military aid, weapons, and training as part of the ten-year-old Visiting Forces Agreement. The VFA is the legal instrument allowing U.S. Forces to utilize the Philippines as military outpost from which to conduct the war on terror. Since the agreement was ratified in 1999, the U.S. has granted nearly $1 billion in military support to the Philippines.