Week 9: Meeting Cindyana Jones

Hey everyone!

Welcome back to another blog! 

For my documentary, I contacted leaders of volunteer organizations in the Bay Area and beyond to schedule interviews. I met Cindy this week and recorded our conversation about her service in Tijuana, and I have scheduled two more interviews! 

This week, I made my trip from San Diego to Tijuana! Cindy picked me up in the morning, and we drove an hour to the border, another 30 minutes to get the kids’ goods, and another 30 minutes to the lunch service place. I helped distribute potato chicken tacos, ice cream, cake, and fruit. It was Cindy’s birthday, so we celebrated with her! 

After lunch, we played games with the kids: bracelet-making, slime, bubbles, and airplane-making! The kids were so kind and so adorable. None of them spoke English and I couldn’t speak Spanish, but Cindy helped translate when needed, and I felt super connected to the kids. I enjoyed being there and meeting everyone! 

After that, we drove up to the border and waited in a long line to re-enter the United States. It’s just a line on a map, but it’s so different on both sides, and that really shocked me. In Tijuana, we drove on bumpy dirt roads and we saw an abundance of stray dogs on every corner. The dogs there aren’t sterilized so there’s a large influx of dogs licking the ground to find food. Compared to the dogs that my friends own, who are treated with an immense amount of care and effort— organic non-GMO doggy treats, constant trips to the vet, and doggy cones around their heads— the dogs in Tijuana are just cast away to roam around endlessly. 

As I made my trip back to the United States, I found myself driving on fully paved roads, with no dogs in sight and skyscrapers in the distance. It was just shocking to see how different the countries are. 

But at our core, I felt connected to the people and community in the short time I went. I wanted to end today’s blog with a quote from my conversation with Cindy. “One of my friends calls me Cindyana Jones because I love adventures!”

Thank you so much and see you next week!