Posted by student ALEJANDRO AVILES – The first night in my new home in Chetumal, Mexico, my boss was flipping through channels to keep our minds off the hot, humid evening as he stopped on the movie “The Terminal” with Tom Hanks. Viktor Navorski is the name of his eastern European character that had just arrived in New York’s JFK airport.
As Viktor approached the immigration check point, he saw breaking news of armed forces and tanks on the television screen whose civil war left no official governing power to his home country. The immigration agent, who had much room for improvement on her personal skills, curtly told him his country no longer existed, which invalidated his passport meaning he could not legally leave the airport terminal.
My boss, the federal representative of the Mexican Commission for Refugee Aid (COMAR) for the state of Quintana Roo, turned to me and said, “He needs to call our office. We’ll help him.” Although Tom Hanks attempting to live in an airport terminal provided a great plot for a box office hit, the situation of refugees across the world lacks such comedic relief.
In the near 30 year history of the COMAR’s history, they have assisted refugees from all over the world. My office, situated on the eastern-most coast of the Yucatan Peninsula in the state’s capital, coordinates the sustainability and self-sufficiency of four villages where Guatemalan refugees have settled away from the political turmoil that devastated their country in the 1980s.
In the coming weeks of my international public service project, I will be working with the COMAR and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Mexico to develop a pilot program’s strategic plan to relocate 10 refugees from Mexico City to match their capacities with opportunities in the state of Quintana Roo. Wish me success and I look forward to keeping you posted on our school’s blog.