Plying Sonora’s ‘human dump’
Tucson volunteers offer help –and hope
By BERN ZOVISTOSKI
The New Vision
The expansive view of the rolling hills in the distance belies the squalor all around them.
They live in makeshift shacks, constructed of discarded boards and other scrap material.
Their cluttered little community can be reached only by traveling a dusty dirt road that runs through the city dump in Nogales, Sonora.
One of the volunteers in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Tucson who help the downtrodden Mexicans who live there is Joe Bogushefsky.
The community, he said, is called “a human dump.”
Some of the men and women and children who exist there were deported from Arizona, Bogushefsky said as he distributed food and clothing during a recent visit.
Bogushefsky, a parishioner at St. Christopher Parish in Marana who will be ordained a deacon this month, is one of a group of volunteers who have formed an organization called “Poverty 24/6” to extend help to the poor in Mexico. He asked to be referred to as Joe.
Joe and others make the hour-long trip south across the border at least once a week, transporting supplies to those in need.
Early in the morning on April 3, he loaded his 1971 Ford pickup truck with supplies, clipped a tarp over the cargo bed and set out for Nogales. 
The supplies included individual “family-sized” food packages, as well as bags of rice, beans, flour and sugar, some pancake mix and syrup, and an assortment of used clothing.
Along the way, Joe pulled off Rte. 19 to stop at a supermarket and buy an assortment of candy and other treats for the kids.
Joe called upon his experience as a driver of an 18-wheeler to nimbly guide his pickup through the narrow, congested streets of Nogales, many of them unpaved, as he made his rounds.
First stop was at the home of his bilingual Mexican contact – Joe doesn’t speak Spanish.
The contact, Francisco Quintero, and his brother, Renee, off-loaded some of the rice, beans and flour for distribution to various alcohol and drug rehabilitation centers operated by Mexican volunteers, some of whom are deportees and reformed addicts themselves.
Then Joe drove across town to the dump, tooting his horn to alert the people that he had arrived. As his pickup clambered up a steep hill, women and children began to emerge from the shacks and gather at the rendezvous point.
Joe was greeted warmly as he handed out clean garbage bags containing a modest supply of food, including sandwich meat and bread, to each family. For the kids, he had Pop-Tarts and candy – enough to satisfy everyone.
A large pile of used clothing for children and adults was systematically sorted and claimed by the women.
After accepting thanks, Joe returned to Francisco’s house and the two of them drove to two of the rehab centers with the rest of the food. At each center they were received by grateful volunteers and many of the addicts they tend to 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The volunteers told Joe of their needs – for mattresses, refrigerators, stoves and other items – to maintain their efforts to help the “residents,” many of whom are picked up on the streets at night by volunteers who patrol for that purpose.
Back at Francisco’s place, Joe scheduled four more supply trips from Tucson for the remainder of April.
Joe told The New Vision that “Poverty 24/6” is a non-profit trusteeship. He and fellow trustees Rodney Kulpa, Sister Jane Eschweiler and Deacon Jim Burns have submitted the paperwork for approval by Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas. The project also has the support of Sonora Bishop José Ulises Macías Salcedo, Joe said.
Joe said that while there are many donors, he often pays for food and other items with his own money, describing his actions as his own form of tithing.
Desired items are donated by fellow parishioners at St. Christopher, Joe said, and from those of other parishes, including St. Mark and St. Elizabeth Ann Seaton, parish of Deacon Burns, the diocese’s Vicar for Deacons.
Within days of his return from Mexico, Bogushefsky said he had collected “five truckloads” of donations, including three bread-making machines, 10 coffee pots, numerous pots and pans, lanterns and a large selection of toys, blankets and bedding.
Want to help? See page 16.