Editorial Blog Article

Sr. Maria Louise's Desert Rescue

A yell rang out across the quiet of the desert. The Águilas Del Desierto (Eagles of the Desert) team at base camp looked around, confused. Volunteers had been out on a search mission for less than an hour, and they wouldn’t have returned so soon. The team looked around for the tell-tale neon yellow shirts worn by the searchers. As a man appeared, walking towards them, they saw not a yellow shirt – but a blue one. With trepidation, they watched him approach until they realized who he was: a migrant on the verge of death by dehydration. 

In the flatness of the desert, he had seen their van and come to them for help. The team immediately gave him water, and he flopped to the ground, hyperventilating, crying, and giving thanks to God. He had very little water and hadn’t eaten in three days. His feet were covered in blisters after trekking through the desert for four days. The Honduran man was a soldier, driven out of his country by gangs who despise members of the police and military; they drove him from the country with death threats. If not for Águilas del Desierto, this man’s death would have been caused by the wilderness instead.

“He just would not have made it with the condition of his feet. He probably had another day or two of walking ahead before he would reach civilization. But he would have to have known which way to turn. On his own, not knowing where he was going, he would not have made it,” said Sr. Maria Louise Edwards, vice president of Águilas del Desierto.

The man knew that he couldn’t keep going in his condition. He agreed to receive medical care and plead his case for asylum. His phone had died days ago, and the team helped him call his family to let them know he was safe. At one point, he reached over and grabbed Sister’s cross, kissing it. She told him that she was a sister, but that she didn’t speak much Spanish. Unconcerned about the language barrier, he just kept talking to her and glorifying God for saving him.

“I’ve never been there for a live rescue before, and to be honest, it was very emotional,” said Sr. Maria Louise. “At first, I was just responding to his reaction and the realization that he wasn’t going to die. It’s hard to put into words. At the time, I wasn’t thinking ‘we’ve just saved someone’s life.’”

Sr. Maria Louise spoke with anguish and anger as she described the lack of compassion for migrants she has heard and witnessed during her time with Águilas. Some people fail to understand that a belief in the sacredness of human life extends to those traveling through perilous conditions across national borders. Some have criticized this mission and blamed migrants for the “poor decisions” that led them to travel through excruciatingly dangerous conditions in the desert.

Most of the people Águilas del Desierto have been asked to look for, and most of the remains they have found, have been young people under age 25. “Our brains are not fully formed at 25,” points out Sr. Maria Louise. “How can you fault someone for making an uninformed decision? One of the reasons the wall was built out that far, was the idea of: deterrent by death. It hasn’t worked. The wall funnels people into the most difficult area of crossing. It hasn’t stopped them. Instead, more people lose their lives.”

The opportunity to help save lives and rectify this lack of compassion has been a blessing to Sr. Maria Louise: “I’m just so grateful to God that he lets me be a part of this ministry and do this as part of my religious vocation. It has helped me to understand what it means to be a sister. I never understood until I encountered Águilas that sisters are like first responders in a certain sense, because we look for the suffering and that’s where we go.”

Learn more about Águilas del Desierto, their work and how to support a search at AguilasDelDesierto.org.