Armenia-Turkey Border: Fragmented thoughts and moments from a border village

After a week of visiting a border village school, I looked back at my notes, thoughts, and reflections.  I wanted to piece together some of these moments to help visualize this week.  While they appear as incomplete fragments of thoughts, I wrote it this way intentionally to reflect truly how I experienced these moments.

Listen...listen quietly...can you hear?  Borders tell us who belongs here and who doesn’t – you cannot touch the border, however be warned, the border can touch you, remind you that you don’t belong here or you can’t go past there.

You see, borders are not real – how can it be real if we cannot go near it, touch it, or stand on the other side? We live(d) on the "other" side - we live(d) together.  

When you approach the border, the border whispers gently, "you’re not welcome on this side".

Can borders be real because it marks where the land of one nation ends? Where you cannot go past unless you are allowed certain permissions? Some villagers are allowed to cross over to take care of their crops and return.

Borders cause fear and paranoia – what "globalized" world? What "global" citizenship?  But certainly post-national!

And, who are you?  Why are you taking pictures?  What are you doing here? Will you say and write good things about our village?

Illegal crossovers and other foreigners came through the village – why are they here?  We cannot have foreigners come through our village – only Armenians belong here.

Be careful of spies.

Scared of who, you ask?  Scared of the “enemy”.

Thinking about the future – if border village children want to leave and pursue a life away from their village, can they leave? If they leave, will they return?  

Stay here in the village, you don’t need to go out there.