Words by Smiley Team
Professors Ronald Rael and Virginia San Fratello traveled to Sunland Park, New Mexico this week in order to build a “Teeter-Toller Wall” into the slatted border fence separating the city from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico.
The set of seesaws allow children and adults from both sides of the fence to play together—all while still being on their own respective sides of the border.
Rael and Fratello first got the idea for their international play structure back in 2009. After they succeeded in conceptualizing the idea into a book, the Teeter-Toller Wall finally came to fruition this week—and “with no advance planning for participants on the Mexico side of the fence, this unifying act took place,” wrote the University of California where Rael teaches.
“One of the most incredible experiences of my and Virginia San Fratello’s career [is] bringing to life the conceptual drawings of the Teeter-Totter Wall from 2009 in an event filled with joy, excitement, and togetherness at the borderwall,” said Rael in an Instagram post.
“The wall became a literal fulcrum for US-Mexico relations and children and adults were connected in meaningful ways on both sides with the recognition that the actions that take place on one side have a direct consequence on the other side,” he added.
Original article by McKinley Corbley - Source Good News Network
Photo by Magaret Weir on Unsplash
