Locals Are Using the US-Mexico Border Fence as a Giant Volleyball Net Jake Flanagin - Quartz
go to original August 22, 2015

The frontier between the United States and Mexico is the busiest land border in the world. It is also among one of the world’s most heavily regulated and policed border zones - the arid climate of which is responsible for many migrant deaths each year.

But it’s also an area that occasionally lends itself to more cheerful pursuits - something you won’t hear about from a number of far-right US politicians, who prefer to frame the US-Mexico border as something like a war zone.



“Wallyball” is an annual tradition in the sister towns of Naco, Arizona, in the United States and Naco, Sonora, in Mexico. Every spring, teams from either side of the border face off in this “fast-paced version of volleyball,” reports Rafa Fernandez De Castro for Fusion.

“For us, it represents the the celebration of the union of two countries.” It’s called the “Fiesta Bi-Nacional,” and it’s intended to solidify positive transnational relations between Mexico and the US, despite tensions over migration and other issues. “Wallyball” has been an integral part of Fiesta Bi-Nacional since 1979, and has inspired similar competitions elsewhere along the US-Mexico border. Holiday-makers in the US city of San Diego and the Mexican city of Tijuana have taken up impromptu volleyball matches on the sandy beaches where both countries meet the Pacific Ocean.

Read the rest at Quartz

Photo: Reuters/Jeff Topping

We invite you to add your charity or supporting organizations' news stories and coming events to PVAngels so we can share them with the world. Do it now!