DALLAS – It all began with a question and a conversation over dinner.
"Yes, this is where it all started. We had CNN on there," said Vinay Tambe, father. Between bites, his son, Ekansh, had questions that mom and dad couldn't answer.
"He just wanted to understand how the border worked. He had a million questions like how did the fence look,” explained Shruti Sharma, mother.
What is the border really like between Texas and Mexico?
"Until you see it and get the facts, you won't know the actual situation down there," said Ekansh, 13.
This eighth grader, who recently began studying photography, wanted to see it for himself. "I was just thinking out loud, kind of. What if we did this? This would be really cool,” he said.
"I did not hesitate, but I will tell you that mom was a little worried,” said Vinay, smiling.
What Ekansh witnessed, wasn't what he expected.
"What I saw on the news was basically this is a really terrible problem. Nobody knows the solution to it. People are jumping over every day. It's so bad right,” he said.
Ekansh, a student at St. Mark’s School of Texas, discovered that crossing illegally is not as easy as he thought.
"I saw that it's really not very easy. These border patrol agents they have these gadgets everywhere. sensors, trip wires, everything,” he added.
But after a weekend in the Rio Grande Valley, Ekansh convinced his dad to visit the border in West Texas, then New Mexico, Arizona and California.
Using his DSLR camera, this eighth grader documented all 1,954 miles of the United States’ southern border.
"That was over about 11 or 12 days. I have a total of about 3,000 photos," Ekansh said.
"He has realized there's a different world than the world that he lives in. There is a different culture. People on the other side of the border work for $8 a day compared to a minimum of $8 an hour in the United States," added Vinay.
But after seeing the southern border, Ekansh hit his dad with another idea.
"He wanted to expand this border theme and go to places he was not familiar with. And what came to mind was to take a trip to Korea,” said Vinay.
Seriously.
This father and son spent five days in Korea visiting the DMZ – the 38th parallel – and the contentious border between South and North Korea. "It was kind of scary. But yeah, I'm glad I did it. It was another great experience,” Ekansh said.
After two big trips, this 13-year-old began to discover something about himself.
"Yeah, definitely. I felt a lot of empathy. I feel like I came out a better person after this trip, after listening to these people and all the hardships they go through,” he explained.
Dinner with his family the other day led to another conversation. "Uh, next I'm thinking about the Israel, Palestine border," the eighth-grader said.
That is a trip they are now planning this summer.
"I know that Israel, Palestine may be a different problem all together. We need to watch out for shoulder to air missiles. But we'll watch out for that and maybe Ekansh might get a photograph of that,” said Vinay, only half-joking about the volatility of the Middle East.
Political borders generate sharp opinions. But few people have done what this 13-year-old has and gone to see them for himself.
He’s returning home with a new perception and the passport and pictures to prove it.