World Food Day 2019 (Part 3): Collaborations, Chants and Blessings

While the emphasis of our World Food Day celebration was on local sourcing and sustainability (see Part 1 and Part 2), we also promoted the ability of our faith communities to collaborate and to work together to address local human needs.

Jessica Corley and Rachel Sternheim, Congregation Albert

Helping Central American Refugees
Jessica Corley of Congregation Albert spoke of the commitment by her congregation and Nahalat Shalom to support asylum seekers from Central America earlier this year.

The two Jewish congregations were part of a broad coalition of faith communities that supported the asylees. Others involved in this work were Catholic Charities, Lutheran Family Services, St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church and Albuquerque Interfaith. '

Even though the federal government has shut down the flow of asylum seekers, Jewish Asylum Seekers Initiative continues to support efforts at the border by providing shelters in Juarez, Mexico, with life sustaining food, supplies and financial support.

In addition to the threat of violence from criminal organizations and drug traffickers, many of the asylees were forced to leave their homeland because of the impact of climate change on their ability to survive."Smallscale producers and rural communities remain the most vulnerable to drought, an important socioeconomic phenomenon--given its effects on the loss of livelihoods, decapitalization of household economies, impoverishment and migration to overpopulated urban centres," the Food and Agriculture Organization said in a recent report.

America Burciaga

SNAP, Title I and Support for Public Schools
The formula used by Albuquerque Public Schools for counting Title I eligibility is unfair to schools with a large number of immigrants.

America Burciaga, a student at South Valley Academy, spoke about the appeal she made at an APS School Board meeting. APS uses SNAP eligibility as opposed to school lunch forms.

I am both sad and disappointed that my school is being treated unequally because we have undocumented students.  Title I is a federal program designed to help all students, not just those that were born in the United states.  Most parents at South Valley Academy, just like my own mom and dad, came from different countries such as Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and so many others, looking for a better future, for themselves as well as their children.

The reliance on SNAP for the APS forumla could create additional elegibility problems in the future if the federal administration follows through with its threats to remove more people (including legal immigrants) from the SNAP rolls.

"Last spring, [the federal administration] put out a proposal for new time restrictions on food assistance for adults. This summer their proposal took power away from the states and made it harder for hungry families to access the help they need. And now, they’re going after poor people once again, taking $4.5 billion out of SNAP benefits over the next five years," said Food Policy Action. "Congress debated – and rejected – each of these cuts when it passed a bipartisan farm bill in 2018. So they’re going after hungry people through regulations."

A Baha'i-Muslim Outreach
The Lighthouse of New Mexico mosque and the Albuquerque Baha’i community are working together to offer meals for homeless people in Albuquerque. The two communities first became acquainted at the 2018 World Food Day  at La Mesa Presbyterian Church.The joint effort provides 250 to 300 meals each Thursday.

A special byproduct of their collaboration  are the joint prayer gatherings held before the members for the two groups and other in the community go out with food sacks to distribute in Albuquerque's International District (still known by some by its previous name of "the war zone.")

According to Caroline Hess, members of the Albuquerque Baha'i Community meet on Wednesday evenings by preparing sandwiches and other items. Two other volunteers prepare other items, including cookies baked with nutritional ingredients like whey.

The effort, said Hess, has expanded beyond the Baha'i-Muslim community, as other groups like the Bosque Center for Spiritual Living have joined in the collaboration.

We come together as friends, as partners, and it has made a difference in doubling our output of food for homeless people, but also bringing two communities together in friendship with kindness and honor and respect. One of those special parts of our program before we go out into the street is a joint prayer. It's really a special thing.   Imam Abdur Rauf, The Lighthouse of New Mexico

One of the Baha'i community's principles is that service is prayer. It is the greatest prayer to God is to care for his trust. His trust are the poor.  -Caroline Hess, Albuquerque Baha'i Community

Prayers, Reflections, Chants and Blessings
Our World Food Day celebration included two Sikh reflections, prayers and chants and a Cherokee closing blessing.

Dr. G. Dave Singh


Manjeet Kuar


Beverly Wilkins

Support Annunciation House in El Paso

Annunciation House

Linda Swindle, Glenn Rosendale and other volunteers from Casa de las Comunidades Catholic Worker House in Albuquerque make frequent trips to El Paso to bring food, clothing and other items to Annunciation House and other organizations in that border community that support refugees. Here is a note from Linda about a recent trip as well as information on how we can help.

February 16, 2019
Dear Friends,

Yesterday, Glenn and I made our 9th trip to El Paso. The shelter/motel which has become our main contact was expecting 120 refugees that day, and expected to need space at a Budget Motel next door to accommodate the group.

A flustered volunteer showed us all the underwear they had to distribute, folded and stacked on a double bed, clearly inadequate to the onslaught of needs she was facing. For a panoramic view, consider that 500 refugees total were expected that day for all Annunciation House shelters.

Glenn will make an extra trip next Friday, February 22, and we both will go again on Friday March 1. We decided to concentrate our donation request on the following:

• UNDERWEAR! children’s and small adults; (don’t forget men’s underwear, both briefs and boxers, colored if possible). Remember that these refugees are small. Youth 14-16 fits most men
• MEDICINES: cold/cough/ decongestants, cough drops, pain medicines in the following categories: infant, under age 12, and adult
• INDIVIDUAL SNACKS for traveling: cases of nutrition bars, fruit bars, Rice Krispy Treats (kids love them); small packets of nuts, cracker/peanut butter kits (eg. “Jif To-Go” at Sam’s Club/Costco, Austin’s Toasty peanut butter crackers)
• INDIVIDUAL SHELF-LIFE MILK BOXES
• SMALL BACKPACKS; also tote bags for adults
• CASH as always, checks ok to “Annunciation House”

If you prefer to contribute by mail, go to annunciationhouse.org where you can donate by PayPal, or mail your check to Annunciation House, 815 Myrtle Ave, El Paso, TX 79901

With exception of Annunciation House, most shelters have no kitchens and rely on local families to supply 3 meals a day (!), we don’t have room for bulk ingredients such as pancake mix.

To arrange contact, text or call Glenn (505-489-8100) who lives in SE Albuquerque and Linda (505-515-6241) who lives in Taylor Ranch.

We are so grateful to have your support and prayers! As 6-month volunteer “Sue” said to us, it’s unimaginable to think of these refugees as criminals. Look at them. They are so hopeful, so thankful for anything, so eager to help.

Bless you all!

Linda and Glenn
Casa de las Comunidades Catholic Worker

Sacred Heart Church in El Paso Attends to Migrants and Refugees

Pope Francis calls us all to go to the margins. The margins and the marginalized look differently throughout the world, and here in El Paso, the Jesuit community makes great efforts to follow this call...The mission of Sacred Heart Church and its strategic location continue to give it relevance, especially when there is an increase in immigrant scapegoating, making them the lightning rod for complex problems in our nation. The mission of the Jesuits in El Paso is an ongoing response to the call of Pope Francis and the Society of Jesus to attend to the migrant, refugee and those on the margins.   -Father Rafael Garcia, S.J.

Photo: Ignatian Solidarity Network

Father Rafael Garcia, who served as pastor of Immaculate Conception Church in Albuquerque for many years (and St. Francis Xavier Parish in Kansas City, Mo., for a couple of years), wrote a nice article about the work of the Jesuit community, and specifically Sacred Heart Parish, situated just blocks from the border that separates El Paso from Ciudad Juárez. Father Rafael recently returned to El Paso to help with Sacred Heart's work with immigrants and refugees.The church attends to one group in particular: women, youth and children fleeing violence in Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. Read Father Rafael's full article in Ignatian Solidarity Network.

Immigration Rights Advocate to Address Refugee Issue on Sunday

Photo: Pax Christi

Immigration rights advocate Ruben García of Annunciation House in El Paso.is the featured speaker on a forum on immigration and refugees at All Saints Lutheran Church, 4800 All Saints Road, NW, near Paseo del Norte and Coors (map), on Sunday, Dec. 4, at 4:00 p.m.  The New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice is the lead sponsor of the event.

García will speak to the Albuquerque faith community about refugees fleeing violence and abject poverty in Central America and Mexico. The refugees are crossing into El Paso and New Mexico in large numbers, and Annunciation House is helping those who are found by immigration authorities to pose no threat and are released to await their hearings for refugee/asylum status.

Welcoming the Stranger
Each year, García travels to universities and other venues throughout the United States. with the compelling message of welcoming the stranger. His work has been widely recognized in the news media, including this information in a piece published by The Christian Science Monitor.

•  In 1976, Ruben García was part of a Catholic youth group in El Paso whose members reflected on the scriptures and felt called to live simply and serve people in poverty.
• The Catholic Diocese there provided them a building near the international border. Mother Teresa visited El Paso in 1978 and encouraged Mr. García to “announce the good news.” From that exhortation came the name Annunciation House.
• For thirty-eight years, Annunciation House has offered hospitality to migrating strangers in need of compassion and respite, providing a safe place to eat and sleep on their journeys. 
• In 2012, Ruben García received the Teacher of Peace Award from Pax Christi, an award also given to people such as Dorothy Day, Father Daniel Berrigan, and Sister Helen Prejean.

Recognizing the Voices for the Voiceless
García works ecumenically and internationally. Each year, Annunciation House hosts an evening honoring a person recognized for being the Voice of the Voiceless. This year, Annunciation House recognized Olga Sánchez Martínez, of Albergue Jesús El Buen Pastor in Tapachula, Chiapas, Mexico.

"The event is a deeply inspiring time to become aware of the poverty and violence that force migration," said the organizers of  García's visit to Albuquerque. "It celebrates people such as a Protestant pastor who searches for stranded migrants in the Arizona desert, Catholic nuns who work with people in poverty, a Catholic priest who works for more just policies in Central America, Mexican journalists and lawyers who stand up to violence, a woman in Mexico who shelters Central American migrants in her country, and mothers and fathers who seek justice for their children, victims of violence. All have risked their well-being to serve others."

 Items Needed
"As we welcome Ruben García in Albuquerque, we can help him return to El Paso with our prayers and with items that will help him in his work, for example, travel-sized toiletries such as shampoo, soap, and toothpaste; tooth brushes; disposable diapers, feminine hygiene items, and shoe laces. (Shoe laces are taken during the time that refugees are processed in by immigration authorities), NEW underwear for all ages is needed--also towels and clean winter coats for all ages. Monetary donations are welcome," said the event organizers.

Albuquerque Delegation Participates in El Camino del Inmigrante

On Aug. 27, we published a post about the participation of Bread for the World staff and volunteers in El Camino del Inmigrante, a 150-mile walk from San Ysidro (across from Tijuana) to Los Angeles. As it turns out, the 150 people who participated in the procession on Aug. 20-30 to raise awareness about issues with the immigration system included three residents of Albuquerque. The walkers from the Duke City are on the staff of  East Central Ministries (ECM). In fact, the slide show at the top of ECM's home page is comprised entirely of scenes from the pilgrimage. Here is a nine-minute video with reflections on the walk, posted by John-Mark Hart. East Central Ministries is one of the endorsing partners of the Interfaith Hunger Coalition.

Border Servant Corps Celebrates a Year of Service

 Border Servant Corps volunteers pose with NM State Sen. Jerry Ortiz y Pino

Border Servant Corps--an organization that provides volunteer opportunties in Las Cruces, New Mexico, and  El Paso, Texas--is celebrating one year of service. Full-time volunteers live in intentional community, learn about living simply, work for social justice, and explore spirituality.

The organization invites you to a celebration at Grapevine Plaza, 3900 W. Picacho Ave. in  Las Cruces (map) on Friday, May 13, beginning at 6:00 p.m. There will be speakers, a live and silent auction, dinner, and drinks. Contact (575) 522-7119 Ext. 16 or info@borderservantcorps.org. to obtain tickets, which are $45 each.

Among those providing support for these efforts are Peace Lutheran Church in Las Cruces and the Lutheran Border Awareness Project. These connections have provided a link with the Lutheran Advocacy Ministry-New Mexico, and the volunteers often participate in LAM-NM's annual advocacy conference.

BSC volunteers at Bread for the World event in Las Cruces

In 2015-2016, volunteers served at these sites:

El Paso, Texas:
Diocesan Migrant & Refugee Services
Iglesia Luterana Cristo Rey
Kelly Memorial Food Pantry
Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center
Paso del Norte Civil Rights Project
Reynolds Home
YWCA Transitional Living Center

Las Cruces, New Mexico:
ACLU-NM Regional Center for Border Rights
La Casa, Inc.
Southwest Asylum & Migration Institute
St. Luke's Health Care Clinic

Anglican Priest, Wife Serve Poor Community in Ciudad Juárez

“I was born the tenth of ten children, into a very poor family, rich in their faith. From the time I was very young, I knew I wanted to be a priest. When I finished my studies, I knew I wanted to be poor and that I wanted to serve the poor. So I asked myself, ‘Who are the poorest of all in Mexico?’ ‘The indigenous!’ I answered, so I went to serve Christ there. After a while I told myself, ‘There must be people poorer than these. Who is poorer than the indigenous?” ‘Ah, the campesinos, the field workers,’ I answered. So I went, to serve Christ there. After a while, I told myself, ‘There must be people poorer than the fieldworkers. Who are they?’ ‘The imprisoned,’ I answered. So I went there. After another long while, I told myself, ‘Surely there must be someone poorer than these, even poorer than these who have lost their liberty?’ ‘The mentally ill,’ I answered, ‘They are even poorer.’ So I went there. Then, after a while, I told myself, 'Surely there must be someone poorer than even these people.’ And God sent me to Anapra.”  -Father Miguel Ángel Ramirez, the Anglican priest at San José de Anapra Mission in Ciudad Juárez

Drawing from parish child

By Victoria Tester
Anapra, one of the Juarez’s more populous neighborhoods, began about 30 ago with the majority of its inhabitants coming from the central and southern part of Mexico, many with a frustrated hope of migrating to the United States, or as recruits for the maquiladora industry. Only during the past two years has there been any public utilities, though many still go without. Anapra is a neighbor to the Lomas de Poleo neighborhood where many women who are victims of drug trafficking have been buried. Problems faced by residents are poor housing conditions,overpopulation, street children, early sexual activity, clandestine commerce, gangs and drug trafficking. There are currently an estimated 25,000 inhabitants in Anapra, the majority who are young people and children with an unclear future.

The work of Father Miguel  Ángel and his wife Catherine Hudak serves the general population as well as those who regularly attend their religious services. Their goal is to strengthen their efforts in the vital areas of health, recreation and child nutrition. What are their hopes for the community? To build a dispensary in order to offer alternative medical services such as reflexology and natural herbal remedies. To create a recreational center with spaces for sporting activities and where their neighbors from Anapra can rest and relax. To create a dining hall for the children, where they are offered nutritious food six days a week.

They are in real need of funding. Their plan is to begin with the building of the natural herbal dispensary and a greenhouse, in order to become self-sustaining. Please contact them for more detailed information.

Drawing from parish child

The Sunday offering at San José de Anapra averages only $7 or $8. Father Miguel Angel receives no salary. San José de Anapra is a parish in the Diocese of the North of Mexico and forms part of the Mexican Anglican Church, which has been an autonomous province in the Anglican Communion since 1995.

Father Miguel Ángel, a former Roman Catholic priest and Jesuit, a highly educated man who later taught law to future priests, and who holds a degree in herbal medicine, was accepted as a priest into the Mexican Anglican Church in May 2012 and assigned the pastorship and administration of San  de José Anapra.

Catherine Hudak, a former Maryknoll Lay Missioner for almost a decade, has also acted as the program coordinator for Borderlinks, Inc., a bi-national nonprofit out of Tucson, AZ, and Nogales Sonora, coordinating immersion trips for groups wanting to learn about the border. Until very recently she was the executive director and then development director of Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center in El Paso, a position she left in order to devote more time to her husband of eleven years, Father Miguel Angel, and their Mission at San José de Anapra.

Visitors to the San José de Anapra Mission are deeply welcome. Feel free to contact San  de José Anapra Mission, which is in need of your ministerial support. San José  de Anapra Mission can be reached in Spanish or English by U.S. telephone at: 720-401-8195 or by email in Spanish or in English at: marcenteno59@gmail.com or chudak501@gmail.com

(Victoria Tester is the coordinator of the San Isidro Bean Project and a novice in the Third Order Society of St. Francis.)  

An Invitation to Join Communities of Faith in Albuquerque in Prayer Vigil for Immigrant Children

A coalition of faith communities in New Mexico invites you to participate in an Interfaith Prayer Vigil and community gathering to bring attention and prayer to the growing humanitarian crisis of the newly arrived children in Southern New Mexico.

Tuesday, July 15     6:00 pm, 
Immaculate Conception Catholic Church
619 Copper Ave NW

Sponsored by El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, the New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice (NMFCIJ), the Archdiocese of Santa Fe, Catholic Charities, and other Albuquerque faith communities

For more information contact El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, 505-246-1627 or New Mexico Faith Coalition for Immigrant Justice, 505-307-2218.

Una coalición de comunidades de fe en Nuevo México le extienden una cordial invitación para que participe en una Vigilia Interreligiosa de Oración/Reunión Comunitaria para llamar la atención y orar por la creciente crisis humanitaria de los niños recién llegados en el sur de Nuevo México.

Martes, 15 de julio   6:00 pm, 
Iglesia católica de la Inmaculada Concepción
619 Copper Ave NW

Patrocinada por El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, la Coalición de Comunidades de Fe de Nuevo México para la Justicia del Migrante (NMFCIJ), la Arquidiócesis de Santa Fe, Caridades Católicas y otras comunidades de fe en Albuquerque

Para más información póngase en contacto con El Centro de Igualdad y Derechos, 505-246-1627 o con la Coalición de Comunidades de Fe Nuevo México por la Justicia del Migrante, 505-307-2218.

 

Franciscan Sisters Work to Ease Hunger, Serve Community in Poor Neighborhood in Ciudad Juárez

The School Sisters of St. Francis celebrate their fifth year of mission at Casa Alexia in Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, on August 14,  2014. Among their services to the community is the Juárez Food Program, which provides very basic food to 63 families in desperate situations. The basic monthly packet consists of small bags of rice, beans, sugar, oatmeal, noodles, a liter of cooking oil, a can of vegetables, soap, and, when available, a can of milk.

Sister Carol Jean Ory

By Victoria Tester
As you enter Casa Alexia in Jesús Obrero, Jesus
the Worker, the second poorest area of Ciudad Juárez, you will walk past purple coneflowers to stand among the rose and yellow painted walls and the quiet order of the small adobe home of the Franciscan Sisters, a welcome sanctuary after the hectic traffic of Juárez.

Beautiful silence is punctuated by a song from the courtyard where two towering sunflowers climb next to the sisters’ three parakeets, yellow and blue, named after three saints, who, translated into English are: Francis, Clare and Ignatius.

It is a quiet start to a day that Sisters Carol Jean and Josefina have invited me to share – a day that will be overflowing with hard physical work, human voices, human stories, human suffering and human joy.

Serving 63 families
We carry heavy packets of food to those sixty-three families who are served by the Sisters’ efforts:

A mother, a maquila worker, whose six children do not play outside, as most children in Juárez do not play outside, because of the everpresent danger of kidnapping in this city where so many children have vanished.

An elderly couple who are fragile, upset because they may soon be forced to leave their home of 40 years, where at least they have the solace of the green things they’ve planted and the hummingbirds who, like the Sisters, visit.

A thin young mother who has recently suffered heatstroke, who still cannot eat without vomiting. For a place to live for themselves and their children, she and her husband occupy an abandoned house they are making fit for habitation.

Don Pablo, in his 90’s, who we reach only after navigating a labyrinth of dingy cement passages almost too narrow and winding for human passage. His small room is completely filled by his bed, with standing room only for two people, so I crouch in the doorway as I photograph his joy at visitors.

A small thermos of water sits on an antique bureau. The June heat of his room is almost unbearable. He hastily dons a long-sleeved shirt over his undershirt, to make himself presentable for the dignity of a photograph.

He spends his life in this tiny room, the winters entirely in his bed, to stay warm. To live.

Later that day, after Sister Josefina has returned to her ongoing duties at Casa Alexia, where the Sisters do all of their own shopping, cooking and cleaning, as well as ministering to the community, and hosting visitors, the remaining half of the families will be served through a large distribution at the house of a volunteer, in the shade of a courtyard patio.

 'These are my hands'
Of her lively volunteers who rest for a short moment at her sides, Sister Carol Jean Ory laughs, “These are my hands.” Their affection for her, and hers for them, is obvious.

The volunteers work to distribute the food packets, and to divide the cooking oil, in a huge container, donated by a restaurant in El Paso, into the one-liter bottles brought by those who will, carefully, carry it back to their homes. Cooking oil is a treasure most cannot afford to spend their little money on.

Sister Carol Jean checks off names on a careful list of those served. She and her volunteers could serve twice as many as they do. There are those on their list who hope to be added to the program when – this is hard to say, but yes, -- someone dies, or moves away.

More food is needed, or more money to augment the careful, divided purchases the Sisters make in Juárez in order not to draw possibly dangerous attention to their work.

Later, we take a food packet to a woman who cares for her grandchildren in the most humble of any of the circumstances we have seen, her home a rickety, makeshift construction, a dwelling place of the joy of the Spirit.

Last, we visit a woman in a surgical mask, so thin and weak she cannot stand. She is on dialysis, and yet -- she sings.

She sings with Sister Carol Jean and a volunteer, whose little daughter watches from the foot of the bed, learning from these three remarkable women the difficult, and the easy, ways of Love.

Make a Donation
Donations of non-perishable food, or tax-deductible financial contributions to purchase food, are much needed. Even the smallest contribution makes a difference.

 Please contact Sister Carol Jean Ory at caroljeanory@yahoo.com or 915-328-6173, or
click here to contribute online or write a check to School Sisters of St. Francis and sent to: Sister Carol Jean Ory, SSSF attn: Juarez Food Program 465 Gallagher St. El Paso, Texas 79915-3133

The School Sisters of St. Francis operate a bi-national El Paso/Juárez ministry. They speak both Spanish and English, and their center in El Paso is Gallagher House, where they can be reached at: 915-595-0965

(Victoria Tester is the coordinator of the San Isidro Bean Project and a novice in the Third Order Society of St. Francis. She took all the photographs included in this piece. She may be reached at: franciscanatthemexicoborder@gmail.com)

Church Collecting Christmas Toys for Children in Border Community of Anapra in Mexico

The San José de Anapra Anglican Church in Anapra, Mexico, is collecting Christmas toys to brighten the lives of the 150 children of their deeply impoverished parish this holiday season. (Anapra is the community just outside Ciudad Juárez  where the Catholic bishops from three dioceses along the border hold an annual Mass to commemorate All Saints Day).

For many of the children, your donated toy will be the only toy they receive this Christmas. Please limit your donated toys to ten dollars and under.

Donations of gift bags, or else wrapping paper and tape, are also much appreciated. Toys will be collected in El Paso on three Saturdays -- Nov. 23rd, 30th, and Dec. 7th. Please come forward -- together, we can make a difference!

If you live in the Las Cruces-El Paso area, call Katie-Anita Hudak, wife of Rev. Miguel Angel Ramirez Centeno, rector of San Jose de Anapra, to schedule a pickup, or for more information: 720-401-8195

For those who live closer to the Deming or Silver City, N.M., areas, St. Augustine Anglican Church of Deming and Anglican Holy Trinity in Silver City are collecting toys on behalf of the children of San Jose de Anapra parish. Toys can be dropped off on Sundays through December 6, before or after services. In Deming: South 8th and Birch Streets, one block north of hospital, service at 10:30 a.m. In Silver City: 1801 Alabama St., at the chapel at old St. Mary's, service at 3 p.m. Call Rev. Henry Hoffman for more information or to schedule a toy pickup: 575-313-5797

For those who live outside the area, monetary donations marked "Toys for Anapra" can be made out to "Miguel Angel Ramirez" and sent to: Rev. Miguel Angel Ramirez Centeno 1009 N Florence St., El Paso, Texas ,79902-0000

See video Posted by Billie Greenwood to learn more about San José de Anapra and the community.
 

An Invitation to Celebrate All Souls Day on U.S.-Mexico Border

Picture from Teyepac Institute.  (See more pictures)

We celebrate our diversity, but we also especially celebrate our unity around the common table of communion, the table of the Lord who makes us all brothers and sisters, sons and daughters of the same father in heaven. We are one body of Christ, one People of God, one Temple of the Spirit even though divided but a human made, arbitrary fence that often tramples on our human rights and disrespects our humanity. -Diocese of El Paso

Since 1999, the Bishops of El Paso, Las Cruces, and Ciudad Juárez  have come together on November 2nd, All Souls Day or more popularly known as “Dia de los Muertos”, to celebrate a Mass right on the border fence between the U.S. and Mexico. This year again on November 2, 2013, the bishops (Renato Ascencio León of Juárez, ‎Oscar Cantú of Las Cruces, and Mark Seitz of El Paso) together with a multitude of about 300 faithful in each side will gather at 1:00 p.m. along the fence dividing Puerto Anapra near Juárez and community of Sunland Park, New Mexico, just outside El Paso.

“We have come to share our common dream,” former Las Cruces Bishop Ricardo Ramírez said in his sermon at the 2010 Mass. “Our common dream is the reign of God. The reign of God is the dream of God for the world, a new world of justice, love and peace.”

“But what do we see?,” Bishop Ramírez asked. “An ugly fence! We can’t even embrace in friendship and love because of this fence. Our dream is that one day there will be no fence and we will embrace in friendship and love. What else do we see? We see two tables. We cannot physically take the same bread and cup. Our dream is that one day we will share together the same bread and cup.”  Read article by Father John Dear, S.J., in National Catholic Reporter.

Poster for 2011 Mass

Remembering Deceased Migrants 
This Mass is directly connected with the hundreds of annual deaths of people in migration trying to cross the border in search of a better life for themselves and their family.

Each year, since early 90’s an average 400 to 500 individuals perish in the harsh areas they have been forced to cross trying to escape border patrol and apprehension. This is so due to the increase of immigration enforcement policies only approach to addressing immigration at the border and our broken national immigration laws. Operation Gatekeeper, Operation Hold the line, Operation Safeguard, etc consequences are the thousands of migrants – men, women, youth, and children – who have died in the most dangerous areas of deserts and rivers along the border, away from urban centers where they used to cross before these initiatives.

Papercrete Blocks, a Solar Water Heater, and a Library for the Residents of Palomas, Mexico

Border Partners produced this solar water heater, a device offering great utility to local residents. Most Palomas citizens do not use gas water heaters due to the utility expenses incurred in their operation

Papercrete blocks were used to construct a library for the residents of Palomas in Chihuahua, Mexico, just across the border from Columbus, New Mexico. The lightweight, highly insulating building materials are produced in Palomas at a very low cost and with recyclable products.

In addition to books, media items and reference materials, what is the next most important thing in a library?  A restroom. The faucets in the sink provide both cold and hot water from a solar heater that uses gray water.

These amazing examples of sustainable development were on display in a recent open house hosted by Border Partners, sponsor of the project. "We were delighted with a turnout that included Mayor Angel Chacon and two of his staff members, Maria Sisneros, an environmental engineer from the US EPA, and Jorge Hernandez from the Border Environment  Cooperation Commission. The Secundaria Principal and teachers brought their students. Two representatives  from the Small Business Development Center at Western New Mexico University as well as many interested adults from both Palomas and Columbus," said Border Partners, which works directly with the Palomas community on several development and education projects.  Read more about sustainable development projects sponsored by Border Partners.

Day Shelter in Ciudad Juarez Helps Children in Crisis

Volunteer and child (June 2013)  Photo: Victoria Tester

Casa de Soles de Anapra, in Ciudad Juarez, is a community-run day shelter aimed at helping children whose parents have been killed or incarcerated for drug-related crimes. The center provides food, education and healing for more than 65 children whose families have suffered immensely during Mexico's recent crisis.  Here's an excerpt from an article that the El Paso Times published in April of this year.

"The majority of the children that come here are not with their parents, either because they were killed, or are in prison or (they) just abandoned them," said [founder Lourdes] Contreras, who runs the center in a three-room house owned by a woman who is currently in jail for drug crimes. "Many of these kids just need to be hugged and listened to."   Read full article

School Supplies Needed
The center is in need of school supplies. Your donations of spirals, primary tablets, pens, pencils, erasers, crayons and drawing paper can make a huge difference in the life of a child orphaned by the crisis. If you live in the El Paso-Las Cruces area and can help, please contact Mario Alcazar, member of St. Raphael Church in El Paso at 915-309-7699, or email alcazm1223@yahoo.com.

Closing of Peacecraft Affects Women's Cooperative in Chihuahua

(Editor's Note: The closing of Peacecraft a few weeks ago left artisans and other producers of fair-trade goods without one of their outlets to sell their products.  This piece from Tom Aageson illustrates the impact on the women's cooperatve at Puerto Palomas in Chihuahua)

By Tom Aageson
Peacecraft closed its Albuquerque store and the ripple effect is reaching into the poor, border village of Puerto Palomas de Villa, Chihuahua, Mexico.. Peacecraft sold products for a women’s cooperative, called Palomas Oilcloth Designs, from that small community, located on the border with the U.S. (across from Columbus, New Mexico)

The women make beautiful aprons, placemats, tablecloths and lovely tote bags from oilcloth. The loss of any customer can lower their already low incomes. Peacecraft sold for them for the last three years and products always sold well in the store. Losing that income has been difficult.

Over the last five years, these women have built their handmade enterprise from desire to a sustainable firm. The women take orders over the phone or the internet; design their own products; and buy oilcloth and other supplies despite daily challenges. For example, they do their own banking, but there is no bank in their town and they have to travel to make deposits. Border Partners, is a volunteer group located across the border in Deming, New Mexico. They worked with the women of Palomas Oilcloth Designs to help them start and grow their business. Border Partners has other projects with people from Puerto Palomas to start businesses, to improve health and education and to promote the use of low-cost sustainable technology.

For the women, they need more fair trade outlets for their work. Their quality is high, and the prices competitive. They can supply orders from small to large and maintain their quality. You can see examples of their work at their store online.

If you know of any possible sources of new business for them, please contact the coordinator in Puerto Palomas, Ludy Loya. ludyloya@gmail.com

Bread for the World Applauds Passage of Immigration Bill in Senate

Here is an excerpt from Bread for the World's statement following the passage of immigration-reform legislation in the Senate. 

Bread for the World applauds the Senate’s passage of the bipartisan immigration reform bill (S. 744) today, with a vote tally of 68 to 32. The bill includes significant amendments that will help to decrease hunger.

“We commend the Senate for passing this monumental bill. While reducing poverty may not be the primary goal of most contemporary immigration policy reform efforts, Christ’s compassion for the vulnerable compels us to change our broken immigration system so that people are treated fairly,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “This legislation is far from perfect. But failing to pass comprehensive immigration reform is to perpetuate hunger, so we are pleased that lawmakers have taken this crucial step.”

Read the Full Piece

Pledges Needed for Two-Day Walk for the Hungry in Northern Chihuahua

You've heard about the CROP Walk in many communities in the U.S., including Albuquerque.  And there is the annual Walk for the Hungry in New Orleans.  These events are intended both raise awareness about hunger and raise money to address the problem.  Anyone who participates in these events usually gives up the better part of a morning or an afternoon.

There is a walk coming up just south of the border in Chihuahua on Monday, May 20, sponsored by La Luz de La Esperanza Outreach.  The fundraiser, "Walk Against, Hunger” “Caminamos Contra el Hambre," will start at 9:00 a.m that morning at La Luz de Esperanza outreach facility in Palomas, just across the border from Columbus, N.M.  But walkers will be giving up more than just a morning, since the route will take them all the way to the community of Janos, which is about 139 kilometers (that's 86 miles) from Palomas!

"We estimate that this task will take at least two days to complete," said Esperanza Lozoya, director of the Luz de Esperanza Outreach, who will be walking with her daughter Sofía Ramírez and long-time volunteer Dolores Campos.  "We estimate that this task will take at least two days to complete," said Lozoya.

Lozoya has worked faithfully for more than a decade to serve the people of Puerto Palomas and nearby areas.  Her organization, La Luz de Esperanza Outreach, works with scarce resources to provide meals, school supplies, shoes and other items to children and the elderly of the community.  "Our goal is to continue with distributions 100% of funds raised will purchase much needed food," said Lozoya.

Esperanza Lozoya

Please send pledges, before and after the walk, to:

La luz de La Esperanza Walk for the Hungry
c/o Dos Manos 
P.O. Box 595 
Arroyo Seco, N.M. 87514

Donations are tax-deductible.

School Supplies Needed for the Children of Palomas and Rural Chihuahua

Alexandra Neves's grandmother taught herself to read and write in the face of family and cultural opposition in Brazil. The women of her family, who had wanted to get their own degrees, but could not, rallied around her when she herself decided to become educated. They also supported Neves and her sisters when as young women they traveled into isolated areas of Brazil to administer polio vaccines.

Neves, who now teaches at Western New Mexico University's College of Education, knows the importance of primary education in the development of children into adults.  She has teamed up with the  Bilingual Education Studentt Organization (BESO) at WNMU to organize the third annual school supply and registration drive for the children of Palomas and rural Chihuahua. Without school supplies or registration fees, many children  in Palomas (a small community across the border from Columbus, N.M.) and other areas of rural Chihuahua are unable to attend school. 

The WNMU community and residents of Silver City and southwestern New Mexico are invited to donate items. This year requested donations are limited to eight specific items: spirals, primary tablets, crayons and colored pencils, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners and erasers. New supplies only, but clean pre-owned backpacks are also welcome.

Donated school supplies may be taken to the main office of the College of Education in the Martinez-Fall building on the WNMU campus from March 13 through April 26.

School supplies will be assembled into packets and distributed to children in fall 2013.

"If you can change the life of one child as a teacher, then you have transformed the world," said Neves, who organized very successful 2011 and 2012 WNMU and community drives that raised school supplies for an average of 400 Palomas children per year.  Read article about last year's drive in Silver City Sun-News.

Schools in Palomas

There are an 2,500 people  in Palomas, and at least half of these are children. According to fall 2012 inquiries 800 children are enrolled among the five Palomas schools: Ford, Ignacio Saragoza and Ramon Espinoza elementary schools, the high school Secundaria Tecnica 25, and the preparatory school Escuela Preparatoria Puerto Palomas. These enrolled children do not include those in the kindergarten or the school for disabled children. At least 400 more Palomas children attend school on the U.S. side of the border, and many other Palomas children do not attend school because their families cannot afford school registration fees or supplies.

Registration fees for an elementary school child average only eighteen dollars per year, while fees for high school and preparatory school are higher. Many children are on waiting lists, hoping to be sponsored.

Last year Casa de Amor, operating in Palomas for more than ten years, sponsored 150 school registrations. Dos Manos, a Taos-based tax-exempt non-profit, funded registrations for 100 children. Exact numbers of children sponsored by other, smaller entities or private individuals are not known.

"The best part about the drivesis the interpersonal interaction," said Neves. "Many people come to talk to me, all excited, and it's so nice to see how people are willing to change their perspective of the lives of others, and step forward and help them."

For more information about the school supply drive, contact Professor Alexandra Neves at: nevesa@wnmu.edu

If you live outside western New Mexico and would like to help with this effort, please contact Victoria Tester, executive director of the non-profit organization Dos Manos, franciscanatthemexicoborder@gmail.com.  Ms. Tester  will coordinate Dr. Neves' initiative with programs in Palomas.

For Christmas, Sponsor a Child or Senior in Border City of Palomas (or Help with a Winter Coat Drive)

Esperanza Hope Lozoya has  been a constant and supportive presence for the people of the border city of Palomas in Chihuahua, just across the border from Columbus, New Mexico. Through her tireless efforts,  and with the assistance many other people, she has set up a feeding program, and provided shoes, school supplies, and Easter baskets  for this community.

Esperanza now has another opportunity for you to help. Here is her appeal:

Dear friends: 
I hope you have been blessed with a wonderful year, as you know Christmas is just around the corner and our search is on for sponsors, for the much needy families of Palomas and rural Chihuahua. Due to loss of revenue, families suffer more now than in past years.

Senior meal at Outreach Building in Palomas

Please search your heart and consider sponsoring a child or senior for the holidays. Please make the holidays an unforgettable one for those in need! If you are interested please choose an information card from one of our trees, at the following locations; In Deming NM. Peppers Supermarket, Deming Headlight, Diaz Farms, Deming Arts. In Columbus NM. San Jose Grocery, or e-mail me and, I will send you information on the child or senior needing to be sponsored.

 "The Tree Of Hope" "El Arbol de la Esperanza" will include the name, age, sex, clothing and shoe size, and what toy the child is wanting, or the special need of the senior. All families have been interviewed to determine each individual families needs. We strongly encourage that you personally meet the child or senior beeing sponsored but, if you are unable to you may send a Wal-mart of K-mart gift card to our mailing address, or call for pick-up. You will receive within two weeks of Christmas a Thank You letter and a photo of the child or senior receiving the gifts. 

If you have any questions please feel free to call (575)936-0417 or e-mail me (esperanza_lozoya@yahoo.com). Or you can send donations to our mailing address: 
La Luz De La Esperanza Outreach 
P.O. Box 38 
Columbus, NM 88029

Thank you.
Esperanza
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Winter Coat Drives for Palomas

Among those who are helping in Palomas are the College of Education at Western New Mexico University School of Education and the Department of Languages and Linguistics at New Mexico State University. WNMU has organized a Winter Coats and Cookies Drive in Silver City again this year. Read about the WNMU efforts last year. The Bilingual Club (BESO) is also participating in this effort at WNMU through Dec. 7. For more information contact Prof. Alexandra Neves nevesa@wnmu.edu or 575-597-0016

New Mexico State University has joined in with a similar drive in Las Cruces through Dec. 14. Professor Spencer Herrera, in the Department of Languages and Linguistics at NMSU, will coordinate a collection in Las Cruces. He can be reached at spencer@nmsu.edu.

Both drives are being conducted in conjuction with the non-profit organization Dos Manos.  For more information contact executive director Victoria Tester,victoriatester@dosmanosnonprofit.org

Global Girlfriend to Feature Crafts from Palomas Oilcloth Designs

Palomas Oilcloth Designs (POD) was recently chosen to be one of the women's cooperatives who are part of  Global Girlfriend, a marketing group that helps women worldwide gain economic security by vending unique  fair trade products. 

POD, a worker-owned microenterprise supported by Deming, N.M.-based Border Partners, provides opportunities for women in Palomas, Chihuahua (across the border from Columbus, N.M.), to produce and sell beautiful oilcloth products around the world.

The cooperative has been selling its products online via Etsy.com, which provides a global marketplace for crafters, artists and collectors to sell their handmade creations, vintage goods and crafting supplies. POD's total gross sales reached about $48,900 in 2011. Of this amount, about US$27,500 were paid to the seven artisans who made the oilcloth products, with their average weekly payment at $75 each. The remainder of the revenues went to the purchase of materials and other expenses.

Global Girlfriend gives POD another option to market its products and a potential to boost revenues. The first order is comprised of 700 totebags, aprons and tablecloths! The items will soon be listed on the Global Girlfriend web-based catalogue.

Polly Edmunds, a volunteer and a member of the board of directors of Border Partners, expressed hope that POD will continue its relationship with Etsy while expanding into its new role with Global Girlfriend. "They will sell different products at the etsy.com store than the ones on the GG site," said Ms. Edmunds.  She credited Tom Aageson, a POD advisor  and executive director of  the Global Center for Cultural Entrepreneurship, with establishing the connection between the Palomas women's cooperative and Global Girlfriend. Tom is also a member of Bread for the World in Santa Fe.

Dos Manos: A Visit to Mixteco Migrant Workers in Colonia Guadalupe Victoria (Chihuahua)

By Victoria Tester

It is in the small where everything important truly is. There are only small things in this whole world, and children know this. It is there, in those small things, that I want our organization, Dos Manos, to live.

When we get to the Mixteco migrant field workers’ quarters, a woman in a red skirt is washing clothes in a stone tub, hanging them to dry in the strong sun. A curious little girl with a solemn, round baby on her hip, who turns out to be Griselda carrying Delfino, comes over to us.

The children and maybe the women recognize us from the recent August bean distribution in the main plaza of the colonia, where at the end of the distribution, the very last of the hundreds of pounds of beans, a handful, were lost to the dust near the truck.

One of the Mixteco women knelt to retrieve the scattered beans, the little girls raced to help her, and I’d dropped to my knees, too, to find the precious beans, shake off their dust and drop them into the Mixteco’s worn plastic bags.

Later, a compassionate policeman accompanied us to view their quarters.

Now we’ve returned, without the policeman and with a donation of beef and posole, lard, masa harina flour, sugar and spices, powdered milk and dried eggs. It’s to make a huge posole so everyone can eat together, we explain. They accept the food with quiet dignity, setting it aside into the shadows of one of the rooms.

Through the doorway of that dim interior, we see a woman, in obvious pain, on her back on a blanket on the cement floor, and an old woman kneeling next to her, in a curing ritual, laying on hands. A young boy sits, shaken, in the same doorway, and they say he’s been bitten by a snake, a rattlesnake, or something else, a spider. It happened in the fields where he was picking chile yesterday. There is a single visible puncture wound to his hand, and a slight bruise formed around it. He has a fever.

We talk to the gentle man who sits just inside the doorway, the only man not out in the fields with the others, except for a very old man who is ill and resting in the yard, unable to eat for the past three days. Among the few grown people at the quarters, only the gentle, younger man’s Spanish is fluent.

They Need  a Teacher

'No,’ he tells me, ‘these children do not have a teacher. They need someone. ’

The children gather round. ‘Who knows the alphabet?’ I ask. Only one little girl, of the many, shyly acknowledges she does. She repeats it aloud for us with quiet joy. They nod, yes, they do want a little school, they do want to learn the alphabet and other things. They do want to have a little meal I’ll bring. They do want to me to come back for a couple days this summer, and then to return for four weeks next summer, because yes, they do expect to be back here, back in Colonia Guadalupe Victoria in this life that is the hard cycle of life for the indigenous migrant workers.

Here in the courtyard? Too hot, they say, Teacher, no shade. In one of the empty rooms? No empty houses, the children say, all have families. Then where? Yes, they decide, it will be in one of the houses. For now we go to the shade of a thin tree, the children gathered close. Even the boy with the snake or insect bite on his hand. Even the little girl with Down syndrome who has never once spoken. They don’t want to miss a single picture in the child’s story book in Spanish I brought to read aloud.

It’s Óscar De la Hoya’s Super Óscar.

Super Óscar the dreamer

Óscar era una soñador incorrigible. They like this. They listen to every word concerning Óscar’s incurable daydreaming. They are unsettled, longing, when Óscar even somehow daydreams through lunch. I look into their large eyes as they swallow a little, and at the thin hunger of their bodies. 

These Mixteco migrant children are as undernourished as the other hundreds of undernourished children I’ve worked to serve near the Mexico-U.S. border. Óscar even daydreamed on the school bus. Yes, they nod, they, too rode a bus to get here, to Chihuahua, from their village in Guerrero, and they, too, daydreamed. They laugh when Óscar daydreams so much his big stack of pancakes gets cold, and even his orange juice turns warm. Yes, they raise their hands, they do like orange juice very much.

Saturdays everyone in Óscar’s neighborhood gets together for a huge picnic in the park. The Mixteco children don’t know what a ‘picnic’ is. They don’t have tables here in the colonia, anyway. But when I explain that food is laid on a blanket and eaten outside, they very much want to have a picnic, like Óscar.

The owner of the skies

They laugh as he daydreams the shapes of the clouds instead of passing out the lists of foods everyone is supposed to bring. We look up at the sky above us, rich with September clouds. Yes, they do see shapes in the clouds, too. Look: a turtle, a horse, a dragon, a bird, and yes, we agree that the skies above our world are so beautiful. One little boy hesitates. He looks at me, solemn. And quietly, earnestly asks: “Who is the -- owner -- of the skies?”

I am startled. But why? Doesn’t their very life revolve around the ownership of the land, the very earth over which they walk and they and their parents and sometimes their whole villages must travel in order to work the harvests? All the children look into my face. “Who owns the skies?” I ask. They don’t answer. ‘God owns the skies,’ I explain, in my best, assured tones. ‘He made them for us, these big beautiful skies, because we are His creatures and He loves us.’ They are relieved, mostly satisfied. We look up at the vast blue ceiling over our heads.

Then Óscar goes shopping. He goes to the supermarket and loads at least six shopping carts with delicious fresh food, and even a mountain of strawberries. I am ashamed.

The children marvel at the rainbow colors of cloths spread over the picnic tables. Yes, didn’t they see a rainbow, just yesterday after the rain, a huge rainbow right here, in the sky?

Óscar jumps rope in a vat of cream to whip it for the strawberries. I turn the page, maybe too quickly. I know these children have never tasted a glass of fresh milk. Then Óscar sits down to his favorite event, the empanada eating contest. The hungry children stare into five mountains of empanadas. Óscar has eaten the sixth mountain and is wiping crumbs from his mouth.

I do turn the page fast, a little angry with Óscar, and myself for even bringing him with me to the Colonia Guadalupe Victoria, though he’s an incorrigible daydreamer, just a lucky boy, and I know it’s not his fault. It's my own. Óscar falls asleep under a rainbow-covered picnic table, snuggled by what looks like a pet weasel.

The children don’t mind. They do not have tables, but maybe they, too, would sleep under them if they did, since they don’t have beds. Felices sueños,Óscar.

I pass out 23 lollipops, and 23 single sticks of colored chalk. Not a single child complains about the lottery of color of their lollipop or their chalk. They agree they’ll practice writing on their walls.

Victoria Tester is the executive director of Dos Manos, a newly forming Taos-based organization founded by Michael Odom, which will work to aid communities in humanitarian crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border through projects in nutrition, health and education. The mission of Dos Manos is to create hope, justice and compassion along the border and in other geographical areas of crisis. The organization aids the work of Esperanza Hope Lozoya in Palomas and rural Chihuahua, and that of other dedicated individuals, groups and organizations, through material resources, funding of existing projects,and co-development of projects in emergency areas. They also work to develop original, Dos Manos-inspired, projects. Ms. Tester can be reached at victoriatester@dosmanosnonprofit.org. Your inquiries are welcomed.