Room at the Table

I’m back from El Paso for almost 2 weeks now. I enjoyed my time in El Paso so much that I was a little nervous about how I’d feel coming back here. I was pleasantly surprised to find myself so happy to be back. I feel as happy as I did when I first came down here, but, in addition, I am familiar with the culture, people, work, etc. so I’m more comfortable.

We are entering into the rainy season so the temperatures have dropped to a (for me) comfortable range! Even though I said I returned more familiar with things here, I am NOT familiar with what happens when it rains. It was raining heavy through Sunday night and continued on Monday morning. My normal pattern is to load the pickup truck at 7:30am with everything to sell at the hospital then take Lili, Doris´ little girl, to kindergarten and on the way back pick up Esmeralda to sell things at the hospital. So, Monday morning I got up and, in the rain, put all of the things that we sell into the truck. I was waiting for Lili, when someone else got up and said, “It’s raining.” This, I learned, means everything stops. Lili didn’t have school and we don’t sell at the hospital. Streets are covered with water and you don’t know where or how deep any of the potholes are. It’s treated similar to a ND blizzard day.

This is hurricane season but they tell me that we are protected from hurricanes by our location. We are surrounded by the ocean on one side and two mountain peaks. If a hurricane comes from the Atlantic, it is stopped by the mountains before it gets here. If it comes from the Pacific, as it moves toward shore, the outer edges of the hurricane hit the mountains and it gets pushed away. That’s a relief to me.

I haven´t written much recently. I think it’s because things aren’t as new to me. Because it’s daily to me, it doesn’t seem like anyone else would be interested in what has become common and ordinary. I was thinking about what to write when I sat down to breakfast. When I looked at the table, I thought “No one back home would think this is common everyday breakfast!” We had Iguana in Mole sauce (Yes, that is Iguana!!!), frijoles (beans), huevos (eggs), guazontle (an herb) dipped in an egg batter and fried, boiled hierba mora (something that looks like spinach), tamales de bola (corn tamales with chicken), chanfaina and cecina (as far as I could understand one of those is beef organ meat), corn tortillas and café con leche and azucar (coffee with milk and sugar). We always have plenty of food. I like to try new things, but I can rarely eat a little of everything that is served.

One of my favourite times of the day is meal time. Our table very much reflects the life of this family. We sit around and share fun and laughter, memories, teasing, serious conversation and planning. There is often a mini lecture on life—purpose, lessons learned, etc.

There is always room for more at the table. In fact, there are six chairs at the table but it is rare that only six people eat a meal (even though only four of us live in this house). Around the corner is a stack of plastic stools that we are always pulling out to offer. Priests, friends, family, and visitors from other countries are often dropping in unannounced. They tell me of one meal where they dished up the food with two sandwiches on each plate. As they sat down to the table, the door opened. (The door is never locked and many people are so at home they come in without knocking.) Six new people arrived to eat. Just like that they grabbed a sandwich off of each of the plates to serve. Then more people showed up, so they cut each of the sandwiches in half. They always have a way to find room and food at the table for all.

What a wonderful world it would be if the whole world could learn and live this lesson!

Blessings
Lillian

Sitting at the breakfast table: Mario, Doris, Olga, Jordan and me.

Voice of the Voiceless Solidarity Dinner in El Paso

This is the stage for the Voice of the Voiceless Solidarity Dinner.




This is Emma Molina (on the Left) and the Ministerio who were recognized for feeding, clothing and sheltering Christ in the poor Immigrant.

My Friends Fr. Arturo Bañuelas and Ruben Garcia













I’m in El Paso for my (kind of) home visit. It’s great being back in the US where I am in my first language and first culture. It all seems so easy! I’m taking 2 weeks at “home”. The first week my sister Jeanette was here. It was so fun just being around her. The second week I’m reconnecting with friends in El Paso. I’m going out to eat with friends for almost every meal. It’s so great to have this kind of time with them.

I came to El Paso for our Annunciation House Board of Directors meeting and our annual Voice of the Voiceless Solidarity Dinner. Coming to El Paso for the board meetings and the Voice of the Voiceless dinner is always a shot in the arm for me. I am so impressed with and inspired by the people who are so committed to the work of justice for immigrants. This year our recipient of the Voice of the Voiceless award was Fr. Roy Bourgeois, Maryknoll, who is the founder of the School of the Americas watch dedicated to closing down the School of the Americas. The program introduction for Fr. Roy said, “In today’s climate of severe hostility toward immigrants, the prominence of enforcement-only immigration policies, and an increasingly militarized border, we hold Fr. Roy Bourgeois as a powerful example of the tradition of witness, hospitality and justice to which the guests of our houses have called us.”

We also honored three local groups and individuals who have demonstrated tremendous courage in witnessing to the Gospel mandate to feed the hungry, clothe the naked and shelter the homeless, even at personal risk. Before this weekend I had always considered feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and sheltering the homeless to be pretty basic and couldn’t fathom that doing so could ever carry any personal risk in this country. I want to share with you what happened here in El Paso on February 5, 2008 that scares the heck out of me.

A group from San Antonio Padua church was recognized. Every Tuesday a group of parishioners gathers to distribute food baskets to the poor, struggling to feed their families. They call themselves Minsterio Asistencia Social Y Espiritual. On any given Tuesday they respond to the needs of 40 to 60 families. On Tuesday, February 5th, while distributing the food baskets, a woman in her early forties walked in and asked for help. She was a Salvadoran woman and she told them that she had just crossed the border at 2am that morning. She knew no one in El Paso and had no place to stay. Her clothes were still damp and she had eaten nothing since the previous afternoon. The church parishioners welcomed her, gave her a change of dry clothing, and invited her to share a meal with them. They also called Annunciation House and were told that we would be happy to provide her with hospitality.
At about 1pm, two of the parishioners offered to give the woman a ride to Annunciation House. As the driver turned onto the street for Annunciation House, she realized that she was being followed, and as they approached Annunciation House, the parishioner’s car was blocked off both in front and in back by two unmarked pick-up trucks. Men exited the trucks, approached the parishioner’s car, and identified themselves as immigration agents. They then asked the two parishioners for their drivers’ licenses and demanded that the woman from El Salvador get out, saying “we know you are illegal, get out of the car!” She was handcuffed, taken into custody, and placed in detention. She is now applying for political asylum.
One agent went back to the truck to run a background check on the parishioners, and as he returned their licenses to them, warned them that what they were doing was illegal. When the obviously nervous parishioners asked if they were in trouble, the agent responded that he had spoken to his supervisor, who said that although he understood that the parishioners were trying to help someone, they needed to understand that their actions were illegal. The agents then allowed them to leave with a warning not to do what they had done again.

The Ministerio, was recognized for their witness to what it means to be a person of faith. On accepting the recognition Emma Molina said “No vamos a parar!” (“We’re not going to stop!”) She got a standing ovation for that one!!!

It seems so clear that we can’t just sit back and let someone tell us that we can’t carry out the mandates of the gospel. Of course I wouldn’t obey a law that goes against the gospel. Then in the program we were given scenarios that make me realize that every one of us DOES have to choose to follow the gospel or bow to unjust immigration policies. Here are a few examples that were read:
· I am a social worker and I am committed to working to improve the lives of disadvantaged groups in my community. However, a new state law is asking me to deny services to any individual who does not have a social security number, and the undocumented are among the most marginalized of the groups with whom I work.
· I am a member of a church that provides sandwiches to the hungry in my community. Recently a discussion has come up about who we should serve. In particular, dropping off food in certain areas of town inhabited mostly by immigrants is raising suspicion. Many of my fellow parishioners are concerned about the potential legal consequences of aiding immigrants in any way.
· I used to hire a woman to clean my house and care for my three small children. I never asked her if she had papers, but I knew that she badly needed a job. I was happy to help her out. I recently found out that she is undocumented, and I think I will have to let her go. The penalties for employing people without documentation are stiff enough that I can’t run the risk of being caught employing her.

Wow, this hits close to home. We have discussions about our legal liability as a board of directors for Annunciation House where we provide food and shelter for homeless undocumented immigrants. After the Voice of the Voiceless Solidarity dinner, I am making a conscious choice to follow the gospel, regardless of what our laws say. I pray that I can hold that conviction very clearly if or when I am ever in a position that challenges me and calls me to make a choice.

(kind of) HOME VISIT

This is Manuel´s wheel chair set in front of our little store that he manages. He was hurt by the train 2 years ago and only recently has begun to be able to use his legs. Since I´ve been here he has progressed from being able to balance standing to last week the Dr said he should no longer use the wheel chair. It´s now time for the walker only. We just got the parallel bars finished in time for him to really work on his exercises. He is so motivated. Thanks for donations from many of you. These parallel bars have been needed for a long time. They are being used by the abuelos (elderly men) and young ones alike.



Here Manuel is doing his deep knee bends and high leg lifts.

Donar, who has bilateral amputations, sews in the sewing shop. They help support the shelter with the things they sew. He made me a beautiful skirt.

The last foto is of Olga. I´ve been wanting to get a photo of her that shows her like I always see her. This captures her with her great smile and enjoying the people she is helping. She has wild dreams for people who are sick or injured and knows how to work to make them come true.

The guy with the cap used to live at the shelter. He has a below the knee prosthesis. Alma, the seamstress has bilateral amputations......all from the train.

I´m making a kind of home visit in May! I´ll be going to the Annunciation House board of Directors meeting and our annual Voice of the Voiceless dinner. This year the recipient of the Voice of the Voiceless Award is Roy Bourgeois. I´m looking forward to meeting him and hearing him speak at the dinner. I plan to be there May 10-26.

An extra special treat for me is that my sister Jeanette will be coming down the week before the meeting just for a visit. We will be talking English, watching movies in English and eating ice cream!!! I can´t wait!

Many people have asked how they could get donations to me. It looks like this will be possible now in a relay type activity. Katy Brandes, a Saint Joseph worker, will be coming to El Paso and we´ll meet there. She is willing to bring supplies down from the Twin Cities. This is her response to my request.

"I would love to bring some supplies down for you. You can have people send them to me or Suzanne (Herder at the Administration Center) by Wednesday, May 14th. If people want to contact me to coordinate a drop off, they can call me at 612.418.2190. Glad to be of assistance."

Suzanne´s phone number at work is 651-696-2762.

As far as the supplies, I´d recommend that people don´t go out and buy supplies, but donate things that you already have. If you want to donate more than that, sending a monitary donation is easier to pack and I could buy the supplies in Tapachula. (Refer to the "things we could use" on the right hand side of the blog.)

While I´m in El Paso I hope to sell coffee to benefit the shelter. We sew cloth bags with our "Jesus el Buen Pastor" stamp and go straight to the ejido (communal farm) to buy the coffee fresh. If anyone has suggestions for where I might be able to sell them in El Paso, I´m open for suggestions.

Looking forward to seeing many of you in El Paso.

Blessings

Lillian

Arriaga and more train stories

Lining up for dinner.
This young guy in blue reminded me so much of my nephew Tyler. He was one of so many kids 15-17 years old in Arriaga this month. We had 44 people
register in one day. In addition to them, people had missed the last 2
trains so there were about 150 people staying at the shelter while I was there. The well went dry....and to add insult to injury, the next night robbers stole the copper pipes, so even if we bought a tank of water, we had no way to pipe it to where it was needed. Luckily that happened the same night that everyone left on the train.












The 2 guys below (in the center) are brothers, Oscar and Felix (no joke). They´ve both lived in the US and were deported. Felix was a cook in NY and likes NY. Oscar has been a cook in a chain restaurant in many states, including MN. He prefers California.
I tried the train (but only dared this while the train was stopped!) It was scary! I had been close to trains in the past, but to actually climb up on it was something else. It´s huge. The wheels are huge and powerful. The ladders start at about chest height. One of the women in our Tapachula shelter had her legs cut off when she grabbed the ladder and her legs swung under the train and she fell. As I tried to climb up the train when it wasn´t moving, I could see how easily that could happen.













I had the good fortune to be at the shelter at the same time as Edineo, a journalist from Minneapolis. He shared his fotos and stories with me. In this photo he is with a woman and her 2 kids who also rode the train. He told me about a woman who had carried her baby all night to get to the train. When she got on the train with her baby she fell asleep. When she woke up, the baby was gone. She must have dropped him while she was sleeping! They haven´t been able to find the baby. I can´t imagine what that woman is going through.



Edineo rode the train with the migrants and took pictures all along the way. He happened to be there at the time the army and immigration stopped the train for an "Operativo". This is one of the pictures he took that shows a soldier grabbing a woman as the rest were fleeing. I have other pictures that show them beating the migrants with clubs. Edineo was there and talked about it and other people who were beaten told me about it. There are also accusations of 2 women who were raped by the authorities. Edineo said what was so distressing to him was how the authorities seemed to be enjoying it. They were beating the people then standing around in groups laughing together as if they were a bunch of guys out hunting.

After talking about what the immigrants go through, it´s hard to switch gears, but I´m going to do it anyway!

I realize that I still keep thinking of myself as young because I am one of the youngest in my community. In Arriaga I was reminded many times that the rest of the world doesn´t see me as young as my community does. I have been called ¨Jefa¨ (boss lady--a respectful title for a woman of some stature.) I was asked by the woman who is standing beside me on the picture of the train above if I wouldn´t take her to the US and claim her as my daughter (to me she doesn´t look much younger than me!) The wildest one was being called "Abuelita" (Little Grandmother!) by one of the guys. ---All of these terms were said with respect and affection. They have no idea how shocking it is to hear myself being called "Abuelita!"

Today I was at the Dr with a man who is deaf. He lives in the mountains and is very poor. He reads everything he can find. They say he knows the bible inside out and backwards and is an expert on vatican II. When we were at the Dr I wrote him a note. He had some old reading glasses that were all dirty and scratched up. He was holding the note as far away as his arms could reach and said he needed a new pair of glasses but they were too expensive. I handed over a pair that Kris had given me. He read with them and had a great smile on his face. He said he could read very well with them. I said ¨keep them¨ he responded "You will go straight to heaven, sandals and all!" I have a couple of other pairs of glasses here so not to worry about me. (Sorry to say, I´m not generous enough to give away my only pair!!!) They will be put to great use--------giving a deaf man a way to communicate with the world is a wonderful feeling. He can´t hear but he´ll be able to read the words.
Blessings
Lillian

New Prosthesis

Juan getting his new prosthesis fitted





Juan selling pop, water and candy in front of the hospital






Pictures we took just before he went in to get his prosthesis fitted.








I´d like to share one experience from this week with you.
Juan is a young man in our shelter who just turned 20 last week. He’s a very likeable farm boy. He can rope and ride and drive a tractor and truck—or at least he used to.

When he was 17 years old he left home in Honduras to try to go to the US. His parents were very poor and he wanted to help them. He was riding on top of the freight train when someone from a gang pushed him off. The train cut off part of his foot and his leg was severely fractured. Mexican Immigration picked him up, sent him to a hospital in Guatemala where he received initial care, then he was sent on to a hospital in Honduras where he spent 5 months. The leg never did heal.

One night when his Father was coming home from work Juan heard him call out. He said he was slow because he had to get his crutches and couldn’t move very fast. As he got out the door, he saw some guys shoot his father and take the $10 he had in his pocket. Juan said it was payday and he’s sure they were watching him to rob him.

Juan had heard about our shelter and came here last October looking for help. He had an amputation, all went well, and this week he got his prosthesis. The hospital here did the surgery at no cost to him. All medicines (including anesthesia) and the prosthesis were covered by Olga. The prosthetist does his work at a discount for Olga. When he gave the prosthetic leg to Juan, he asked if he couldn’t take him to church to give thanks to God. Apparently the prosthetist and his family were in a very severe accident recently and he promised God that the next person from the shelter that he made a prosthesis for, he would bring to church to give thanks.

Juan is with tears of gratitude and anxious to be able to go back to see his mother with his new leg.

Holy week at Albergue Jesus el Buen Pastor

Washing of the feet. This is one of the men I do therapy with.













Holy Thursday mass in our chapel at the shelter.


This young woman is from Honduras. She came to us because she has paralysis in her hand for no known reason. The Dr is suspecting a brain tumor or hematoma (bleed). We´ll be getting testing done this week.
The man behind her had polio as a kid. It twisted and paralysed his legs. He rigged up this three wheel bike with pedals at the handle bars. He pedals it with his hands. He takes it out every day and sells from it. He used to live with his mother, but when she died he had no one else so now lives at the shelter.


This Salvadoreño (black shirt in photo below) had a stroke in NY. He couldn´t talk or remember anything so lost contact with his family and was living on the streets and in shelters there for 3 years. I can´t make out what´s going on right now. He says he has a son and daughter in NY but can´t remember the names of their towns. So, he´s lost from them again. I´ve gone through every scrap of paper he has and am looking for any leads on the internet. So far the most helpful has been a business card from a Taxi. I was able to track down the city where he says his daughter lives. Now I have to try to get a little closer!
















The guy with the cross and colorful shirt is recouperating from an abdominal surgery. He was coming home and got robbed. They beat him so badly he had internal injuries and needed surgery.















The guy with the blue rag on his head had his legs amputated by the train. I really like him. He´s got a family in Honduras but they are in a real mountainous area so he can´t live there with his wheel chair. The guy pushing his chair had his fingers amputated when someone attacked him with a machete. He just built a room that we are going to use for a bakery. I´m asking him to make the parallel bars for my therapy room.
















Just more photos of the Stations of the cross.
















Happy Easter and Holy season to you all
Lillian

fotos added to an earlier entry

I just want to let you know that I added some fotos to the February 27 entry
Lillian