The Houses

Annunciation House

The original Annunciation House building continues to serve as a house of hospitality for the undocumented and refugees. Because of increased border enforcement and a change in the political environment in Central America, there are fewer guests passing through the House than during the 1980s, but the population continues to average between 40 and 50 people each night. Annunciation House has grown over the past 20 years and now staffs five houses. Casa de la Peregrina and Casa Emaus in Ciudad Juárez, México, and Annunciation House, Casa Vides, and Casa Teresa in El Paso, Texas. The work in these houses is carried out by a community of full time volunteers who make a commitment of at least one year to live and make themselves available to the poor who continually come to the doors of our houses.

For more information about the work at Annunciation House go to History and Philosophy

Casa de la Peregrina

In early 1987, Annunciation House was invited by the Catholic Diocese of Juárez, Mexico to open a house of hospitality for the homeless poor in Juarez. Juarez, the fourth largest city in Mexico, has one and a half million residents and widespread unemployment; poverty is pervasive and the need to serve the thousands of immigrants to the border region urgent. In 1989, Casa del Peregrino opened its doors—the first house of its kind in Juarez.

By 1995, other groups had opened houses to serve migrant adult men and minors but none offered hospitality to women. Casa del Peregrino made the decision to offer hospitality to this underserved and growing population—and became Casa de la Peregrina. Since that time, Casa de la Peregrina has offered hospitality to single women and women accompanied by their children. While for many years Casa de la Peregrina predominantly served women coming from other parts of Mexico in search of work on the border, we also began to serve other groups of women after the downturn of the maquiladora industry in 2001.

The women and children we serve come to our door for a diversity of reasons. We group them loosely into the following categories:

1. Immigrant women. Women and their families continue to migrate to Juarez in large numbers. Some come looking for work in Juarez, faced with the reality of extremely low wages and high rates of unemployment in their places of origin in the interior of Mexico. While some are able to find work in the maquiladoras, jobs in the formal sector are sparse; most look for work as domestic workers, in childcare, or as street vendors. Many other women and their families come to Juarez with hopes of crossing into the United States. These women are not only looking for work to feed and clothe their families; they are also seeking to reunite with family members living and working in the United States.

1. Deported women. As a result of heightened border security and increased Immigration Service presence throughout the United States, we receive more and more women and children who have been deported. Some are detained in the process of crossing into the United States, but others are picked up in the interior of the country after having been living in the United States for numerous years. We’ve hosted many Mexican-born mothers whose children are all U.S.-born; these mothers have been deported due to their undocumented status and are forced to leave their children with caregivers.

1. Survivors of domestic abuse. As awareness of the pervasiveness of violence against women in Juarez has increased, it seems that more and more women have come to our doors seeking refuge from emotionally, physically, and sexually abusive partners. These women, most with children, face tremendous challenges in rebuilding their lives. They desire immediate psychological and legal support, and also encounter difficultly in competing for limited jobs with little or no education and work experience.

1. Chronically homeless and/or severely mentally ill women. Resources for the chronically mentally ill in Juarez are essentially non-existence; psychiatric services for the indigent require full payment, rendering them inaccessible for thousands who live on the streets without economic resources. To the extent we are able, we offer respite care to women who live on the streets.

1. Older adult women. The number of convalescent beds for indigent men and women in Juarez numbers approximately 200, desperately disproportionate to the need of older adults without family or economic resources who are no longer self-sufficient. We offer hospitality to several elderly women without family or resources, and, sometimes in cooperation with Older Adult Services or the municipal police, advocate for these women in obtaining a bed in a local convalescent center.

In addition, women stay at our house for a variety of other reasons. On occasion, we take in individuals who have been discharged from the General Hospital and need more time to recuperate before returning to work. In other instances, we support mothers who are mentally ill while family members mobilize supports for them and their children.

Casa Vides

Casa Vides opened in March of 1992 in a formerly abandoned building west of downtown El Paso. It serves guests who are in the process of applying for political asylum or whose plans require a medium or long term stay. Guests generally stay for several months, waiting for permission to work and travel in the US. Because they stay for longer periods, the guests at Casa Vides spend much of their time working or studying.

The mural on the wall at Casa Vides bears a quote from Bishop Oscar Romero, who was assassinated in El Salvador: “Si me matan, resucitare en mi pueblo.” (If they kill me, I will be resurrected in my people). Casa Vides was named in memory of the countless and the nameless who have died in Central America, in memory of those whose life sacrifice includes remaining anonymous and of seemingly little account but to the few with whom they lived and shared their lives. Included among those were Gabriel and Gladis Estela Vides, a young married couple with six children, who were active in efforts to better the lives of workers.

Baptism at Casa Vides

Along the walls adjacent to the mural at Casa Vides are written the names of a few hundred of the hundreds of thousands who died in the conflicts in Central America. These names keep a symbolic vigil for the many whose lives and families have so tragically been altered. They remind us that each one of these names has a face and a person to whom they belong. Each one of these names had family members, be they children, like the Vides, or parents, brothers, sisters, husbands, and wives who were left behind to cope and carry on with what life is. For each name, there is at least one person out there who would say to anyone who would listen, “They belonged to me and I to them and we loved each other”.

Along with being a home for longer term guests, Casa Vides is evolving into a peace and justice center on the border. It hosts Border Awareness Experience (BAE) groups from all across the country and is a gathering place for local organizations working on human rights issues on the border, for local as well as national speakers addressing issues of migration, globalization, social justice, and human rights, and for reflections and prayer gatherings for faith based activists.

Accompaniment and Advocacy

The heart and soul of Annunciation House, Casa de la Peregrina, and Casa Vides is hospitality, to extend a welcome to the homeless, especially refugees and internal immigrants. But it also goes beyond this. It includes serving as advocates and witnesses on behalf of the individuals, the persons who are our guests. It is a witness to the truth of their lives, their pain and suffering as well as their dreams and hopes. It is an advocacy that says that our guests are neither nameless or faceless. Who and what they are is nothing less than everything that anyone has ever been or had to offer.

Casa Emaus

Casa Emaus was named in the spirit of accompaniment, to walk with and to be of service to the people of the colonia Puerto de Anapra, a small squatter settlement on the edge of Ciudad Juarez. Just as the disciples walked with Jesus on the road to Emmaus and recognized and came to know him in the breaking of the bread, so too will the volunteers of Casa Emaus come to know Jesus in the people of the colonia with whom they walk. As they work with the base communities of the local parish or serve as health promoters in the community, they act on behalf of Jesus who is most present in the poor and oppressed.

Casa Emaus with community center behind

Casa Emaus started as a two room house, built of wooden pallets covered with tar paper, in the same style as the houses of so many squatters who had come up from the interior of Mexico. Over the past years, pairs of volunteers have lived in the house and accompanied the community in a number of different ways- through the base communities in the Catholic church, forming groups of health promoters, teaching music, and coordinating women’s groups.

In 2001 Annunciation House completed a larger structure of environmentally sound and relatively affordable straw bale. The straw bale community center was built with the assistance of skilled workers from the colonia, who after being trained in straw bale construction have gone on to share their skills with others. The center is used to house Border Awareness Experience (BAE) groups as they spend their time exploring and coming to understand life in Ciudad Juarez. It is also loaned to the community of Puerto de Anapra for meetings on human rights, women’s issues and community organizing. It has been used by the people of Anapra for events as varied as church retreats and summer camps for children. The role of Casa Emaus continues to evolve along with the community of Puerto de Anapra.

Border Awareness Experience

The US/Mexico border is a unique area where the ‘First World’ meets the ‘Third World’. It is a region where multiple factors (social, political, economic, cultural, environmental) come into play. The border is a place that is neither Mexico nor the US, but at the same time both and more. It is worth understanding for its own intrinsic value, but perhaps more importantly, we can learn much by seeing the border as microcosm of today’s globalized economy.

Annunciation House has always hosted groups who have been interested in learning about our work and the border. Responding to the desire of these groups to better understand the various forces that bring people to the border, Annunciation House developed the Border Awareness Experience (BAE). We currently receive about 15 groups per year, mostly from colleges and universities in the US. Some participants are coming to the border for the first time, while others wish to deepen their understanding of the issues.

El Paso as seen from Ciudad Juarez

The objective of the BAE is to facilitate face to face meetings and encounters between BAE participants and people and groups on both sides of the border. It intends to raise consciousness in the ‘first world’ about the issues facing the peoples of the ‘third world’ and the effects of unjust economic policies on their lives. It is an opportunity to listen to different perspectives and opinions about issues such as immigration, economic development, human rights, and social justice. It seeks put a face on the immigrant, the factory worker, the refugee, and the Border Patrol Agent.

More information about BAE

The main administrative office for Annunciation House is located on the first floor of Casa Teresa. Volunteers use the second floor for their days off and as a quiet place to get away and find some quiet space. Casa Teresa is located two blocks from Annunciation House