Annunciation House Newsletter - Winter 2004

Casa Teresa Updates

MEMORIAL TO JUAN PATRICIO

On February 22, 2004, Annunciation House hosted a community Ecumenical Prayer Service to honor the first anniversary of the killing of Juan Patricio Peraza Quijada, the Annunciation House guest shot and killed by a Border Patrol agent in February 2003. In addition to constructing a memorial altar, Annunciation House drafted a community statement calling for a federal investigation of the shooting. In intervening months, the Grand Jury convened to hear the criminal case decided that there was not sufficient evidence to return an indictment against the Border Patrol agent. A civil case is now being pursued by Juan Patricio’s family.

LEMC ESTABLISHED

After this tragic death, many organizations, agencies and community groups came together to express their outrage. One outcome of their unity has been an effort to re-activate a group of citizens to monitor and respond to actions by law enforcement, including city police, the county sheriff’s office and the Border Patrol. Annunciation House is part of the leadership of this effort and has invited El Paso Mayor and County Judge to elicit their participation in establishing a Law Enforcement Monitoring Commission (LEMC).

RETREAT CONSIDERS SPIRITUALITY OF HOSPITALITY ON THE BORDER

Thanks to the generosity of former volunteers and friends of the organization, Annunciation House covered all three houses while the entire staff enjoyed a retreat in Ruidoso, New Mexico in October. The weekend was filled with free time and presentations on the spirituality of hospitality on the border. Rev. Bill Morton, a Columban priest, joined our staff for the retreat.

Casa de la Peregrina Updates

COPROMI OPENS MIGRANTS’ ORIENTATION CENTER

Early this year, Casa de la Peregrina and Annunciation House joined with Casa del Migrante, Casa YMCA and the Centro de Derechos Humanos of Cd. Juárez to form the Pro-Migrant Coalition (Coalición Pro-Migrante, or CoProMi). CoProMi’s first project was the creation of the Migrants’ Orientation Center (Centro de Orientación para el-la Migrante), located near the Paso al Norte bridge, which orients recently deported immigrants to one of the three houses of hospitality in Juárez and provides them with limited immediate assistance. The center was inaugurated in May.

WOMEN’S MULTI-USE SPACE CREATED

With the construction expertise of volunteer Jose Perez and material donations from the Cd. Juárez General Electric plant, the upstairs playroom was remodeled in winter 2003/2004 to create a women’s multipurpose space contiguous to the children’s play area. In the spring, artisan Marie Watkins of Carrizozo, NM obtained donations of six sewing machines and sewing materials. While Marie offered sewing classes to the women throughout the spring, summer and fall guests also have used the workshop to make school uniforms, curtains, blankets and clothing. The space is well-used by all for relaxation and socialization.

HOW DOES YOUR GARDEN GROW?

Former volunteer and coordinator of the Home-Grown Nutrition Project (HGNP) Chuck O’Herron-Alex coordinated the donation of an organic container garden to the house this fall. A visiting group from HGNP (of the Center for Action and Contemplation of Albuquerque, NM) helped guests and volunteers build the box and plant seeds in September. They also educated our community about caring for and harvesting the planted vegetables. Women and children alike help tend to the garden, which already has produced vegetables that add some spice to our usual meal fare!

MORE DEPORTED AND SEPARATED FAMILIES

As has been the case for the last several years, a variety of circumstances still bring women and their children to our house. Throughout the summer and fall months, however, we’ve observed an increase in mothers who were deported from the United States staying with us; almost all were separated from their families, husbands, or children as a result of their deportation. We’ve also hosted many women who have come with their children to the border to be closer to family members working in the United States; these husbands, brothers, and uncles fear being unable to return to their place of residence after visiting their families in Mexico. Families tell us that separation from their loved ones is driving their migration, in spite of wide-spread knowledge about the dangers of human smuggling and heightened border security.

Casa Vides Updates

NEW GUESTS AT CASA VIDES REFLECT BORDER REALITY

Those who know Casa Vides as the temporary home of political asylum applicants might not recognize it from its current residents. Currently, seven single male guests and three families—21 guests total—live in the house, along with four volunteers. The guests’stories represent the evolving reality of life on the border, including the incredible risks taken to cross it and the severe hardships often found north of it. Two men now at Vides are recovering from serious injuries incurred in the process of crossing; one fell from a bridge and the other fell after jumping from a fence. A third guest fell while roofing a house, then dragged himself across the border to find treatment For these Mexican guests, unable to afford or access medical attention in their home country, there is truly no room at any inn besides Casa Vides.

On the upper floor of CasaVides live three Mexican families, all in very difficult circumstances. One mother and five children have been trying to reunite with the father of the family since he left to work in another state nine months ago. Another family has had its life put on hold while caught in a long and complex immigration process. A mother of two children, who lost her husband in an accident three months before her younger daughter was born, is still waiting to collect the money and documents necessary to begin life outside Casa Vides.

Six families who have come and gone during the year are widows and children who qualify for Social Security survivors benefits from their deceased U.S. citizen or resident husbands/fathers. But in order to collect their modest payments, they must come to the United States once a month or spend 30 consecutive days here every six months, uprooting their lives.

Remarkably, of the 66 guests who have stayed at Vides during 2004, 36 have been under age 20, and 17 of those have been U.S. citizens. While this status allows the children themselves to receive food stamps and nutritional assistance through Women, Infants, and Children, it does nothing to immediately assist their undocumented parents nor lift their families out of poverty. The families at Vides remind us that borders do not divide just countries, but husbands, wives, sisters, and brothers.

CV HOSTS PEACE AND JUSTICE EVENTS

Casa Vides opened its doors each week during Lent to members of the community for a supper of rice and beans and seven talks by local and regional leaders. Talks for this year’s Lenten Series explored the theme of “Moving Towards the Promised Land: Signs of Life in the Desert.” The speakers discussed topics ranging from food justice to immigration laws, guiding those gathered to reflect on border realities and their fusion with spirituality.

On November 10, Annunciation House and Border Peace Presence hosted Salvadoran Professor Carlos Mauricio. Mauricio, founder of The Stop Impunity Project, is one of the three plaintiffs in a lawsuit in which a Florida jury found former Salvadoran Ministers of Defense liable for torture committed by their troops. Mauricio spoke about his own survival of torture by Salvadoran soldiers trained at the School of the Americas (SOA/WHINSEC) at Ft. Benning, Georgia. From El Paso, Mauricio and other members of the “Archbishop Oscar Romero Resurrection Ride” continued caravanning to Ft. Benning to participate in the annual protests against the SOA/WHINSEC.

BAE GROUPS FLOCK TO LEARN ABOUT THE BORDER

Annunciation House’s Border Awareness Education (BAE) program has hosted 15 groups of university students, schoolteachers, and seminarians during 2004, totaling 160 participants. BAE groups stay for five to 12 days and spend a good portion of their nights at Casa Vides. Vides also hosts other border education groups, including those led by the Maryknoll Border Team, who occasionally need a place where they can both spend the night and learn.

ROOMS MEMORIALIZE THOSE WHO INSPIRE US

Over the summer, volunteers prepared bilingual biographies of Mother Teresa, Rigoberta Menchu, César Chavez, Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, Chico Mendes, Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Oscar Romero, Samuel Ruiz, Claribel Alegría, Salvadoran couple Gabriel and Gladys Estela Vides (for whom the house is named), former volunteer Rita Steinhagen, and former guests Laura Rodriguez Cisneros and Juan Patricio Peraza Quijada. The biographies are mounted on wooden plaques painted by a current guest and hung outside each bedroom to remember the work and spirit that guides our house.

FLOOD RELIEF, MURAL ENHANCEMENT ON THE HORIZON

While the back yard of Vides has not flooded recently, finding a small lake there after a rain is not uncommon. A speed bump built at the gated entrance to the yard has helped, but the yard must be graded to permanently rectify the problem. We have received cost estimates for doing this and are open to donations!

Also in the plans for physical improvements to Vides are touch-ups to the striking mural on the first floor. In coming months, volunteers will be retracing the names that flow from either side of the mural and represent some of the thousands killed in the Salvadoran war.

Annunciation House Updates

HOME IMPROVEMENTS

For a second year in a row, due to high numbers of guests in the house, Annunciation House has been unable to close for our yearly house maintenance. However, improvement projects have continued even with the house open. Guests and volunteers alike have rolled up their sleeves and done a tremendous job cleaning and painting in many areas of the house. The dining room was painted a sunny yellow and plants and new curtains have been hung, the downstairs guest and volunteer salas have been thoroughly cleaned and repainted as well, making the house a warmer, brighter place to receive our guests. We have begun a project to repair walls and windows, paint and redecorate family rooms one at a time. This is particularly challenging due to the large numbers of families staying at the house, but we are proceeding steadily.

HOUSE FULL TO CAPACITY

During most of 2004 Annunciation House has been full to capacity, serving upwards of 40-50 people on any given day. The stories of our guests are varied, but so many are moved by extreme economic hardship to leave their families and come to the United States seeking work. The journey becomes more difficult each year. As border controls tighten we are hearing more and more tales of migrants resorting to “coyotes” or smugglers to move across the border. The risks inherent with this practice are high, as migrants are often physically abused, abandoned or tricked out of large sums of (often borrowed) money.

MORE AND MORE FAMILIES STRUGGLING TO MAKE IT

We are seeing more and more families struggling to survive here in El Paso, and we find ourselves often taking referrals from other shelters whose family sections are full. Loss of work, medical bills and rising costs are cited as reasons families are losing their homes and apartments and generally “not making it”. Undocumented and mixed-document families have the hardest times as there are few safety nets for them when times get tough.

Immigrant families as well are crossing the border in an attempt to reunite with family members working further in the United States. In the past it was easier for these workers to return to Mexico for holidays and to spend time with spouses and children. Now the difficulty of crossing the border has brought the families themselves up in a last ditch effort to reunite with loved ones. The dangers involved in the crossing and traveling with children are significant, and the choices these families have to make, heart-wrenching.