Yesterday I made my first trip to Galveston for the AIA Sandcastle Contest. For over two decades Houston area architects, designers, engineers and contractors have taken their tools to East Beach in Galveston for what is considered one of the world’s largest sandcastle competitions. The Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects (AIA) sponsors this annual contest where some 80 teams have their eyes (and shovels) set on winning the prestigious "Golden Bucket" award. Firms begin months in advance generating ideas, developing designs, and assigning duties. On the day of the event, the teams stretch along the beach meticulously sculpting their sand piles and working non-stop for five hours. The judging of the sandcastles is rated on originality of concept, artistic execution of the concept, technical difficulty, carving technique, and utilization of the site. Besides the official Golden Bucket winner, there is also a Crowd Favorite. In front of each building zone there is a clipboard where the public can sign for the designs they like best. Building teams try to bribe the public for votes so I walked away with candy, beads, key chains, coozie, and best of all…free beer. This year’s theme was going green, so teams had to invent creative ways to pump water from the ocean to their building site without a generator. My favorite pump was a guy on a bike pedaling water through a complex series of pipes. To see pictures of the castles check out my photos link on the right side.
Paz,
Stephanie
Sunday, June 7, 2009
Art Car Parade
Sorry, it’s been a while since my last update. We’ve been quite busy here in Houston; so let me give a little update on what’s been going on. The second weekend in May, a few of us went to the Houston Art Car Parade. This event has been going on for 22 years and is a proud display of art. Parade entries include anything on wheels from unicycles to lawnmowers to cars, and are made by members of the general public as well as recognized artists. Community groups, public and private schools, and professional organizations have become regular participants. The Art Car Parade is a true public art event, created by the people and for the people. There is no pre-selection process, no juried selection of entries - everyone who makes a decorated, augmented or otherwise decked-out wheeled vehicle can be a participant. This year there were over 200 participants. Each wheeled vehicle has a number which viewers can text and vote for the winner. The cars were pretty amazing and I’ve posted some photos of my favorites.
Paz,
Stephanie
Paz,
Stephanie
Friday, March 13, 2009
Revisiting El Salvador
Sorry it has taken so long, but here is an update on my return to El Salvador for the Presidential Election. It was so good to revisit El Salvador, and I still can’t believe I actually got to go back. It has taken a while to process the whole trip since I had a pretty packed schedule. So how did this all happen, how did I get to travel to El Salvador on an $80 stipend? Well, a former Jesuit Volunteer in Houston is married to a Salvadorian man (Francisco), who each year offers to lead a delegation of current JVs to El Salvador. When Francisco first talked to my roommates and I about the possibility of going to El Salvador for the Elections, Amber, Katie, and I immediately jumped on the offer. All three of us studied abroad in El Salvador and would do anything to go back and reconnect with our friends. We did some fundraising and wrote letters to former volunteers for donations and raised enough money to completely cover the cost of our trip. On March 13 we caught a flight to El Salvador, and the following describes how the trip unfolded.
March 14
Woke up to the sound of roosters and women selling empanadas. It’s unseasonably cool, so the mosquitoes were thankfully not to bad last night. We’re staying with Francisco’s aunt and cousin in San Marcos, a neighborhood just a little outside of the city of San Salvador. Francisco’s aunt, Maria, is a tiny old lady who shuffles around the house making sure everyone is well fed. His cousin, Silvia, teaches second grade and was only around in the evenings. Their house is relatively nice. They have a showerhead and real toilet (though both are in little outhouses outside and the toilet doesn’t flush). Still, this is an upgrade from my Campo days.
Today is our first day in El Salvador and we spent it registering and training to be International Election Observers. I got an official badge that said “Election Observer” and then was given a crash course in voting procedures. Basically, my job is to watch for fraudulent voting procedures and make sure the voting centers follow the rules. Since this is such a heated election, fraud is expected to be high. The FMLN party (liberals) has a good chance at winning and the ARENA party (conservatives) is nervous about losing their control of the country.
March 15
Today is Election Day and everyone is buzzing with anticipation. Salvadorians are very polarized, they either support ARENA or FMLN, there’s not really any middle ground. Some of the top leaders in the ARENA Party are connected to the murder of Romero and the 6 Jesuit martyrs at the UCA. The FMLN Party began as a guerrilla group during the Civil War to counter the attacks of the National Guard. Since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1992, there has never been any official reconciliation between the two sides. The FMLN fought for the rights of the poor and oppressed, while ARENA leans towards policies that benefit the rich. For 20 years ARENA has controlled the country, and this year FMLN has a good chance of winning the election. The two candidates are Rodrigo Avila (ARENA) and Mauricio Funes (FMLN). As Election Observers, our job is to make sure voting goes smoothly and monitor for voting fraud.
We began the day at a voting center in Santa Tecla. People are zoned to certain voting centers just like in the U.S. The centers are filed with different tables and each table has 450 ballots. Tables are set up alphabetically. There are posters with each registered voters picture and name, and people find their name/picture and the go to the assigned table. At the table voters must present their DUI (Salvadorian identification card). You can’t vote without a DUI. Then an election official finds the person’s name on the list, they must sign or thumbprint if they can’t write, then are given a ballot. The ballot has a picture of the ARENA flag on one side and the FMLN flag on the other. Voters go to a cardboard voting both and place and X over the flag they are voting for, then fold the ballot and place it in the ballot box. After they finish voting, they must dip their finger in a special purple dye that lasts for 3 days so they are marked and cannot try voting again. The system seemed to work pretty well and we didn’t see and suspicious activity.
Each voting table had two representatives from each party to make sure voting was fair. When people came to vote, everyone had on a T-shirt, hat, or some type of paraphernalia that showed their party support. In Santa Tecla most people were sporting ARENA gear, but we also visited Tamanique, Comasaguas, Jicalapa, and Teotepeque (the birth place of Farabundo Marti, who the FMLN is named after), which are small towns in La Libertad, and everyone was wearing red to show their support of FMLN.
Our last stop was in San Salvador at La FerÃa Internaciónal. This was an awesome place to close out the elections since it was so politically charged. At 5:00pm the voting booths closed and each table is responsible for counting its votes. I watched as one by one the ballots were pulled from the box and counted.
There was a small dispute at my table over a ballot that had a large X over the whole page and not just on one flag. In the end it was declared null because the voter’s intent was unclear. As each table finished counting, cheers could be heard from the winning party. My table went to ARENA, but the majority of tables at the voting center went to FMLN. As the votes rolled in from across the country, it became apparent that Funes would win and people went wild. We took to the streets in celebration decked out in red FMLN gear. Everyone was so excited. There was dancing, music, and fireworks. After more than 20 years of oppression, the people had finally gained power. The whole event was truly monumental and I’m so grateful to have been a part of Salvadorian history.
March 17
After taking a day to recover from all the post-election festivities, we headed off to meet with one of the FMLN diputados (Congressman), Hugo Martinez. He spoke a lot about immigration reform and wanting to work closely with the U.S. on this matter. Twenty percent of El Salvador’s economy is based on remittances sent by Salvadorians in the U.S. to family still in El Salvador, so immigration is a big issue. The new administration wants to tackle the factors pushing people to migrate, but they know this will not happen over night, so they are asking the U.S. stability for people with TPS and maybe some kind of Visa that allows Salvadorians in the U.S. with TPS to freely travel between the two countries to visit family which will strengthen families ties that are severed due to immigration.
FMLN also wants to tackle the gang issues, which are plaguing the country. ARENA wasn’t very motivated to combat the gangs because they profited from the violence. Many ARENA members own private security companies (vigilantes) and weapon companies. So they profit from the violence because more people need to hire vigilantes and carry guns for protection.
Hugo Martinez stressed that El Salvador’s new government doesn’t want to be compared to other leftist countries. They are not Communist, they just want equality and to end oppression. The new government will look at leftist countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador and note what has worked and what hasn’t worked, but ultimately will make their own decisions. The new government wants friendly relations with the U.S., but they do not want to be submissive or a puppet of the U.S. El Salvador wants to be a strong country on its own.
March 18
Today we visited the UCA. It was so good to be back on familiar grounds. Not too much had changed since I was a student there. After walking around the campus for a while, we made our way over to the UCA Chapel and Romero Center. We stop in the Chapel to say some prayers and then walked through the Romero Center looking at the pictures and revisiting the Rose Garden (a memorial to the 6 Jesuit martyrs and they’re housekeeper and her daughter). While walking through the Romero Center, we had the privilege of bumping into Dean Brackley, SJ and Jon Sobrino, SJ. Dean is very involved with the Casa program and came to El Salvador right after the 6 Jesuits were killed to help continue their mission at the UCA. Jon Sobrino was one of the UCA Jesuits during the war and would have been killed with the other 6 had he not been out of the country for a lecture. Dean welcomed us back to El Salvador and then spoke to us for a while about the elections. He then made a comment that traveling to El Salvador is like a spiritual pilgrimage. I fell like that is a beautiful way of putting what this trip to El Salvador meant to me. The country has such a strong faith based in liberation theology and so many spiritual icons like Romero, Rutilio Grande, the 4 church women, and the 6 Jesuit martyrs. Returning to El Salvador was like returning to my spiritual roots. I felt invigorated and refreshed, ready to return to the U.S. and continue working for social change and living in solidarity with the people of El Salvador.
March 19
We spent most of the day at Francisco’s family’s beach house. After more than enough sun, we asked Francisco if we could spend the last days of our trip visiting friends from when we had studied abroad in El Salvador. So Francisco drove us to Antiguo Cuscatlan and dropped us off in front of Casa Romero. We knocked on the door of Casa Romero and stood outside next to our duffle bags waiting looking pretty dirty and tired from our beach day and a little nervous since we didn’t know any of the current study abroad students. But one knock and a student came running to answer the door and we were immediately welcomed in. We hung out in the hammocks chatting with the current students and then later that evening went to a pupusa dinner with all the Casa students and the becarios (Salvadorian scholarship students). It was so good to see all the becarios. Some I remembered from my semester at the Casa and others were new. One of the new becarios, Alejandro, remembered me from my time in the campo. I stayed in his village and for some reason remembered me. So I spent some time talking with him and getting updates on my campo host family. Later that night we went to mass with all the students. I almost forgot how much I love mass in El Salvador. God is so visibly present here.
March 20
I spent the night at Casa de la Paz, a new house that the Casa Program bought for guests and visiting alums. I woke up early and went to history class at the UCA. I got to class early and Amber and I chatted with Gene Palumbo, our former history teacher. There was a guest speaker coming to class, which is why we asked if we could sit in on the class.
After class we walked back to Casa Romero for lunch. As I was sitting in the hammock waiting for lunch to be ready, I saw Oti and Lolo walk into the house. Neither knew I was back in El Salvador because I didn’t want to disappointment if I said I would see them and then things never worked out. I saw Lolo first and yelled at him from across the backyard. He saw me and had the biggest smile on his face as I ran over and hugged him. Then Oti came over with Oscarito (who’s now pretty big) and we also hugged. It was a very emotional reunion and words can’t describe how happy I was to see them. We spent all of lunch catching up. Lolo said his family was doing well. Karen is now in second grade and loves school. Maria Jose is getting bigger and is apparently a terror around the house. Though Lolo had a huge smile on his face and was laughing and telling jokes, he wasn’t doing very well. He had spent most of last year in the hospital with a lung disease (people at the Casa think he has cancer). The medical bills were so expensive that Lolo had to sell his house and move into his uncle’s house. The women’s cooperative that I used to work at is no longer in business. The economy is bad and people just weren’t buying the goods. This is a major blow since the cooperative was also a source of support for the women that worked there, as most of them were victims of abusive relationships. The gangs in Mariona are worse. There’s now a curfew to keep innocent people off the streets at night and gang wars are more frequent. We only had a few hours together before Oti and Lolo had to leave, but it was nice being with them for even just a short time.
March 21
Today we went to the Romero March, celebrating the 29th anniversary of his death. We joined the parade of people singing and prayer as we marched to the cathedral. At the cathedral we celebrated mass.
That night we met back up with Francisco and went back to his aunt’s house and had a birthday party for his mom. Then we took our last buck shower in the sink and got ready to return to the U.S.
If you would like to read more about my study abroad experience in El Salvador, go to http://lubert.blogspot.com/
Paz,
Stephanie
March 14
Woke up to the sound of roosters and women selling empanadas. It’s unseasonably cool, so the mosquitoes were thankfully not to bad last night. We’re staying with Francisco’s aunt and cousin in San Marcos, a neighborhood just a little outside of the city of San Salvador. Francisco’s aunt, Maria, is a tiny old lady who shuffles around the house making sure everyone is well fed. His cousin, Silvia, teaches second grade and was only around in the evenings. Their house is relatively nice. They have a showerhead and real toilet (though both are in little outhouses outside and the toilet doesn’t flush). Still, this is an upgrade from my Campo days.
Today is our first day in El Salvador and we spent it registering and training to be International Election Observers. I got an official badge that said “Election Observer” and then was given a crash course in voting procedures. Basically, my job is to watch for fraudulent voting procedures and make sure the voting centers follow the rules. Since this is such a heated election, fraud is expected to be high. The FMLN party (liberals) has a good chance at winning and the ARENA party (conservatives) is nervous about losing their control of the country.
March 15
Today is Election Day and everyone is buzzing with anticipation. Salvadorians are very polarized, they either support ARENA or FMLN, there’s not really any middle ground. Some of the top leaders in the ARENA Party are connected to the murder of Romero and the 6 Jesuit martyrs at the UCA. The FMLN Party began as a guerrilla group during the Civil War to counter the attacks of the National Guard. Since the signing of the Peace Accords in 1992, there has never been any official reconciliation between the two sides. The FMLN fought for the rights of the poor and oppressed, while ARENA leans towards policies that benefit the rich. For 20 years ARENA has controlled the country, and this year FMLN has a good chance of winning the election. The two candidates are Rodrigo Avila (ARENA) and Mauricio Funes (FMLN). As Election Observers, our job is to make sure voting goes smoothly and monitor for voting fraud.
We began the day at a voting center in Santa Tecla. People are zoned to certain voting centers just like in the U.S. The centers are filed with different tables and each table has 450 ballots. Tables are set up alphabetically. There are posters with each registered voters picture and name, and people find their name/picture and the go to the assigned table. At the table voters must present their DUI (Salvadorian identification card). You can’t vote without a DUI. Then an election official finds the person’s name on the list, they must sign or thumbprint if they can’t write, then are given a ballot. The ballot has a picture of the ARENA flag on one side and the FMLN flag on the other. Voters go to a cardboard voting both and place and X over the flag they are voting for, then fold the ballot and place it in the ballot box. After they finish voting, they must dip their finger in a special purple dye that lasts for 3 days so they are marked and cannot try voting again. The system seemed to work pretty well and we didn’t see and suspicious activity.
Each voting table had two representatives from each party to make sure voting was fair. When people came to vote, everyone had on a T-shirt, hat, or some type of paraphernalia that showed their party support. In Santa Tecla most people were sporting ARENA gear, but we also visited Tamanique, Comasaguas, Jicalapa, and Teotepeque (the birth place of Farabundo Marti, who the FMLN is named after), which are small towns in La Libertad, and everyone was wearing red to show their support of FMLN.
Our last stop was in San Salvador at La FerÃa Internaciónal. This was an awesome place to close out the elections since it was so politically charged. At 5:00pm the voting booths closed and each table is responsible for counting its votes. I watched as one by one the ballots were pulled from the box and counted.
There was a small dispute at my table over a ballot that had a large X over the whole page and not just on one flag. In the end it was declared null because the voter’s intent was unclear. As each table finished counting, cheers could be heard from the winning party. My table went to ARENA, but the majority of tables at the voting center went to FMLN. As the votes rolled in from across the country, it became apparent that Funes would win and people went wild. We took to the streets in celebration decked out in red FMLN gear. Everyone was so excited. There was dancing, music, and fireworks. After more than 20 years of oppression, the people had finally gained power. The whole event was truly monumental and I’m so grateful to have been a part of Salvadorian history.
March 17
After taking a day to recover from all the post-election festivities, we headed off to meet with one of the FMLN diputados (Congressman), Hugo Martinez. He spoke a lot about immigration reform and wanting to work closely with the U.S. on this matter. Twenty percent of El Salvador’s economy is based on remittances sent by Salvadorians in the U.S. to family still in El Salvador, so immigration is a big issue. The new administration wants to tackle the factors pushing people to migrate, but they know this will not happen over night, so they are asking the U.S. stability for people with TPS and maybe some kind of Visa that allows Salvadorians in the U.S. with TPS to freely travel between the two countries to visit family which will strengthen families ties that are severed due to immigration.
FMLN also wants to tackle the gang issues, which are plaguing the country. ARENA wasn’t very motivated to combat the gangs because they profited from the violence. Many ARENA members own private security companies (vigilantes) and weapon companies. So they profit from the violence because more people need to hire vigilantes and carry guns for protection.
Hugo Martinez stressed that El Salvador’s new government doesn’t want to be compared to other leftist countries. They are not Communist, they just want equality and to end oppression. The new government will look at leftist countries like Cuba, Venezuela, and Ecuador and note what has worked and what hasn’t worked, but ultimately will make their own decisions. The new government wants friendly relations with the U.S., but they do not want to be submissive or a puppet of the U.S. El Salvador wants to be a strong country on its own.
March 18
Today we visited the UCA. It was so good to be back on familiar grounds. Not too much had changed since I was a student there. After walking around the campus for a while, we made our way over to the UCA Chapel and Romero Center. We stop in the Chapel to say some prayers and then walked through the Romero Center looking at the pictures and revisiting the Rose Garden (a memorial to the 6 Jesuit martyrs and they’re housekeeper and her daughter). While walking through the Romero Center, we had the privilege of bumping into Dean Brackley, SJ and Jon Sobrino, SJ. Dean is very involved with the Casa program and came to El Salvador right after the 6 Jesuits were killed to help continue their mission at the UCA. Jon Sobrino was one of the UCA Jesuits during the war and would have been killed with the other 6 had he not been out of the country for a lecture. Dean welcomed us back to El Salvador and then spoke to us for a while about the elections. He then made a comment that traveling to El Salvador is like a spiritual pilgrimage. I fell like that is a beautiful way of putting what this trip to El Salvador meant to me. The country has such a strong faith based in liberation theology and so many spiritual icons like Romero, Rutilio Grande, the 4 church women, and the 6 Jesuit martyrs. Returning to El Salvador was like returning to my spiritual roots. I felt invigorated and refreshed, ready to return to the U.S. and continue working for social change and living in solidarity with the people of El Salvador.
March 19
We spent most of the day at Francisco’s family’s beach house. After more than enough sun, we asked Francisco if we could spend the last days of our trip visiting friends from when we had studied abroad in El Salvador. So Francisco drove us to Antiguo Cuscatlan and dropped us off in front of Casa Romero. We knocked on the door of Casa Romero and stood outside next to our duffle bags waiting looking pretty dirty and tired from our beach day and a little nervous since we didn’t know any of the current study abroad students. But one knock and a student came running to answer the door and we were immediately welcomed in. We hung out in the hammocks chatting with the current students and then later that evening went to a pupusa dinner with all the Casa students and the becarios (Salvadorian scholarship students). It was so good to see all the becarios. Some I remembered from my semester at the Casa and others were new. One of the new becarios, Alejandro, remembered me from my time in the campo. I stayed in his village and for some reason remembered me. So I spent some time talking with him and getting updates on my campo host family. Later that night we went to mass with all the students. I almost forgot how much I love mass in El Salvador. God is so visibly present here.
March 20
I spent the night at Casa de la Paz, a new house that the Casa Program bought for guests and visiting alums. I woke up early and went to history class at the UCA. I got to class early and Amber and I chatted with Gene Palumbo, our former history teacher. There was a guest speaker coming to class, which is why we asked if we could sit in on the class.
After class we walked back to Casa Romero for lunch. As I was sitting in the hammock waiting for lunch to be ready, I saw Oti and Lolo walk into the house. Neither knew I was back in El Salvador because I didn’t want to disappointment if I said I would see them and then things never worked out. I saw Lolo first and yelled at him from across the backyard. He saw me and had the biggest smile on his face as I ran over and hugged him. Then Oti came over with Oscarito (who’s now pretty big) and we also hugged. It was a very emotional reunion and words can’t describe how happy I was to see them. We spent all of lunch catching up. Lolo said his family was doing well. Karen is now in second grade and loves school. Maria Jose is getting bigger and is apparently a terror around the house. Though Lolo had a huge smile on his face and was laughing and telling jokes, he wasn’t doing very well. He had spent most of last year in the hospital with a lung disease (people at the Casa think he has cancer). The medical bills were so expensive that Lolo had to sell his house and move into his uncle’s house. The women’s cooperative that I used to work at is no longer in business. The economy is bad and people just weren’t buying the goods. This is a major blow since the cooperative was also a source of support for the women that worked there, as most of them were victims of abusive relationships. The gangs in Mariona are worse. There’s now a curfew to keep innocent people off the streets at night and gang wars are more frequent. We only had a few hours together before Oti and Lolo had to leave, but it was nice being with them for even just a short time.
March 21
Today we went to the Romero March, celebrating the 29th anniversary of his death. We joined the parade of people singing and prayer as we marched to the cathedral. At the cathedral we celebrated mass.
That night we met back up with Francisco and went back to his aunt’s house and had a birthday party for his mom. Then we took our last buck shower in the sink and got ready to return to the U.S.
If you would like to read more about my study abroad experience in El Salvador, go to http://lubert.blogspot.com/
Paz,
Stephanie
Houston Rodeo
Houston is a thriving metropolis full of diverse cultures, but every year the city takes some time to celebrate its heritage with the Rodeo. It’s a bit difficult to explain the excitement surrounding the Rodeo without having witnessed it firsthand, but for the month of March everyone in Houston goes cowboy crazy. Rodeo Houston is the world’s largest livestock exhibition and rodeo event (well, at least that’s what the rodeo website says) that started back in the 1930s. Every year, Rodeo season is kicked off with Go Texan Day. On the last Friday of February, a parade of over 5,000 trail riders rolls into Houston. These modern cowboys travel for days in their chuck wagons (Oregon Trail style wagons) camping out along the way until they reach Houston and then have a bonfire party in one of the city’s parks. On Go Texan Day, the whole city is encouraged to wear cowboy hats and boots. This actually happens everyday. People in Texas don’t need an excuse to wear cowboy boots and hats to work.
Caught up in all the Rodeo excitement, a few of us decided to embrace Texan culture and see what the Rodeo was all about. Vicky, Mary, and I got to the Rodeo a little early so we had time to check out the livestock show. We saw a prize winning Angora sheep and Texas Longhorn. Then we ventured over to the birthing center. We saw piglets, lambs, and cute bunnies of every breed. There were large tractors on display, Texan BBQ and wine to sample, and a center for buying arts and crafts.
The actual Rodeo consisted of steer wrestling, bareback riding, bull riding, barrel racing, cattle wrangling, and chuck wagon racing. The best events, though, were the Calf Scramble and Mutton Bustin’.
For the calf scramble, a bunch of middle school kids were let loose in a ring with a herd of calves. They had to try to tackle the calves and drag them into a ring. This is quite entertaining since it was a stamped of kids trying to jump on calves, but just getting dragged around in the dirt instead. Mutton Bustin’ is where 5 year olds with football helmets ride bareback on sheep. Most end up face down in the dirt crying at the end of it.
The night ended with a concert (we saw Brad Paisley) and an over the top display of American pride. Overall, the Rodeo lived up to all its hype, and left me wanting to buy a pair of boots.
Paz,
Stephanie
Caught up in all the Rodeo excitement, a few of us decided to embrace Texan culture and see what the Rodeo was all about. Vicky, Mary, and I got to the Rodeo a little early so we had time to check out the livestock show. We saw a prize winning Angora sheep and Texas Longhorn. Then we ventured over to the birthing center. We saw piglets, lambs, and cute bunnies of every breed. There were large tractors on display, Texan BBQ and wine to sample, and a center for buying arts and crafts.
The actual Rodeo consisted of steer wrestling, bareback riding, bull riding, barrel racing, cattle wrangling, and chuck wagon racing. The best events, though, were the Calf Scramble and Mutton Bustin’.
For the calf scramble, a bunch of middle school kids were let loose in a ring with a herd of calves. They had to try to tackle the calves and drag them into a ring. This is quite entertaining since it was a stamped of kids trying to jump on calves, but just getting dragged around in the dirt instead. Mutton Bustin’ is where 5 year olds with football helmets ride bareback on sheep. Most end up face down in the dirt crying at the end of it.
The night ended with a concert (we saw Brad Paisley) and an over the top display of American pride. Overall, the Rodeo lived up to all its hype, and left me wanting to buy a pair of boots.
Paz,
Stephanie
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Catholic Social Teaching on Migration
This weekend I went to a lecture at St. Tomas University on immigration. The Honduran Consulate was supposed to speak, but she never showed up and the lecture turned into a discussion on immigration reform. We centered most of our discussion on Catholic Social Teaching, which I found interesting since just last week we had our JVC Winter Retreat that was focused on social justice and Catholic Social Teaching.
There are maybe around 6 points to CST on migration, but the two that are most relevant to the work I do are the second and third points. (By the way, this stuff is put out by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, so I’m not just making this up or pulling it from random sources). The second point states: “Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families. The Church recognizes that all the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right.”
The third point says: “Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders. The Church recognizes the right of sovereign nations to control their territories but rejects such control when it is exerted merely for the purpose of acquiring additional wealth. More economically powerful nations, which have the ability to protect and feed their residents, have a stronger obligation to accommodate migration flows.” This kind of goes with that says, “To whom much has been given, much is expected in return.” I think we can all agree the United States falls into this category.
The issue of immigration isn’t a black and white problem that has a simple fix. There are many factors, some that the United States can control and some we can’t, but that doesn’t mean we just ignore the problem and continue treating immigrants as though they are sub-human. My personal opinion is that there needs to be some kind of amnesty for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. Right now there is no path to legalization for undocumented immigrants. I see families all the time whose father was brought illegally into the U.S. as a young child and was raised in the U.S. and has no connections in his country of origin. He meets a U.S. citizen, they get married and have a few children who are citizens and the father works hard to earn money and support his children. The family comes to me for help legalizing the father, Immigration rejects the petition, the father is deported, and the mother is left to raise the children alone with the help of government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid. Would it not have been better for Immigration to legalize the father so he could continue supporting his family instead of deporting him and leaving the U.S. government with that responsibility? People say new immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S. citizens. Maybe this is true, but all my clients work in factories, as domestic workers, field laborers, dishwashers, and janitors. I don’t see many U.S. citizens fighting for these positions. And the majority of the undocumented people working in these positions are paid unfair wages and forced to work in extreme conditions. Employers could hire citizens instead, but the choose the undocumented because they can exploit them and earn more money for themselves. It’s a form of neo-slavery that clearly goes against Catholic Social Teaching.
America is not the same America it was 50 years ago. We’re more diverse and there is a need to be multi-cultural and multi-lingual. We’re in a time of change and growth and becoming a more diverse country can only help us. There will never be an easy answer to the immigration problem, but I think we can do a better job of welcoming those already here and treating them with human dignity. All of our families were once immigrants seeking a better life. Would we be so quick to close the door on today’s migrants if it was our families’ lives at stake?
Paz,
Stephanie
There are maybe around 6 points to CST on migration, but the two that are most relevant to the work I do are the second and third points. (By the way, this stuff is put out by the United States Catholic Conference of Bishops, so I’m not just making this up or pulling it from random sources). The second point states: “Persons have the right to migrate to support themselves and their families. The Church recognizes that all the goods of the earth belong to all people. When persons cannot find employment in their country of origin to support themselves and their families, they have a right to find work elsewhere in order to survive. Sovereign nations should provide ways to accommodate this right.”
The third point says: “Sovereign nations have the right to control their borders. The Church recognizes the right of sovereign nations to control their territories but rejects such control when it is exerted merely for the purpose of acquiring additional wealth. More economically powerful nations, which have the ability to protect and feed their residents, have a stronger obligation to accommodate migration flows.” This kind of goes with that says, “To whom much has been given, much is expected in return.” I think we can all agree the United States falls into this category.
The issue of immigration isn’t a black and white problem that has a simple fix. There are many factors, some that the United States can control and some we can’t, but that doesn’t mean we just ignore the problem and continue treating immigrants as though they are sub-human. My personal opinion is that there needs to be some kind of amnesty for undocumented immigrants already in the U.S. Right now there is no path to legalization for undocumented immigrants. I see families all the time whose father was brought illegally into the U.S. as a young child and was raised in the U.S. and has no connections in his country of origin. He meets a U.S. citizen, they get married and have a few children who are citizens and the father works hard to earn money and support his children. The family comes to me for help legalizing the father, Immigration rejects the petition, the father is deported, and the mother is left to raise the children alone with the help of government benefits like food stamps and Medicaid. Would it not have been better for Immigration to legalize the father so he could continue supporting his family instead of deporting him and leaving the U.S. government with that responsibility? People say new immigrants are taking jobs away from U.S. citizens. Maybe this is true, but all my clients work in factories, as domestic workers, field laborers, dishwashers, and janitors. I don’t see many U.S. citizens fighting for these positions. And the majority of the undocumented people working in these positions are paid unfair wages and forced to work in extreme conditions. Employers could hire citizens instead, but the choose the undocumented because they can exploit them and earn more money for themselves. It’s a form of neo-slavery that clearly goes against Catholic Social Teaching.
America is not the same America it was 50 years ago. We’re more diverse and there is a need to be multi-cultural and multi-lingual. We’re in a time of change and growth and becoming a more diverse country can only help us. There will never be an easy answer to the immigration problem, but I think we can do a better job of welcoming those already here and treating them with human dignity. All of our families were once immigrants seeking a better life. Would we be so quick to close the door on today’s migrants if it was our families’ lives at stake?
Paz,
Stephanie
Saturday, December 13, 2008
Snow!
Yesterday it (gasp) snowed in Houston! Two days before it was 70 degrees and it’s now back to sunny 70-degree weather, but for one day Houston experienced a season other than summer. I don’t know how it happened, but the whole city was in shock as white stuff they have never seen before fell from the sky. While the snow only fell for a few hours and only stuck to cars, roofs, and bushes, the people in Houston ran to the grocery store and locked themselves inside like they were preparing for a hurricane. My roommates and I went outside to make snowballs and embrace the change in weather. Though the snow fun was short lived, it was nice to experience something other than hot, humid weather. From hurricane to snow storms, we’ve got it all down here in Houston.
Paz,
Stephanie
Paz,
Stephanie
Monday, December 8, 2008
SOA Protest/ Ignatian Solidarity Network Teach-In
Recently I was blessed with the opportunity to attend the School of the Americas Protest and Ignatian Family Teach-In in Fort Benning, GA. For those of you who aren’t familiar with this event, it’s basically a gathering of thousands of social justice/Jesuit-lovers from dozens of high school, colleges, and communities from around the country. The weekend is packed with speakers, musicians, and prayer all centering on the theme of the nature of our Christian faith being intertwined with the struggle for justice. I first learned of the SOA while in El Salvador. The 6 UCA martyrs, Oscar Romero, Rutilio Grande (who my JVC house is named after), and the 4 Churchwomen were all victims of SOA graduates, as well as the countless innocent people massacred at El Mozote. After learning more about the SOA and meeting people in El Salvador affected by the violence I became more interested in the gathering, but never had an opportunity to attend. This year as a Jesuit Volunteer living out the four values of community, social justice, simple living, and spirituality, my attendance at the protest seemed quite appropriate since the event itself is a lesson on the interconnectedness of these values.
Since I was having trouble finding a way to Georgia, all planning for the weekend was spur of the moment. Thursday after work, Katie and I rented a car and drove 6 hours to New Orleans. We arrived at the JV house around 2:00am and spent the night on the New Orleans JVs’ couch. We woke up early the next morning and caught a bus with a group of students from Loyola New Orleans and drove 7 more hours to Fort Benning, GA. Loyola hooked us up with a hotel room at the Marriott, but since the NOLA JVs hadn’t planned out sleeping arrangements, we had about 5 people crashing on our hotel floor. Since Katie and I had spent most of our monthly stipend on renting a car, we survived the weekend by reverting to a simple Hurricane Ike diet of bread and peanut butter, which we brought with us from Houston.
Other than the over crowded sleeping space, hunger, and sleep deprivation; the weekend was an amazing and powerful experience. The sense of community at the protest was amazing. I had my JVC community and met past and present JVs from all over the U.S. and abroad. I had my Fordham community, some people I met while in Ecuador, and best of all I had my El Salvador community. It was great to reunite with everyone I studied abroad with and even some of the Salvadorians who traveled to the U.S. just for the event.
Friday and Saturday were filled with inspiring speakers. Some powerful speakers included the president of John Carroll, Fr. Niehoff, who kicked of the weekend with a call to action by saying, “Our dissatisfaction at injustice is a sign that the spirit of God is still working through us.” Fr. Niehoff was followed by a JV support person and Catholic Worker, Joe Mueller, who spoke on learning as a vocation and the need to continue educating ourselves no matter our age, because knowledge is always power. One of the most anticipated speakers of the weekend was John Sobrino, S.J., one of two survivors of the massacre of the Jesuits at the UCA in El Salvador. He gave a powerful speak on the need to take action against injustice in a non-violent way. He said, “We are called not to fight people, but environments where God is absent.” Saturday was concluded with a huge Mass. Sunday was the actual protest. Twenty thousand people went to the gates surrounding the military base. It was a somber, prayerful event. Everyone lined up holding crosses with the names of the people killed by SOA graduates as cantors sung out the names. After each name was sung, the crowd would respond, “Presente (Present).”
We marched slowly until we reached the gate and we placed our crosses in the fence as a kind of memorial to the dead. It took over three hours for each name to be called. It was an amazing act of solidarity with the people of El Salvador and everyone affected by injustice that words cannot describe.
Paz,
Stephanie
Since I was having trouble finding a way to Georgia, all planning for the weekend was spur of the moment. Thursday after work, Katie and I rented a car and drove 6 hours to New Orleans. We arrived at the JV house around 2:00am and spent the night on the New Orleans JVs’ couch. We woke up early the next morning and caught a bus with a group of students from Loyola New Orleans and drove 7 more hours to Fort Benning, GA. Loyola hooked us up with a hotel room at the Marriott, but since the NOLA JVs hadn’t planned out sleeping arrangements, we had about 5 people crashing on our hotel floor. Since Katie and I had spent most of our monthly stipend on renting a car, we survived the weekend by reverting to a simple Hurricane Ike diet of bread and peanut butter, which we brought with us from Houston.
Other than the over crowded sleeping space, hunger, and sleep deprivation; the weekend was an amazing and powerful experience. The sense of community at the protest was amazing. I had my JVC community and met past and present JVs from all over the U.S. and abroad. I had my Fordham community, some people I met while in Ecuador, and best of all I had my El Salvador community. It was great to reunite with everyone I studied abroad with and even some of the Salvadorians who traveled to the U.S. just for the event.
Friday and Saturday were filled with inspiring speakers. Some powerful speakers included the president of John Carroll, Fr. Niehoff, who kicked of the weekend with a call to action by saying, “Our dissatisfaction at injustice is a sign that the spirit of God is still working through us.” Fr. Niehoff was followed by a JV support person and Catholic Worker, Joe Mueller, who spoke on learning as a vocation and the need to continue educating ourselves no matter our age, because knowledge is always power. One of the most anticipated speakers of the weekend was John Sobrino, S.J., one of two survivors of the massacre of the Jesuits at the UCA in El Salvador. He gave a powerful speak on the need to take action against injustice in a non-violent way. He said, “We are called not to fight people, but environments where God is absent.” Saturday was concluded with a huge Mass. Sunday was the actual protest. Twenty thousand people went to the gates surrounding the military base. It was a somber, prayerful event. Everyone lined up holding crosses with the names of the people killed by SOA graduates as cantors sung out the names. After each name was sung, the crowd would respond, “Presente (Present).”
We marched slowly until we reached the gate and we placed our crosses in the fence as a kind of memorial to the dead. It took over three hours for each name to be called. It was an amazing act of solidarity with the people of El Salvador and everyone affected by injustice that words cannot describe.
Paz,
Stephanie
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