A letter from Tracey King-Ortega serving in Nicaragua
September 2014 - Seminar to US/Mex border
It is no longer front-page news, but the crisis remains a crisis. This year more than 52,000 unaccompanied minors, the majority coming from the northern triangle of Central America (Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador), have crossed into the United States. I've been asked a lot over the past couple of months for insight into what is going on. I am far from an expert on the topic, but I do have some opinions to share.
I remember years back when the immigration issue was mothers leaving their children behind to find work in the U.S. in order to send money back to support their children. They made the difficult decision to leave because they wanted to find a way to provide a better life for their kids. However, the separation was hard on their children. Being a bit critical, I thought, “Wouldn't they be better subsisting on rice and beans and having their mother rather than her leaving and sending back money for fancy shoes and clothes?” But now it is the children who are risking their lives by trying to cross the border. It seems that many of these kids aren't so much running to something as they are leaving to escape the violence. It is really scary, what is happening in parts of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. Much of the current violence is a legacy of gangs exported (deported) from the U.S. to these countries.
I recall, last year on a visit to Honduras, a very telling conversation I had with leadership of the Presbyterian Church of Honduras. From trying to keep up with the news, I know the country is considered a failed state, that it is polarized, and extremely dangerous. In talking with Hondurans, the only common ground seems to be fear. The future is bleak; it has gotten so dark that they no longer speak of hope except in terms of hopelessness. At a meeting with leadership from the church, before starting on our set agenda, we spent at least an hour talking about the situation of insecurity in which they are living. Everyone has a story: nine kidnappings in seven months in the neighborhood of one elder’s mother-in-law, break-ins, extortion, etc. And I learned that you don’t have to be among the wealthy to experience this. They explained to me that it starts with just a random call to your cell phone phishing for personal information. One person at this meeting said it happened to him and he turned off his phone (and the phones of all his family members) for two weeks. Just the day before I arrived in the country even a school bus was targeted by this horrific terror. Full of children on their way home from school, the bus was hijacked, the bus driver killed, kids' backpacks ransacked, and then a phone call made to some parents letting them know where they could find their kids. I just shook my head in utter shock. How does anyone live like this? Given this reality, it seems quite logical that tens of thousands are fleeing.
It is quite complex and the factors are many. Unclear immigration policy is one contributing factor, I believe. One article I read said that the vast majority of children crossing the border believe that as minors they are allowed to do so. And many of these children already have family in the U.S. So as they are leaving horrid realities, they do so believing that they have some safety net on the other side to catch them.
As a parent it is hard for me to understand how any parent would send their children alone to travel through the desert, risking their lives in hopes of making it to the U.S. But when you are on the ground to see and hear the realities that they are living and fleeing from, it changes your perspective and understanding.
I don't know what the answers are, but I do think that in many cases the situation they are fleeing is dire enough that they could/should be treated as refugees. And as Christians, I think the call is clear to care for the children however we can. Presbyterian Disaster Assistance is working on a response at the border. Several U.S. churches in the border region have become sanctuaries for those threatened with deportation. At the same time that we do this, we should also be supporting partners in the region who are working to transform the situations of poverty and violence that are at the root of the problem.
In light of this ongoing question and as the U.S. continues to debate immigration policy, several of us mission co-workers throughout Central America began talking about the possibility of hosting a study tour to help people better understand the root causes of this massive immigration. We've moved as quickly as possible with the hopes of staying current, and after countless conference calls and planning sessions that are still in the works, we are proud to announce that Presbyterian World Mission, together with Presbyterian Disaster Assistance, the Presbyterian Hunger Program and the Office of Public Witness, is sponsoring a travel-study tour for Presbyterians interested in understanding the context and responding to the needs of the thousands of Central American children who are crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. The trip is scheduled for Jan 23 to Feb 1, 2015, and will include stops at a Presbyterian Border Region Outreach (PBRO) ministry site as well as visits with ecumenical partners in Guatemala and El Salvador. I am really excited about this opportunity to tap into the richness of experience and information that our global partners and our mission co-workers have to help foster a deeper understanding of this current crisis.
For those interested in joining us, an application can be found here. News media provide us with only some images and sound bytes, never really allowing for a deepening of understanding of why this is happening. How are we as Christians called to respond? How do we receive the least of these and advocate for them? This trip will be a forum for this kind of discussion, which I hope will lead us to thoughtful reflection and response. Please consider participating in what I am sure will be a transformative experience.
As I have been working with my colleagues throughout the region in planning for this trip, I am reminded of what an amazing community I have and the importance of lifting up the voices of our ecumenical partners. I want to invite you to be a part of this through prayer, financial support and learning more about what is happening in this part of the world. And thank you for your ongoing support through prayer, words of encouragement, and financial offerings that bless us with the opportunity to bring mission home and live what it means to be a connectional church.
Blessings and peace,
Tracey
The 2014 Presbyterian Mission Yearbook for Prayer & Study, p. 35
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