Jesús el Buen Pastor Shelter

At the beginning of October, I started volunteering time in the Jesus el Buen Pastor (Jesus the Good Shepherd) Shelter here in Tapachula, Mexico. The shelter provides lodging, food, medical care, productive activities, and educational opportunities migrants, migrants surviving assault, and local people in need. I was particularly drawn to the shelter because of my interest in the situation for migrants in the southwest border region of Mexico, where the shelter is located. The region has become a traditional route northwards for many Central Americans and South Americans headed to the United States. These migrants enter Mexico from Guatemala in an “unauthorized” fashion, travel up the Pacific coast, then hop onto the cars of the cargo train line that carries them further northward. The route has become very frequently common because “the train” is the cheapest and relatively quickest option for traveling through Mexico undocumented.

Utilizing this method of travel presents migrants with many obstacles and threats to their well-being. Gangs and thieves prowl the region, looking to rob or assault migrants. Corrupt police and immigration officials take advantage of their power to abuse or extort money or sexual favors from migrants. Threats of abuse and robbery can also come from other migrants making the journey. The migrants who travel through the Tapachula region are particularly vulnerable to all of these threats. The migrants to utilize this method of travel generally have very few resources and support in their journey. Their “unauthorized” condition within Mexico increases their vulnerability, making them easy targets for robberies and assaults. The situation is particularly harsh for women, who suffer high rates of rape and sexual abuse. Another major threat to migrants in the southwest region of Mexico is the train itself. Migrants travel on the train by grabbing on and riding on the sides or tops of the cars. It is a very risky endeavor. Falls and accidents are common, often resulting in death or loss of limbs for the migrants. All in all, the climate in the southwest border region of Mexico exposes migrants to wide range of dangers and represents a significant threat to the preservation of the human rights of these human beings.

The Jesus el Buen Pastor Shelter has responded to the harsh situation for migrants in this region by offering multi-level support for those who have suffered mutilations by the train or severe abuses that have left them physically injured. Previously, many of the mutilated or abused migrants who ended up in the hospital of Tapachula didn’t receive sufficient medical care because they lacked financial resources and their undocumented status excluded them from national health programs. The shelter’s founder, Olga Sánchez Martínez, noticed this problem and felt compelled to do something about it. In her opinion, denying the medical, emotional, and physical needs of an individual, just because of their undocumented or migrant status, was an affront to human rights. With the motivation of that conviction, she started the Jesus el Buen Pastor Shelter and began tending to the needs of the migrants in Tapachula. Since then, the shelter has also opened its arms to other people in need, such as local elderly people who have been abandoned by their families and women fleeing situations of domestic violence.

In spite of the severity of the situations that have given rise to the shelter, the shelter itself is a place of hope and renewal. The people who live there receive the medical care they need, they develop skills such as carpentry and handicrafts, and they help out with their fellow residents in whatever way they can. From cleaning and maintenance to construction work to selling the handicrafts that they create – the input of the residents helps keep the shelter running. During my time giving English classes at the shelter, I’ve had the pleasure of getting to know many of the residents. I have been thoroughly impressed by the interest they have shown in the class, their desire to learn, and the respect and kindness they have shown me. We are a varied group – ranging from people in their early 20s to late 80s, from people who already have lived in the United States or Canada and have learned some English to people who grew up in indigenous villages and learned to speak Spanish just a few short years ago. Despite our differences, all the participants make the effort to work together and to help one another learn.

For me, giving the classes has been a very valuable experience. In addition to enjoying the time I spend with the participants, I have also learned a lot from them about the realities of life in Mexico and Central America and about the migration situation. Santos (names have been changed), for example, has taught me about the pain of leaving behind a young son in order to seek out a better life. He lost a leg to the train, but he is determined to obtain a prosthetic limb and continue the journey northward. Meanwhile Pedro explained to me the desperation of the living situation in his home country of Honduras, and how the people who come north from his country do so because they have no other choice. And Wilma taught me about the dangers of the migratory experience for women, as she pointed to her scars and explained how gang members brutally beat her during her journey. While I was familiar with many of the causes and realities of the migratory situation and had even heard similar stories from migrants along their journey beforehand, hearing these stories from the residents of the shelter has been particularly eye opening because I have really gotten to know the people telling the stories on a much deeper level. This has made me even more passionate about the importance of creating immigration and migration policies that allow people to exercise their human rights to work and improve their own lives and the lives of their families, policies that do not lead to situations that directly threaten the well-being and safety of human beings. It has also helped me better understand the philosophy of Doña Olga and the philosophy of the shelter: that every person deserves a chance to survive, to be healthy, and to work towards their personal fulfillment.

I wanted to share all this information with you all because I hope you accompany me on my journey. The Obama presidency presents us with a critical opportunity to change the face of immigration policy in the United States. The restrictive policy the U.S. employs is a root cause of many of the difficulties migrants experience in their journey northward (in other words, if people could arrive legally, they wouldn’t feel forced to suffer the risks of an undocumented journey). The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee recently launched a campaign to encourage people throughout the country to write Obama with their personal views on immigration, advocating for just, humane comprehensive immigration reform that offers a path legalization and honors family unity. Contributions can be made at: http://change.gov/page/s/immigration.

In addition, I would like to let you know that the shelter can always use donations. Recent funding problems have forced the shelter to discontinue having a regular doctor on staff. Additional private donations could help bring the doctor back, or would be used for other pending projects such as the construction of a micro-enterprise bakery in the shelter. To learn more about the shelter and/or to find out how to donate please visit http://www.alberguebuenpastor.org.mx.