sitios de trabajo

As I sit in my room at el centro Luterano surrounded by my years worth of belongings that has been packed and unpacked and repacked to accommodate our 3 week in-country orientation, I think it might possibly be beginning to sink in that I'm actually here in Mexico and that tomorrow I move to Tlaxco to really dive into my YAGM experience. Obviously blogging about the amazing worksites we've had the privilege to visit is the most efficient use of my time... (apparently procrastination exists after college too).

One of the unique aspects of the YAGM Mexico program is the diversity of worksites. As we are not part of an ELCA global companion church here in Mexico, our worksites are the product of the relationships our country coordinators (and previous country coordinators) have built with various social service organizations throughout the country. As we have 2 more volunteers than last years YAGM cohort, we have a few new work sites (mine included!) and the spirit of accompaniment of YAGM continues to be graciously embraced and welcomed in more and more awesome organizations. While the missions of various organizations in which we are working are vastly different (labor rights to dry toilets to indigenous libraries), the same spirit of radical hospitality and an incredible passion for serving creation was palpable in each visit over the past 3 weeks. Below is a list of the 13 amazing organizations where my compadres and I will be serving with and all too brief explanations that do not at all do the organizations justice. I hope this helps give some context to our group's year. More than anything, I hope this shows the beautiful diversity of passion, love, spirit, and joy that accompanies the call to love thy neighbor.

The YAGMéx fam post-hiking in Tepotzlán

Tochan: Nuestra Casa, Mexico City (Grace)
Tochan is the Nauhatl word meaning "our home" and provides long term shelter for refugees and migrants. Many of it's guests are Central Americans fleeing violence, poverty, and political instability. Many have experienced human rights abuses along their journey. Tochan provides shelter and stability while channeling their guests to other organizations that can help meet their needs (medical, financial, documentation, psychological, etc)

Casa de los Amigos, Mexico City (Grace)
Casa de los Amigos is a bit more challenging to describe-it's part hostel, part shelter, part Quaker meeting house, part community center, part advocacy center, part awesome place for all, with sustainable living practices. Needless to say, its a force to be reckoned with as far as social service providers go in Mexico City.

Centro Juvenil, Mexico City (Gracia)
Centro Juvenil is a youth center in the city that focuses on providing a safe and accountable play environment for the city's youth. Utilizing schools and local parks, they provide activities in ways that enrich the children's social, academic and physical well-being.

Centro de Estudios Ecumenicos, Mexico City (Gracia)
CEE is a national organization that unites different faith communities under common social justice issues. They were founded in the 1960's and have been a force of comfort, solidarity and empowerment for various marginalized groups in Mexico. They do way too many amazing things to list here.

Proyecto de Derechos Económicos, Culturales y Sociales (ProDESC), Mexico City (Ryana)
ProDESC works to fight for and protect the rights of indigenous and communal lands in Mexico. They have taken on national and international cooperations, advocated, and shed light on situations of injustice throughout the country. (They're full of some bad-ass lady lawyers who kick butt and take names).

Espacio entre Mujeres, Mexico City (Melissa)
Espacio entre Mujeres is a multifaceted organization that provides safety and support (psycological, educational, medical, and shelter) for women who have experienced domestic violence. They are one of just 3 such organizations in the Distrito Federal and as such serve thousands of women and children in need. They have both short and long term shelters as well as a center that provides all kinds of services to women and children who are not currently staying in their shelter.

Tepeximilpa, Mexico City (Melissa)
Tepeximilpa is a community center that offers classes and activities for personas de la tercer edad (the elderly). A few blocks away from the community center's main building is a community kitchen. The kitchen is public and is open daily for all who would like to get a full meal for 10 pesos (less than $0.75 USD).

Sesentanimililis, Ayotzinapan, Cuetzalan del Progresso, Puebla (Hannah)
Sesentanimililis is situated in a small indigenous community outside of Cuetzalan del Progresso. It primarily serves as a library and community center promoting life skills, such as literacy to the youth of the community.

Albergue de la Sagrada Familia, Apizaco, Tlaxcala (Josh)
The Sagrada Familia shelter is a short term (48 hrs or fewer) shelter that cares for migrants making the arduous trek northward. The shelter backs up to La Bestia (the beast). La bestia is a train that many migrants will attempt to board in order to expedite their journeys. It is a hostile and dangerous journey. La Sagrada Familia offers them a warm bed, shower, meal and community as they continue their journeys.

Instituto de Educación Integral Magdalena Cervantes, Tlaxco, Tlaxcala (me!)
IEIMC is a primary school with an environmental focus. They strive to have their students connect with their community's agricultural roots while also promoting self sufficiency, sustainability, healthy living, and an appreciation for nature.

CIPAAC, Puebla, Puebla (Becca)
CIPAAC is a school for persons with special needs. They teach vocational skills to their students and work to break the existing stigmas surrounding that population. The school has a green house and kitchen where the students experientially learn life skills. The school director summed up their philosophy beautifully, "The only disability our students have is what society has placed upon them."

La Jugareta, Tepotzlán, Morelos (Catherine)
La jugareta is a children's organization that advocates for the right for children to play. They provide spaces and workshops for children to become involved in productive play in various small neighborhoods throughout the region.

Sarar Transformación, Tepotzlán, Morelos (Justin)
Sarar is an environmental organization that promotes responsible water usage. They provide classes in hygiene and sanitation. They focus on water treatment, soapy water management, bioconstructed buildings, urine and feces management, and dry toilets.

As we all part ways, I ask that you hold each of my fellow YAGMs in your thoughts and prayers. I hope that these (all too) brief overviews of the sites that we'll be accompanying can provide insight into the diverse, passionate, amazing, challenging, rewarding, confusing, beautiful year we have before us.

Catch ya in Tlaxco,

Alyssa

Traveling mercies to these wonderful goofballs. Que Dios les bendiga.

flashes of familiarity

Our group spent the full week we were in Mexico in Tepotzlán, a town about 1 hour south of Mexico City. We were there to live with host families and partake in an intensive 5 day/30 hr language crash course. It was our first gentle push out of our comfort zones and away from our family of 12 (10 YAGM+ Lindsay and Omar). We lived in pairs in 5 different homestays scattered throughout the small town and met in 4 different classes based on previous experience with the language. It was an incredibly enriching and equally exhausting experience.

host family from Tepotzlán

            On Thursday of our week we met as a group after having “comida” (the hearty main meal of the day served around 3pm) with our host families to hike up to an ancient temple, El Tepozteco. It was rainy, thundering, and my brain was nearing dead after 4 days of class and constant Spanish at home. I was cranky and not particularly looking forward to the prospect of being electrocuted on the top of a slippery mountain in Mexico.

the view from Tepozteco

            It took roughly 30 seconds of hiking for me to remember the childlike joy that fills my heart whenever I get to experience nature in that way. Just like that, I was filled with the familiar despite being surrounded by the unfamiliar. After an hour of pura escalera (purely stairs) we arrived at the cumbre (peak). Looking out from the mountain, past the town of Tepotzlán below, past the nearest rocky, jungle-like peaks far in the horizon were rolling blue mountains. The late afternoon sun, and the post rain-haze created the perfect light and if I stared long enough, I was back on the blueridge parkway on a Saturday this summer. There, framed between beautiful and wild unfamiliarity, was a flash of the familiar.

            Those flashes were present in so much of our in-country orientation, bringing me peace and proving to me time and time again the power of our shared humanity. Even in the often mundane and quotidian, there were flashes of the familiar framed within the unfamiliar. The playful joking around at the dinner table between my two host sisters in Tepotzlán was a flash of the familiar. The games of tag at Hannah’s worksite and the way that children interpret and reinterpret the rules of a game were (precious) flashes of the familiar. The random ‘90s hits that would mix between Central and South American music while we traveled from worksite to worksite were flashes of the familiar.

            More remarkable than those tastes of my life at home were the times when things that two weeks ago would have felt unfamiliar, have anchored me in familiarity. The sounds and rhythm of Spanish, the smells of tortillas and agua fresca, the story of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and the radical hospitality and welcome of the different volunteer work sites we’ve visited, are all starting to feel more and more familiar and bring more and more peace and calm to our chaotic time of transition. I can only imagine how these flashes of familiarity will continue to change and grow and rechange and regrow as this year continues.

familiarly and unfamiliarly yours,

Alyssa

The YAGM family (missing Lindsay very much!)