Black Friday

Hi All!

I hope you all had a very Happy Thanksgiving! In honor of Black Friday, the biggest shopping day of the year, I am going to put my stories of immigrant stories on hold. I have been working at assembling a list of online stores which promote just-shopping, as shopping does need to occur to maintain a capitalistic economy, though the shops we patronize could be ones that promote a decent life. Sooo in this blog are my reflections on consumerism as well as a list of websites that promote just-shopping.

Through my life, and especially this year, I have been able to reflect on consumerism and in my opinion the United States American Dream which seems to equate buying more and more to satisfy a loneliness and longing within us that can only be satisfied with a deeper human connection not more stuff. In a book, Voluntary Simplicity by Duane Elgin which came out over 15 years ago it was talking about how material stuff tends to complicate our lives. Keeping up with the Jones leads to unneeded stress. And worries of cash to buy the next new gadget will plague us with anxiety. It proposed four questions for examining whether purchases are life giving or life draining. (I would love to hear any of your reflections on these) The questions are:

"1. Does what I own or buy promote activity, self-reliance, and involvement, or does it induce passivity and dependence?
2. Are my consumption patterns basically satisfying, or do I buy much that serves no real need?
3. How tied are my present job and lifestyle to installment payments, maintenance and repair costs, and the expectations of others?
4. Do I consider the impact of my consumption patterns on other people and on the earth?"

With Christmas less than a month away there is always a push to spend and buy. Plus we do enjoy showing we care to one another and gift giving is the culturally encouraged way to do that. But my challenge for myself, that I invite you to join me in this holiday season is to one, show we care in more meaningful ways, as this Christian Movement Advent Conspiracy encourages. Such as spending time with the people we love, instead of the spending that time in a shopping mall. Making gifts, which are more meaningful and simply. And generally living more simply in our consumption. Buying just to buy doesn't really serve a life-giving purpose and is not really the true meaning of Christmas in my mind. And two, make those gifts I do buy something that promotes a greater life for the maker as well as the receiver. What if everytime your loved one carried the purse you got them they thought of you and a woman in Uganda who is providing for her family? Many argue that 'fair trade' products are not things you normally buy or are two expensive. In regards to the first, below are links to dozens of options with everything from clothing to food to footballs. And to the second, is cheap really better then supporting another human being to have a decent quality of life?

I hope some of you find this list of links helpful. All of the names are links to the websites if you click on them. I am not being paid to endorse any of these places I just think they are a good option and I encourage you to share the list with others who may be interested. Thanks for reading and humoring my shopping challenge. Please feel free to post as comments other stores or reflections. Peace and Love!

Global Exchange
Sells:
Men/Women/Kid Clothing, Accessories, Jewelry Holiday items, Coffee, Tea, Hot Chocolate, Chocolates, Household items, Stationary, Journals, Dolls, Toys, Games, Books, Movies, Music, Gift Packs
-All items are fair trade. In the descriptions you can learn more about the people who made your product.

Trade as One
Clothing, Food, Drink, Jewelry, Stationary, Journals, Bags, House and home goods, Sports, Toys, Health and Beauty
-This group has many practical everyday items that are made in a just manner. I especially took note of the soccer balls which are notoriously made in bad work environments because the sewing of stitches is best done by small child hands.

Fair Indigo
Sells:
Men/Women/Kid Clothing, Accessories, Jewelry, Stuffed animals, Holiday items, Home items, Coffee, Tea, and Made in the USA products
- I have shoes from this place and they are amazing. All their clothing is of very high quality.

Better World Books
Sells:
Books
-Part of the profits here go world literacy efforts

El Castillo del Cacao
Sells:
CHOCOLATE
- This place is in Nicaragua. The chocolate is good and the factory supports sustainable development (I was supposed to visit it while there but it fell through, still should support)

Cafe Justo
Sells:
COFFEE
-Supports US/Mexico Border Towns

Cafe Campesino
Sells:
COFFEE, Tea, Mate
-These folks sell Nicaraguan Coffee from some of the places I went to :) One of my roommates also markets this here in El Paso

Esperanza en Accion (Hope in Action)
Sells:
Artisan Crafts and home goods
-I visited this place in Nicaragua. They are doing a lot to empower individuals to provide for themselves and creating jobs in a country that has EXTREME unemployment.

Fair Mail
Sells:
Greeting Cards
-These cards are fair trade and designed by underprivileged children in Peru and India

Koinonia Store
Sells:
Pecans, Chocolate, Coffee, Other Food items, Crafts, Books
- This is a communal living farm that I stayed at for a few days a couple of years ago. The founder of Habitat for Humanity lived there. They are in GA and all about working for peace and justice. The chocolate pecan stuff is AMAZING :)

TASSATAG
Sells:
Luggage Tags
-This organization works to stop human trafficking. I did research with them my sophomore year.

Amnesty International
Sells:
Clothing, Accessories, Books, Toys, Games, Calendars, Planners, Movies, Music
-Profit benefits Amnesty Internationals human rights campaigns

Invisible Children
Sells: Men/Women's Clothing, Bracelets, Bags, Films
-Invisible Children are young adults and children whose lives have been ravaged by war in Uganda. The bags, under the label of Mend and you can actually read about the exact person who made your bag.

Conscious Consumer Marketplace
Has links by the categories of:
Groceries, Clothing, Green Office, For your home, Back to School, Transportation and Travel, Energy, Electronics, Baby Products, Pet Products, Socially Responsible Products, Charitable Donations-these are alternative type gifts.
-Through these links you can find almost anything your heart desires.

Econcious Market
Clothing, Furniture, Home Decor, Face and Body Care, Babies, Kids, Yoga, Sports, Kids, Bags, Books, Music, Toothbrushes
-Some are organic and fair trade items, all are eco-friendly

Alternative Gifts:

Oxfam
You can help individuals in developing countries finance a business or get medical care or whatever your gift receiver is interested in, you can find a gift that will be meaningful to them. Buy a chocolate lover "helping someone else start a chocolate growing business" or the sports lover "sports equipment for kids in a developing country."

Heifer International
You can buy animals for individuals living in third world countries to help them feed their families or communities as well as establish subsistance farming methods.

Advent Conspiracy
You can give money to build wells in developing nations and provide clean drinking water.

What story is my life telling?

Ok, Before we get to the blog I know you all love pictures. These are of: A benefit dinner for my non-profit. We have a very diverse staff. I will let you guess who each of these folks are: a)Kirk from El Paso b)Ileana from Cancun, Mexico c) Ashley from Otis, OR and d)Susan from Nigeria/London :-P You can figure out which picture is a, which b, and so on. :)

















Then we have all my roommates in character for a murder mystery dinner.




Followed by the Border Mass it was a mass co celebrated across the fence with the bishops of El Paso, TX, Las Cruces, NM, and Juarez Mexico. It was very touching to say the least.





Next is of a march in honor of all who have died crossing the Border held on all saints day.



Part of my Border Servant Corps group the night before Halloween when we camped out in a parking lot to protect stuff set up for a fundraiser the next day at one of our groupie's work.



Our Dia de los muertos alter, remembering our lost loved ones.







After two of my roommates tried to make chiles rellenos and terribly burnt their hands with chile juice I was comforting Ally by feeding her chocolate chips. That is true roomate love.






And then Sarah and Ally roasting the green chiles over our gas burners.





Now to the blog :)





Dear Friends and Family,

Everytime I think I am getting better at updating this thing I realize it has been even longer since the last update. I feel like the part of my life that I have not been documenting as much is my many ponderings. I have been thinking a lot on something Donald Miller (author of Blue Like Jazz) said at the Mobilization to End Poverty I attended in the spring. He said, [more or less] "Think of your as life a story, you are the main character in this story. What is the story you want to tell with your life?" Through many of the books I have found myself reading since this summer I find this same theme echoed throughout Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, and Native American faith teachings as well as much of eastern and western philosophy. It has further deepened my feelings that accompaniment and experience are the best way to learn. We can hear one another's stories and see the stories others are choosing to write with their lives. Soo before I jump into some recent 'stories' I have encountered, I will update you on my story.

I am still learning a lot from my El Paso experience. So far this chapter would probably be written about a girl reconnecting with what makes her happy. Being out of school and surrounded by no one who has known you is nice. People no longer have you in a box. And as many of you know last semester was a bit of a roller coaster so it is nice to just be able to read, research on social justice issues that interest me, email old friends, bake, walk, play games and share meals with new friends, and rest. I can also choose not to be a work-a-holic and leave the office after I have put in my 35hours required for the week.

I have learned that I will probably sooner or later need to return to graduate school because I find there are so many self-righteous, self-motivated individuals in non-profit work that ultimately many non-profits/service organizations are not fulfilling their missions, to help the most vulnerable populations. As I think I would enjoy attempting to run a service business that actually strives for meeting the needs of vulnerable populations I unfortunately will probably need a bigger degree. That being said, I am not writing more schooling into my life plan at this point. I still am young and uncommitted and thus would like to take advantage of that to continue to connect with humanity. Likewise, I have discovered that I love cooking for/baking for/feeding others and generally playing the 'parent'/caregiver role. Ok, so my roommates have pointed that one out to me. Though, at this point that does not mean I am going to write the settling down and having a family chapter into my life book either. [And no that is not only because CNN voted El Paso the city with the ugliest men in the US]. Soooo what does the next chapter look like? At this point international service seems to be what most calls, but we shall see.

Now for some other stories I have recently been privileged enough to experience. As I am working with the immigrant community I tend to follow immigrant news a fair amount. A common theme seems to be lack of understanding about why immigrants, especially Mexican immigrants journey to the US, I mean other than to steal jobs, bring down property values and rob our system. To keep this from running too long, I am going to tell you one 'person's' journey to the US and will try, very hard, to provide you with other examples in the next few days.

First story, this is the common one I hear while I am at work. About immigrants coming through marriage.
"We were in love, I thought he would take good care of me. He [normally a US Citizen or Lawful Permanent Resident] made me leave everything in Mexico and told me he would take care of all my needs. I thought he would be a good father to my other kids. We got here and it was ok for a while but he drinks a lot. He at first would never hit me but he would refuse to let me go out of the house without him. He would never let me have any money for anything. If I needed clothing or something for the house I would have to ask him to buy it or tell him exactly how much it was so he could give me just that much money. He won't let me use the phone. He won't let me spend time with friends. He won't let me talk to my family. He gave me a curfew. He would always cuss me out. When he was drinking it would get worse. He would slap me. He would kick me. He would punch me. He tried to strangle me. He tried to suffocate me with a plastic bag. He stabbed me. He tried to run me over with the car. He kidnapped my child. I never reported it because I was here without papers. He wouldn't arrange my papers because: he said I wasn't worth it; I didn't deserve it; why should he. I didn't report it to the police because I thought they would find out I was 'illegal' and deport me. He said he would have me deported if I told anyone. I thought I would lose my children and be deported. I didn't think the police would listen because it was my word against his and he is legal.

These women, and occasionally men, have every legal right to be here, as residents and USCs can petition for their spouses. However, their spouses used this as a way to control, manipulate and abuse them. Before starting my job I never would have imagined how many people this happens to. Sometimes nearly being killed brings them from the shadows. Sometime they have endured for years because they know their United States Citizen children would have a better life and better schooling here in the US. Sometimes they can't return home because they have become so US-ized here they would be returning to a 'foreign country.' Whatever their reason for wanting to stay in the United States by law that is their right. This is one part of the immigration population. Doesn't sound to me like they are out to get the United States Citizens. That is a peek into my daily life here or many of the immigrants who I work directly with.

Ok, now to keep from ranting at you too long, I will post more stories of other immigrant journeys soon.

Peace be with you,
Karen

Fall is here! Though you really can't tell!

Here are a few pictures to start things off. The first two are from a photo scavenger hunt. We had to act out a sign for the first one (That is Mary Meghan who also has issues). The second one was act out a Youtube video and be in a fountain (extra points for two inone) The video is turtle man that some of the volunteers really like. That is the link if you want to see. The guy with the chalk was at this amazing chalk the block event. It was wild. Like Mary Poppins :) The car is at the Chicano car festival. My boss has an old car from .... I don't remember when but I couldn't find him at the show or I would have a pic of that :) The last pic is my roommate sarah and me at the Fall Festival a community event sponsored by a bunch of churches in the area. We were in charge of the kid craft tables. Specifically pumpkin decorating :) Now for the blog...


Hello All! So El Paso doesn't really look like it is the fall. It still feels like the summer. Though today was a beautiful day. It was overcast and drizzly. I spent probably an hour outside walking/sitting in the drizzle. Life has been full of ups and downs, as it tends to be. I just had a job shift and am now responsible for the battered women cases at my work. I think it will hold new challenges but it is good for me. I have learned a few things about myself. 1)I need to be in-charge of my own time 2) I like to facilitate (a woman's way of saying be in charge according to one of the Maryknoll Sister's at my work). 3) I work much better when things are close to chaos. 4) I am an extrovert, in that I need to have people around/interact with people/not just look at a computer screen all day. 5) Last, but not least, of my new discoveries I really can't stand bureaucratic processes, specifically those our government instigates, because they lack compassion and become more concerned about the process than the actual people involved. Other recent adventures include more Karen-time. BAKING! Lots of BAKING! and some reading... occasional movie watching... And spending time with my housemates, some workmates, and all the random people our program sets us up with.

Ok, so now for my dose of 'teaching' In working with the immigrant population I have recently been pondering the words of Emma Lazarus' Poem which appears on the Statue of Liberty:
"Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name,
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Working with one asylum seeker really made me start thinking on this poem. Especially the most over quoted, " give me your tired, your poor..." We do in fact welcome many of these described. If they are fleeing for their lives for reasons of persecution based on their political opinion, religion, race, ethnicity, or social group. Oh, and they have to be able to prove it in a court of law where there may or may not be someone who can translate accurately from their native language. If they have suffered abuse, rape, torture, or any other psychological trauma they then must prove it and retell the story dozens of times to complete strangers who generally seem to disbelieve everything and try to find any discrepancy. If one date is not remembered exactly correct then you must be lying. Since we all remember the exact dates of traumatic events from years before. But we do provide some support. These asylum seekers are put up at the expense of our government. They get a bed, 3 meals, and a set of scrubs that match all the others at the state of the art detention facility which is run like a minimum security prison. Their crime: Fleeing Persecution. We do put them up for at least a few months if not over a year while they wait for their trial. Again, someone else controls every aspect of their life, telling them when they can eat and sleep, and of course they are confined like animals unable to leave the one concrete building. But heck, That is what is implied by the statue's poem, right? Then if these asylum applicants are luck enough to be granted asylee status they are released from the facility. Literally, they drive them to the gate of the compound and let them out. They don't tell them where they could go. They don't provide them with any means or transportation. Explanation of what Asylum status means. They don't even make sure they have money to provide for themselves for the night. If you do want to pick someone up you get a range of time as to when they will be released. Sooo you just have to sit out front waiting for said person. Then, these folks are left to the generosity of strangers until they are issued a work permit, which can take months. This is after we have said, 'yes, we feel you qualify as tempest tost and worthy of our support.' Where is the justice in this justice system? Your chances of even winning that asylum case increase about 75% when you are represented by an attorney but the average attorney charges $10,000. Go figure, most of these folks forgot their ten grand when they were running for their lives. Disregarding the violations of human rights, of what we, the United States of America supposedly stand for, or if you are religious - what the Bible, Koran, Upanishads or any other religious teaching says about caring for the weak and vulnerable. It just makes your head and heart hurt.

I wrote most of this rant a few days ago, and then saw this newspaper article today, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/06/AR2009100601639.html

Which does seem like at least they are trying. That is nice. So now you have the opinion of someone closer to the actually trenches of immigration than the average US citizen. Thanks for reading! And hopefully even if you don't agree you now have food for thought! I will include more 'facts' to support the argument in future posts but figured your eyes are probably weary from all the text already :)

Paix!

The Nitty Gritty of Immigration Law :)

Pic1 is my housemate Sarah and I at the Chili Festival, look at all those Chilis!!!!
These are my housemates. This is overlooking ElPaso. Pic 3 is the whole Border Servant Corps group with solar heaters at this local guy's house.

This is El Paso and Juarez the Mexico city we Border with. And some of us playing in the Border Patrol jeep at the Border Patrol Museum.











Hola Amigos!

I figure it is about time to update you again on my adventures.
I have now been here 3 weeks and am enjoying my time. My housemates are awesome. This morning there was a knock on my door (at... a very late morning hour) because they are used to me being up well before 8am and since I was still asleep they wanted to make sure I was OK. :) Talk about good community.
We went up to a place called Silver City in New Mexico for retreat last week. It was GORGEOUS and COOL! This weekend we went to the Hatch Chili Festival (I saw more chilis than I had ever seen in my whole life I think). There is a picture below. Yesterday we went to a Lutheran Church service, because the church wanted to welcome us, it was very similar to a Catholic Mass. We also had a BBQ with some people who support our group and are from another Lutheran Church near by.

At work I am learning TONS! And my co-workers are hilarious. Or I find them hilarious. My favorite story so far is the other day my supervisor left me to work with this client to fill out her work authorization and change of status form. He then disappeared but I needed him to look stuff over. I figured out he was in the bathroom talking on his phone, because that is where he takes personal calls. I waited for a little while and then after probably 5 minutes thought is was unfair for our poor client who had already been there for at least an hour bearing with my learning so I called him on his cell phone. It was pretty hilarious. He came out with a very sheepish grin on his face. Last time he leaves me to do his work :-P I am such a jerk employee :-P

But on to immigration stuff. At our office we deal primarily with U Visas, T Visas, VAWA cases, Asylum, work permits, and family based petitions. We also do changes of venue for minors. So what does that all mean. To qualify for a U Visa basically you have to have been victim of a crime, be able to provide information that leads to the prosecution of a criminal, etc persecuted by a US citizen. In very general terms, it is a crime victim. So if for example I was here without papers and witnessed my child murdered by someone, extreme example, I would be eligible for a U Visa. There are only certain crimes that qualify. The applicant also cannot have commited an aggravated felony, so we are not permiting hardened criminals to qualify. T Visas are for victims who have been trafficked. Human trafficking is amazingly a very real and significant problem in the US and actually in OR. So these individuals were brought here against their will to be used in any number of professions. Some are used as sex-slaves (which is what most people think of when they hear trafficking). Some are also forced to work as domestics, cleaning, caring for kids, etc, or to do field work. Human trafficking is something I actually did a big research project on in college and it is fascinating. Many of the traffickers will go to particularly impoverished towns and offer 'job opportunities' then when the individuals get to the United States they end up trapped either literally locked up in a house or the traffickers threaten to kill their families if they leave. Also many of these individuals don't speak any English, which further ties them to their abusers. This is really just one, example of human trafficking. For more info http://www.humantrafficking.org/ is a good resource. I am off track though :)
VAWA is the Violence Against Women Act which originally passed in 1994 allows individuals who are victims of abuse to file for Lawful Permanent Residency without the knowledge of their partner. For example, if I am married to a Colombian (This is the example my boss always uses) and I abuse this Colombian but I tell him, you can't leave me or you will get deported. He could self petition for his Lawful Permanent Residency without my support. Under VAWA, he could be granted a green card.
Asylum, I gave you the basics on last time. A work permit is exactly what it sounds like, it gives the person a legal right to work in the country. One that I filled out 2 weeks ago was for a gentleman from Somalia. He traveled from Somalia, to South Africa, to Bolivia, to Brazil, to Guatemala, and then up through Mexico to arrive at the US and declare asylum. His case was denied, he did not apparently prove that he would be persecuted if returned to his home country. However, as you may know Somalia is in an absolute state of chaos currently so the US government will not deport this gentleman at the present time, thus he is applying for a work permit so he is not just forced to beg on the streets or live off the generosity of others. He was very insistant that he look after himself.
Family Based petitions are the most common way for people to legally immigrate to the United States. This would be if my Columbian Spouse became a citizen (which is a long process) and wanted to petition for his parents to come to the US. Or if he had a child from a previous relation and we wanted to petition for him/her to come to the United States. There is a whole preference system for this which I will explain in a future post.
Then lastly the change of venue is largely what we do with children because the government tries to get them out of the youth detention facilities and placed with family members in the states or in foster care while their case goes through the system. El Paso doesn't have foster care for such cases nor do most of these kids have family in the area so their cases get transfered out to other districts.
Sooo hopefully some of you find this stuff interesting. I tried to include links so if you have a specific interest you can read more but those of you who don't really care are not subjected to it :) If you have any specific questions about any of this stuff let me know! I love going into teacher mode :)

My one last plug... My non-profit I worked at in DC is set up with goodsearch.com which is a search engine like google or yahoo. However, if you designate your searching to them (A Wider Circle) it will donate a penny to their organization for every search you do. I highly encourage you to set it as your homepage and use it to search. There is no cost to you but you are contributing to furnishing the homes of many in need.
Happy Labor Day! Have a great week!

New life in El Paso

This here blog will be utilized for detailing the life of Karen. She loves life and many other things, thus the name the life and love of Karen. I should not make important decisions like what to name a blog after a day of travelling. Soooo many have been asking about what I am doing now and sooo I am hoping to update you all. I will also try to blog on a semi-regular basis.

So I am in El Paso, Texas. Hence the large map of Texas. See the far left. It is at about 4,000 ft, which makes running interesting when I am used to the valley floor :) It is warm and dry. Around the 90s-ish. It is also very flat, though they say they have "Mountains." Soooo far I love it. Though that description does nothing for the place :-P Also for those concerned at how close it is to Juarez, know that it is the third safest city of its size in the US, so you have no worries!

I am here working with an organization called Border Servant Corps. There website is a little out of date but it has the basics. In brief summary, I live in community (I have 4 housemates from NY, MO, CO, and Iowa) and there are 6 volunteers in another house 45 minutes away. My housemates are all girls the other house includes two males. We commit to live by the tenets of simplicity, intentional community, social justice, and spirituality. I am sure you will hear more on these later.

I will be working at least 40 hours a week at Las Americas Immigrant Advocacy Center. We just visited today and I am WAY excited. Apparently over 70% of children who end up in the United States and go to trial do not have representation. Since entering the United States not at a designated entry point and/or without papers is a federal crime these individuals go to trial, I believe they said about 600 in this area per year, just children. This can mean kids who some how cross on their own, whose parents are killed in crossing, or if family detention facilities are filled the children will be seperated from their parents-parents to adult facilities, children to kid facilities. In El Paso though 99% of ALL individuals have representation because of non-profits like Las Americas. They take about 1/3 of the kid cases in this area. They also do ALOT of work with Asylum seekers, for those who do not know to claim asylum these individuals must have one foot on US soil and then be able to claim a well-founded fear of persecution in their home country because of religion, race, nationality or membership in a certain social group or due to political affiliation/opinions. Lastly, they work a significant amount with women escaping domestic violence. I don't currently understand how all that works so I will save you many more words until I know the details. I will be working for one of the immigration attorneys with 3 full time staff, and a couple part time, two of whom are Maryknoll nuns.

Other major events include, attending a way cool concert right on the border, going to the Border Patrol Museum/talking with Border Patrol, and just getting to know my community members.
I think that is way too much info for you now. Thanks for reading!