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