Lent Project 2020: Safety While Seeking
Thousands of persons displaced by violence and lawlessness from a variety of Central American countries now live in a vulnerable limbo in Mexico, just south of the US border. After seeking asylum in the USA through the normal legal channels many asylum-seekers are then taken across the border to Mexico while their cases are being heard. Here, where they are denied permission to work by the Mexican government, they are insecurely housed and are commonly subject to kidnap and death-threats, with their families in Central America being asked for ransom. The provision of secure housing and the fostering of community self-organizing are part of the solution to this particular predation.
The Diocese of Western Mexico (Anglican Church of Mexico), which borders Arizona and California, is addressing this issue, with a particular project in the city of Nogalez, a city bisected by the USA-Mexican border. The Right Reverend Ricardo Joel Gómez Osnaya, Bishop of Western Mexico, working in collaboration with the Diocese of Arizona (Nogales straddles both dioceses) is setting up secure shelters where asylum-seekers can live in safety, learn new skills, and access education for their children, while their claims are being heard.
We aspire to raise $3000 for this project in Nogales. Such a benefaction would then make the Diocese of Western Mexico a ‘global partner’ of St John’s, and this project therefore eligible for grants directly from the Diocese of New York. Lent Project 2020 envelopes are at the back of the church.
On-line donation tools are being developed.
OPHI
St John’s international not-for-profit partner is OPHI, the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative (ww.ophi.org.uk). OPHI is an non-governmental organization which uses multi-dimensional poverty measuring to analyze poverty across developing and developed nations, with a view to helping nations better understand and address their poverty issues. OPHI’s UK base is the University of Oxford. St John’s is the USA home of OPHI and, among other things, hosts OPHI personnel during the United National General Assembly in September each year, at which OPHI, invited by national governments around the world, reports on its research findings and recommendations. The Reverend Dr Sabina Alike, Founder and Director of OPHI, is an Honorary Assistant Priest of the parish.