Mexico: Migrants are 'missionaries of peace'

Sister Lety at the inauguration ceremony

Migrants are 'missionaries of peace', said Sister Lety at the inauguration of a new shelter for young migrants and refugees and those with disabilities in Mexico City on Saturday.

As well as those who work to protect their rights or who offer them food, shelter and open hearts, migrants can teach us much about peace, explained Sister Leticia Gutiérrez of the Scalabrinian Mission for Migrants and Refugees in Mexico City. "People have immense courage to leave their homes, and demonstrate a commitment to peace when they refuse to become involved in violence and war, and abandon their countries in search of peace and a better life. We should admire these qualities" Sister Lety said, "and we are blessed to be able to learn from them."

On Saturday 9th July, priests, nuns and members of local congregations came together with government officials, migrant organisations, human rights defenders, and neighbours to celebrate the opening of the shelter and to welcome 40 young people who have arrived there from Central America. The shelter offers shelter, food, healthcare, and legal and psychosocial support for 13 to 24 year olds and people with disabilities, while they wait for humanitarian visas or claim asylum in Mexico. Most of all, it offers them a place of safety - a precious thing for children and young people who have grown up in some of the most violent parts of the world, never feeling safe.

Young migrants and refugees gave moving testimonials about the situations they had fled from in Central America. Many are fleeing grinding poverty and a lack of opportunity, but many are also fleeing the threat of gang violence, including forced recruitment into the Mara gangs. Some had been victims of violent attacks and death threats from the gangs, and fled for their lives from Guatemala and from the epidemic of violence in Honduras and El Salvador,
which have the highest murder rates in the world.

Rachel, a trans woman from Honduras, spoke of how she had been forced to leave after a former friend demanded she allow him to sell drugs in the bar where she worked. When she refused for a third time, gang members told her she would be killed. "I fled death," she said, before expressing her gratitude for the safety she has found with Adolescentes en el Camino and her hopes for rebuilding her life.

The shelter is run by Father Alejandro Solalinde, who dedicates himself to defending the human rights of migrants, and also runs the Hermanos en el Camino shelters in the south of Mexico. The shelter has moved to Mexico City from Oaxaca, where a lack of cooperation from government agencies had impeded its work. A local congregation in the north of Mexico City provided a building which had previously been used as a school for children living in poverty and then as an vocational education centre for young women. A nun from the congregation spoke of how delighted they were about the new use the building now has. At the end of the inauguration, Padre Solalinde blessed the shelter, the young people it will help, those who open their hearts to migrants and for all those in the neighbourhood community. (See another picture on ICN's Facebook page)

If you are able to donate to the good work of Adolescentes en el Camino, please visit: www.aporta.org.mx/adolescentesenelcamino