Update from the OSP-IHM Border Mission

The OSP-IHM Border Mission “Mary, Comfort of Migrants” would like to express its gratitude to the National Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and its partner, the Asociación de Hermanas Latinas Misioneras en America (AHLMA) for their recent grant of $3,350. The awarded money is part of the LCWR Solidarity Collection which was implemented to address the needs of LCWR Region 12 (Texas, Arkansas, New Mexico, and Arizona).

The grant addresses the mental health issues of migrant women living in the Casa de Migrantes in Reynosa, Mexico. The shelter, which is sponsored by the Daughters of Charity, provides lodging and food for about 200 migrants, many of whom are women and children. While volunteer healthcare workers attend to the medical needs of the migrants and Jesuit and Redemptorist brothers and priests nurture their spiritual life, mental health is an area that has not been directly addressed.

Migrants usually spend 2-6 months in the shelter while they apply and wait for their interview with US Immigration. The extended period of waiting, unoccupied hours, and
lack of daily purpose have exacerbated the mental health issues of women who suffer from PTSD, anxiety, depression, and low self-esteem.

The proposed project integrates body-centered activities with the creation of hand-made crafts and home-made baked goods. Lay and Sister volunteers give weekly art & craft, needlework or baking classes to the women. At the beginning of each class,
body-centered and movement activities are incorporated to help the women center and ground themselves and manage their anxiety and depression. During the class women learn a skill that they will be able to adapt for future use. They are given materials to continue practicing the learned skill during the week. Each class ends with a self-care activity that soothes and calms the women.

The second phase of the project involves using money from donors, who already support our ministry at the border, to buy the hand-made items created by the migrant women. This potentially would give the women a sense of agency and purpose, increase their self-esteem, and provide them with money that they can use for their personal and family needs. We hope to send the hand-made crafts, with an explanation of the project, to the retirement / nursing homes of the OSP and IHM congregations to be sold in their gift shops with the purpose of raising awareness of the plight and the potential of the migrant women and strengthening the prayerful support of our aging sisters.