Update from the OSP-IHM Border Mission

In May, the OSP-IHM Collaborative Border Mission received a grant from the National Leadership Conference of Women Religious (LCWR) and its partner, the Asociación de Hermanas Latinas Misioneras en America (AHLMA). The funded project addresses the mental health issues of migrant women and their families who are living in the Casa de Migrantes in Reynosa, Mexico, and waiting to receive their interview with Immigration.

During June, the first phase of the project was initiated. Volunteers began to provide weekly art and craft, needlework, and baking classes for women and their children. The classes have been received with great enthusiasm, and there are already a few success stories. This year instead of buying cakes to celebrate Father’s Day, the baking class made about two hundred cupcakes, put them together to form two rectangular cakes, and decorated them. Sister Carmen Armenta Lara (Monroe IHM) also has been quite successful in gathering a group of women and teens to teach them how to make articles (ornaments, mug rugs, etc.) from plastic canvas. When we arrive each Thursday, it is exciting to see small groups of Carmen’s students sitting together, talking, laughing, helping one another, and creating their own designs with the plastic canvas.

By the first week of July, the second phase of the project was implemented. Using money from donors, who already support our ministry at the border, we began to buy the hand-made items created by the migrant women and teens. Each person took great pride in his or her work. We believe that the stipend they received for their time and labor is one small step in restoring their sense of dignity and agency.

When we wrote the grant, our hope was 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 displayed in their gift shops. That hope has become a reality! Sisters Carmen Armenta Lara, Rose Patrice Kuhn, and I have delivered the items in person to the three IHM Congregations. May each hand-crafted article be a reminder of the plight and the potential of the migrant women and teens and an invitation to strengthen your prayerful support of them!