From Sandra - Why I am going to Juarez

Hola, soy Sandra!

This fallI will be serving as part of the Michigan Peace Team in Juarez, Mexico because I feel called to respond to an invitation from the city's residents to help create awareness of the possibility and potency of non-violence.

I invite those who read this blog to consider what it must feel like to raise a family in a city referred to by the international press as the Murder Capital of the World. For my part, I plan to provide some insight by using my skills as a narrator of life histories to communicate the stories of women and families who live under the daily threat of violence.

Firmly believing that meeting violence with violence is NOT the answer, this summer I am training with my team mates from across the U.S.A. to learn to foster a non-violent response that will be stronger than the code of silence that now reigns in neighborhoods controlled by drug cartels. As international witnesses we will stand in solidarity so that our nearest neighbors to the south will know that they are not alone.

The experiences and skills we learn while in Juarez will inform the work that each of us does in our home communities. In my case, this means continuing to work with a communal garden recently started in my neighborhood with the goal of nourishing a culture of cooperation so that we feel safe and connected.