Tuesday night MPT accompanied a group with working youth and adolescents. At the beginning they discussed and made posters saying how they felt and what they thought about the recent murders of 14 women and children at a fiesta. They mentioned they were scared, it was bad, it wasn't right, and one girl said they killed my brother. Her 17 year old brother was assassinated as he sat outside of his house. Later in the night some kids practiced writing, others played with toys. Two girls came that do not usually attend the group; they were invited by one of the girls that assists the group. I along with others was outside of the house where kids were playing jump rope and talking. As we were talking I noticed two kids fighting, I interpositioned myself between them and asked them what the problem was. After coming to no resolution and them still wanting to fight, I tried to get them to talk with the leader of the classes. They refused and a young woman said "dont worry they won't fight anymore", I said okay, I hope your right. Ten minutes later another fight, the leader of the group came when I called for her and we got the two to calm down. As everyone was leaving a group of 6 or 7 started to walk towards their respective houses and one of the girls who had been in the previous fight, started to fight with another one of the girls from the group. I know the girl she started to fight with, and she and I have talked on many levels, I had never seen her be angry or fight with a single person. I interpositioned myself again, and walked her backwards away from the fight. The other girl kept trying to hit the girl that was with me and I ended up taking a punch in my shoulder. As I walked the girl away she clutched on to my arms like not only was she scared, but she was mad, and did not really know what to do. I talked to her and calmed her down, the woman who leads the group and I accompanied her and the kids to the hill where they would walk home just to ensure that no more fights happened. Later the woman who leads the group asked that the two girls not be invited back to the group unless they were willing to respect the rules. "This is a group for fun and education. If they want to come they can not fight or use bad language".
Overall the experience with this group was very nice, through talking with the kids I have gotten to know some of them, and they are great kids, they just live in a really rough part of Juarez. I asked them about school, what they wanted to be as an adult, what they thought about the recent murders. The kids are extremely mature for their age, and they understand the situation that is happening around them.
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