Why I am going to Juarez

Hello, my name is Nina and I am preparing to be part of the Michigan Peace Team in Juarez this fall. I was a missionary in South Amirica and learned so much from the poor. Their deepest hunger was to live in peace and that has become my deepest desire. I wish to be in solidarity with the people in Juarez knowing the suffering that is being lived there.

Megan: What Calls me to Ciudad Juárez

I will be traveling to Ciudad Juárez, Mexico this fall as a member of Michigan Peace Teams to partake in non-violent human rights work.

Previous to Mexico, I have traveled throughout Latin America witnessing and accompanying everyday people in their struggle to maintain or regain sustainable, peaceful livelihoods. From what I have learned both abroad and at home in the United States of our government's 'standard operating procedure', I feel very responsible for the violent atrocities and corporate takeover throughout the Americas, and in this case, in neighboring Mexico. I believe that the roots of the drug trade, violence, poverty and mass migration in the borderlands are economic insecurity much ensured by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) of 1994.

I want to work in Mexico because I believe that Mexican citizens hold the solutions to their decades old obstacles, and that they deserve solidarity from U.S. citizens.

If we are silent now in this phase of their struggle, when Mexicans are making courageous acts of nonviolence, then we are complicit in the oppression. I believe that our presence of non-violent solidarity has the power to create the space for organizing toward peaceful alternatives, denouncing the current violence and oppression, and healing and forgiveness.

Please support the Fall 2010 Juárez Michigan Peace Team and our Mexican partners by following this blog, responding to urgent actions, and donating to Michigan Peace Teams.

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.

Juárez Team Intro- Angela

Hello everyone,

My name is Angela and I am training to be a participant in the 2010 Fall Juárez team. As a group I hope that we can help initiate and place a peaceful presence within the city of Juárez. My biggest challenge will be learning to deal with the serious situations that are currently taking place in Juárez. I feel that I can bring strengths to the team through my past experiences and as a team we can develop a unified presence. I am a recent graduate and hope that my experiences will help me in Juárez. I plan on using the experiences that I gain while participating in the team to help me in my future career work.

Check back for more from us soon!!

Angie

Equipo de MPT de Otoño 2010 para Juárez, México

Equipo de Otoño 2010 de MPT para

JUAREZ, MEXICO 

¡Inscripciones abiertas!

Se necesitan hispanohablantes   

3 MESES  -  SIN COSTO PARA USTED  -  CAPACITACIÓN Y APOYO
ESTAMOS ACEPTANDO SOLICITUDES – PERÍODO: SEPTIEMBRE 1^° - DICIEMBRE 20 DE 2010.  

SOLICITUD PARA SER PARTE DEL EQUIPO DE PAZ 

  Pulse sobre el link en la parte superior para acceder a una e-solicitud, o contacte a Nicoler.MPT@gmail.com para mayor información.  

Invitación a Juárez

Luego de un extenso debate y trabajo con grupos de la comunidad de Juárez – y un largo proceso de discernimiento y toma de decisiones con nuestra organización – MPT está preparando un Equipo para el otoño de 2010 en respuesta  a la siguiente invitación enviada por el Centro de Derechos Humanos (extracto):

"En relación a su participación como Equipo de Paz en nuestra ciudad, creemos que su aporte es muy positivo y puededesarrollarse mediate tres acciones importantes:

1. Formar una Red Internacional para difundir la problemática de Ciudad Juárez, como extranjeros preocupados por la violencia e inseguridad que tenemos   

2. Estar en un área de trabajo de base en comunidades pobres, con metas concretas en un tiempo determinado con voluntarios que hablen español para:         
- Crear conciencia de la no violencia desde las comunidades con mujeres, jóvenes y adolescentes;         
- Proporcionar servicio de escucha por la situación de dolor que se vive para las mujeres y sus familias;         
- Fomentar una cultura de denuncia para romper con la cultura del silencio      

3. Estar presente, en tanto sea posible, en demostraciones de no violencia y “sentadas”".

New from Michigan Peace Team

Read about our latest work, and updates on our team to Juarez here:

MPT Spring Newsletter (now printed on recycled paper!) 

May E-News Update

Team Now Forming; Watch for Reports Starting Summer/Fall 2010

Thank you for your interest in MPT's Fall 2010 Peace Team to Juarez, Mexico.

We are currently screening applicants for this Team, and making arrangements for training and preparation of our team members.  If you are interested in being on this team, there's still time to apply, or contact Nicoler.MPT@gmail.com for more information.  See our CONTACT & APPLY page above, or read the FAQs for links to our application, and more.

In response to our invitation, from September to December 2010 MPT's team will help to:

          - Create a conscientiousness of non-violence from within the communities - especially with women, youth and adolescents;

          - Provide the service of listening to those women and their families who are living in the situation of suffering;

          - Foster a culture of denouncing in order to break the culture of silence.

         - Be present as possible at nonviolent demonstrations and sit-ins.

         - Form an International Network in order to let others know of the Juarez problem, as foreigners concerned about the violence and insecurity that we have.

Please keep watching this report blog for an introduction to our Team Members this summer, as well as Reports directly from the Team in Juarez once they are on the ground.

Sincerely 

Nicole Rohrkemper
International Team Deployment Coordinator
Michigan Peace Team