Vivirá durante 10 meses en la ciudad mexicana de Guadalajara y junto con su organización asociada FM4 Paso Libre, abogará por la asistencia y el apoyo humanitario, jurídico y médico de migrantes y refugiados.
PROTEGO® apoya financieramente este compromiso social para que el proyecto sea un gran éxito.
February - April 2022
In the following months, I worked my way further into the organization's processes. I helped in the kitchen preparing and distributing food, received donations and sorted them according to their usefulness. My Spanish skills improved steadily over these months, so much that I was soon standing at the gate where the migrants have to briefly "introduce themselves" for security reasons. In addition, I conducted short interviews for statistical purposes with the migrants. I learned that many had left their home countries because they were unemployed or earned very little. Others had fled violence and unrest.
The people are all the more grateful when they can rest for a while and gather new strength in our shelter as a safe haven. For the migrants who live with us for a longer period of time, we organized some activities to lighten up the daily routine. In February, for example, we took a group of volunteers and shelter residents to the football stadium of the "Chivas" club. Especially the younger ones were very happy about this, since football is not only popular in Germany but also the most popular sport in South America.
In March, we organized a picnic with the migrants in the Parque Metropolitano de Guadalajara. The park is one of the largest recreational areas within the agglomeration region of Guadalajara and offers a lot of space for relaxation and sports activities.
Furthermore, us volunteers offered English lessons to the migrants. FM4 employs a large number of volunteers from different countries in addition to Mexicans: I have already worked and made friends with people from England, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA. The contact with my Mexican work colleagues is especially valuable for me, as it allows me to learn more about the country and culture in which I have been living for half a year now.
I am excited to see what experiences and challenges await me in the last four months here in Mexico.
Saludos y un abrazo de México,
Annabelle
In the first three months of my voluntary service at FM4 Paso Libre, I was already able to gather many new impressions and experiences. For example, right at the beginning of my stay, on November 24 last year, the UN Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, visited our organization to get to know the work and activities of FM4. He gave a speech and listened to the moving stories of some refugees and migrants from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, among others.
In December it became Christmas in our organization: Christmas trees were decorated, small gifts for the migrants were wrapped and dinner was organized. On December 24, I spent Christmas Eve at the shelter with the other volunteers and the migrants. This was a very special experience for me. We had tacos, rice and beans for dinner and then it got very Mexican when the piñatas were brought in. This was a highlight for everyone!
I was very happy that Christmas was celebrated so beautifully, because almost everyone who lives at FM4 has walked a very long, arduous path with sometimes traumatizing experiences such as of violence, poverty and discrimination.
In January of this year we welcomed a large group of refugees from Haiti. In conversations with individuals, I learned that they had been on the road for years and had lived as refugees in different countries. Women who were pregnant during this time had to give birth to their children in Brazil or Colombia, and then they continued on to Mexico via Central America. Their destination is the United States of America - as of almost all the other migrants and refugees we host and care for. Then, towards the end of January, the group made its way to the U.S. border. This is one of the most dangerous parts of the migrants' journey. Some make it across the border, others don't and turn back - after all the hardships and privations.
I am deeply moved by the experiences that these people have shared with me and that they manage to go through life with so much friendliness, cordiality and helpfulness, even though they themselves have experienced little of it.