Border Community Alliance News

Volume 2

July, 2018

Greetings!

THE BORDER LINE…The US-Mexico Border has been very much in the news lately with reports of parents and children separated and gridlock in Congress on much needed immigration reform. Some Central American families found their way to Nogales and the DeConcini Port of Entry. BCA encourages its constituents to look at the facts and historical context. What is the best way to respond? Engaging your own congressional representatives is one thing every one of us can do, no matter where we live. Phone calls are considered the most effective way to communicate your message. Groups such as Kino Border Initiative advocate for migrants in both Washington, D.C. and Mexico City. You may also want to make a financial contribution to provide food and shelter for families in transition. BCA works collaboratively with FESAC, our Mexican partner NGO, in supporting the San Juan Bosco Migrant Shelter in Nogales Sonora. Many of you have visited this shelter on one of our Cross Border Tours. For over thirty-five years, this shelter has cared for migrants every single day, thanks to the Loureiro family, and yes, they provide support for recent arrivals.

Jerry Haas, Executive Director

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Items left by migrants at San Juan Bosco Shelter

Checks can be made out to the Border Community Alliance and sent to our office, PO Box 1863, Tubac, AZ. 85646; be sure to write “Migrant Shelter” in the memo line. You donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law.

From Sonora to Spain

Report on our 2018 Tour

By Alex La Pierre,

BCA Program Director

Non profit Border Community Alliance recently led a guided curated trip into northern Spain for a group of 22 guests from May 27th to June 8th. The BCA group’s Spanish itinerary paid homage to a pilgrimage, the Camino de Santiago, a route with easily over a millennium of years in existence. Santiago de Compostela, the landmark destination, continues today to be a significant pilgrimage terminus located in the far northwest of Spain, an ancient Celtic region known as Galicia (also the name of the modern regional autonomous community in the Iberian country). The concept for this tour consisted of linking the Arizona-Sonora phenomenon of pilgrimage back to its Hispanic roots in Spain, by way of directly tracing the Camino de Santiago on our late spring intercultural journey.

The tour itinerary included the capital of Madrid, and the Spanish communities of Burgos, Fromista, Sahagún, León, Astorga, Lugo, Santiago, Ourense, Puebla de Sanabria, Tordesillas, and Segovia.

Here in southern Arizona and northern Sonora, the local context is the San Francisco Xavier pilgrimage to Magdalena de Kino. This is a binational pilgrim’s trail stretching from San Xavier del Bac mission in the U.S. to Magdalena de Kino and which annually takes place from late September, culminating October 4 in a grand fiesta. The origins of this local phenomenon date to sometime after the year 1711 - the year explorer and missionary Eusebio Francisco Kino died and when devoted followers began making the trek to Magdalena to honor this distinguished Jesuit leader as well as his patron saint, San Francisco Xavier. The Magdalena pilgrimage tradition continues to this day, attracting thousands. Drawing on this, the curated trip aimed to identify this borderlands pilgrimage origins in Spain where, arguably, one of the world’s most famous pilgrimage routes - el Camino de Santiago - keeps increasing in popularity, perhaps thanks in part to Martin Sheen’s movie “The Way” released in 2010. Spain 2018 read more

The wonderful BCA companions on the bank of the Rio Douro in Tordesillas, Castilla y Leon, Spain where the world altering Treaty of Tordesillas was signed.

SPAIN 2019

Owing to the success and popularity of this recent intercultural experience and one which directly facilitates BCA’s operation over the off-season summer months, we are planning for another curated trip to Spain, this time to the southern half of the country. This decision is being made after receiving feedback from BCA friends over some time who expressed lament for being unable to travel to Spain this year and inquiring on the following year. Next year’s trip is slated for roughly the same dates - 27 May to 8 June 2019 again with Luis’ generous participation as guide. Due to interest, we have already started a list of reservations for this 2019 curated trip entitled: Door to the New World: Andalucia & Extremadura, Spain . We will be focusing this time on the south of Spain aspiring to illuminate some of the cultural traditions of this region which were projected onto the landscapes of the American Southwest and north of Mexico as a result of the colonial experience. Coincidentally, this comparison is not far off historically - one of the first Spanish colonial territory names of our shared region of Arizona-Sonora was interestingly Nueva Andalucia (New Andalusia). We cordially invite you on this BCA curated trip to discover and explore the similarity of tradition between our shared arid lands oasis cultures. Any questions in regards to the 2019 curated trip and/or those interested to reserve their places may do so by emailing BCA Program Director, Alex La Pierre at alex@bordercommunityalliance.org or by calling BCA at (520) 398-3229.

Non profit BCA is dedicated to its mission of social investment as well as expanding cultural and geographic literacy via cultural exchange in the wider globalized world we live together in.

Capilla Mudejar San Bartolome in Cordoba, one of the sites to be visited in the upcoming 2019 Spain trip

DOWN ASSOCIATION

DOWN ASSOCIATION…

At BCA we believe that supporting the rising non-profit sector in Mexico is part of our mission. To that end, every BCA tour includes support for one or more projects, vetted by FESAC, our Mexican partner. With our popular Gastronomic Tour, we do this by supporting the School for Culinary Skills offered at the Down Association Center. Students are taught basic culinary skills which are then put to use to make some great apple desserts sold at Punta de Cielo, the upscale Mexico City coffee shop we visit at the end of the gastro tour! In this photo, persons from the Down Association receive a check for $400 from BCA, along with a certificate indicating our support. We love looping this connection from tour participant to non-profit to tour finale!

Bon Appetite! ... Jerry & Alex

TOURS & CLASSES

TOURS & CLASSES for this fall…Many of you have asked when we will be rolling out our fall calendar of tours and classes. While it seems like a simple scheduling matter, it actually takes quite a bit of time securing and coordinating teachers, venues, transportation, lodging and drivers. We also happen to be re-doing our website this summer, so we are busy! We plan to announce our fall calendar in next month’s e-newsletter.

Thanks for your interest!

Jerry, Alex and Pat Trulock (Forum Coordinator)

THE INTERN PROGRAM

The Interns are Here!

BCA’s five student interns arrived on Sunday, June 17 to begin their six-week immersion in the Borderlands and Border issues. The students are: Ana Torres, a student at George Washington University studying International Affairs and Anthropology; Caleb Walker Wilson from North Carolina University with a dual major in Public Policy and Philosophy; Robyn Baker, Danko Betzhold, and Patrick Bauer-Blank, students at Sciences Po Paris – Campus de Reims focusing on Political and Social Sciences. The program includes a wide variety of engagements and conversations, starting with a BCA Cross Border Tour of Nogales and ending with a presentation at the Tubac Center for the Arts on Friday, July 27 from 5:00 to 7:00 pm to which the public is invited. Diane Brooks, Coordinator