Why would a family leave home in Central America and embark on a harrowing 2,500-mile journey with the uncertain outcome of finding asylum in the United States? The Genesis of Exodus, a new interactive online resource, seeks answers to this question. It offers a wealth of background and tools to help Presbyterians and others understand and respond to immigration issues.

     Subtitled Violence, Poverty, and Social Disintegration: The Root Causes of Central American Migration, the resource is the result of a two-week information-gathering trip — with stops in El Salvador, Guatemala and southern Mexico — by staff of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)’s Office of the General Assembly (OGA) and World Mission last November.  “We went to Central America with the main goal of producing a film,” said Vicente Guna Serrano, manager of technologies for OGA. What emerged from the experience, however, was a much bigger project. Guna described the resulting resource as a “story map,” which he said is “a more interactive way to tell a story.”
             The story map platform incorporates text, maps, charts, photos and multimedia, and allows users to reference other sources through links. It includes access to the trailer for the film, also titled The Genesis of Exodus.  The online resource introduces users to the history and economic background of Central America, to people who are fleeing violence in the region, and to community and religious leaders who are trying to help them. 

read more at https://www.presbyterianmission.
org/yearbook/August-15-2017/