Sunday Daniella moves in

It has been a very good week, soothing and happy, with wonderful little events bringing zest and excitement to us and to the little lives with whom we have recently teamed.

Funding in place, Juan Dominguez found an apartment on Wednesday for Daniella, Relely and their family with electricity and a bathroom. In the following days, their mom cleaned the apartment and they moved in their few possessions. The girls are really excited about having both lights at night, a bath and a toilet. On Friday, when the mother visited our clinic to express her thanks, our Mexican director, Noemi Noriega was grateful to see the mother clean and happy, already looking years younger. Today, Sunday, the family was given a nice bedroom set including a large dresser and a double bed. The six of them will be sleeping in the same bed tonight.

Juan Dominguez with the bedroom set for Daniella, Relely and their family

In the recent week we have also been doing “rounds” to check up on our Agua Prieta friends. Tiny little Plinia of Chiapas has been a friend of Board Member Chris Pignotti’s ever since their first meeting four years ago in one of the newest barrios growing south of the city. Plinia was missing her front teeth and seemed to be the age of 13. She was with three little children and seeing them together, Chris reached out to what he realized was their plight, insufficient food. He gave Plinia $200. She flushed with joy and in her sweet way said in English, “God Bless You”. Fast forward, Plinia fooled us all. She was really 23 and these were her children, but there is more to tell. Rather than spend the money on food, Plinia bought concrete and gathered rocks and sand from the deep arroyo near their terrible little shack and built a substantial footing for a real room. Of course we were flabbergasted, and Chris said “Plinia, take another $200 and if you would like, we will help you buy ladrillo (adobe brick), and we can bring used windows and doors and we can all work together to help you build this fine room, safe for your family.” It all happened with the help of Colorado volunteer Ron Becker and our Mexican constructor Marcelino Enriquez. We stopped by Plinia’s today to drop off a size 5 party dress someone had given us. Our surprise was the dropped dry wall ceiling started in the great room (winter insulation), a sturdy front door, and iron grills on the windows. And, I should mention, Plinia has some fine front teeth that our free dental clinic provided some six months ago.

Plinia, her three darling children Ruby, Leslie and Sergio & their puppy Cookie

The Mexican highways are very dangerous. In December three teenage daughters died here after a family accident coming home from Juarez. Had there been an ambulance and an EMT crew, the little girls would most surely have survived. This can all be fixed and here is how. Cruz Roja, no relation to the Red Cross of the US, struggles with inadequate training and equipment, yet they are the emergency response in every Mexican town. In Agua Prieta, we teamed with the Cruz Roja leadership to create an EMT/Paramedic model training program led by Douglas Fire Captain Manuel Ayala. Our Utah Rotarians and the town council of Hyrum, Utah, have provided a fully-equipped ambulance for Cruz Roja which will be presented after the training program which is held three days a week for six months. They will graduate in September. Manuel is very pleased with the quality of the 28 EMT/Paramedic students. This model will surely spread to other towns, which is, of course, the goal.

Cruz Roja students with Manuel Ayala

The fully equipped ambulance waiting for the Cruz Roja students

This Friday, July 18, is our regular monthly Crisis Intervention Clinic, and more stories on how Wings of Angels is helping will be posted.

Wings of Angels Foundation

1552 12th Street, Douglas, AZ 85607

602-326-0057 EIN:86-0989829

A typical day with Wings of Angels

Our wonderful friends from all over the nation have given generously to us in trust and confidence. This entry speaks of what great things we are able to do because of you. Here is a view of a typical day. It is the kind of day you surely will love, in case you would like to visit.

Mona, a Danish anthropology student and Wings volunteer, is spending a month here to help us. All our regular programs are going on. The teaching garden is lush. Our dental clinic benefactor, Dr. George Sayre of Houston, has been with us for a week to continue training our young Mexican dentist in US methods.

Dr. George Sayre visiting La Divina Providencia

Mona and I have been working on a media presentation we believe to be very important. I would like to introduce the stories of migrants who have been caught and pushed back into Mexico. Why did they try to come to the US in the first place? What was their life like at home? Did they have a home, food, health and an education? Did they have a job and skills? (We are pretty sure they have very little of any of these and the public needs to know the real story). It has never before been done and we hope for another clarifying story about the Mexican poor and what can be done to alleviate their plight .

This is our TENTH ANNIVERSARY in northeast Sonora. We hope the story will note that our Wings of Angels model is tried and tested, that it works! It IS possible to improve the lives of the border poor through realistic volunteer efforts. We have created a strategic model. Think of how many of our US citizens would be motivated to volunteer. And think of the many skills they have to offer if tempted into action, perhaps in their own working group.

In order to preview what we might find at the three Mexican shelters provided by the government for returning migrants, we visited these on Saturday. The first is Casa de la Mujer Migrante, a haven for women and their families. There were only twenty clients in June, a reduced number because the desert is now hot and dangerous.

The entrance to Casa de La Mujer Migrante

Casa Migrantes provides food, clean dormitories, and a peaceful environment for women and children in which to recover. The second locale is a respite provided by the Sagrada Familia Catholic Church. The same peaceful conditions exist. The adults retreat here until they are healthy enough to continue their lives. The third is a government-sponsored dormitory, which provides meals, shoes, medicines, and other support for the migrantes. As an example, 1894 cases used this service in April. I was sorry to see the wall map which provides information on how far to walk in the US to certain destinations,water stops, and safe areas. Our news piece, I hope, will make a clear point of what is missing in Mexico and what forces these desperate people to essentially escape, and what Mexico can do to step up.

Later, we changed course and with Juan Dominguez, Director of the wonderful orphanage and asylum, La Divina Providencia, visited a family in great need. Juan recently received two of the little girls into La Divina. It is a great place, full of love and structure. The little girls go to school every day, have chores, great nutritious food, and a lovely dormitory. They return home on Friday night and return to the Divina on Sunday night. The little girls, Daniela and Relely, asked Juan if they could stay at the Divina over the weekend and not go home.

Daniela and Relely

Since that was not possible because there is no weekend staff, Juan said “I will come on Sunday to take you to church and then to a meal with my mother and father”. On Sunday he went to their home and his heart was broken. There he found the mother, a 1 ½ year old baby boy, a three-year old girl, Daniela, Relely, and Oscar, 13. The mother is six month’s pregnant. They live in a shack without electricity or water or bathroom. They sleep on the floor; each has one blanket. The grandmother lives several blocks away. She has other family members in her small house but these little ones go to her home to heat water for their Ramin soup. They have little else to eat.

Juan Dominguez with the family of Daniela and Relely

Daniela and Relely with the rest of the girls from La Divina Providencia

Chris Pignotti of US Digital Media has given $1,000 to get the family into a decent apartment with utilities and a bathroom. This will be very little, only$100 monthly plus electricity, but will accomplish a lot. Earlier this year Martha Wing sent $5,000 to build the next house for a worthy case. The Utah Rotarians who do so much good building for us will be back in October. We will look for a lot with water and sewer in the southerly part of town where there are several new schools and away from the gangs that inhabit the poorest areas near the border. And we need to get Oscar into school. Oscar, Daniela and Relely are vivacious! Dad, it is said, was in jail, returned to the home later, then left again. Mom will have sterilization at the General Hospital at the baby’s birth. We will put our mentors onto structuring a better family lifestyle before presenting them with a house. And yet, as you already are aware, this is not an isolated case.

The day was not yet at an end. Throughout the years here, we have often stopped someone without a limb to ask if they need help. We have seen a man missing a leg on several recent occasions. We saw him yet again. I stopped and Juan asked him about his missing leg. It seems the man, Ernesto, received a prosthesis from us three years ago, it broke around the top, but he didn’t come back for repair (generally in cases like this the patient is a drug user and couldn’t figure out how to come back). We went to his little adobe shack and retrieved the leg. We will repair it. Maybe this will change his life. We’ve seen it happen.

May you be well and happy, kind friends

Wings of Angels Foundation

1552 12th Street, Douglas, AZ 85607

602-326-0057 EIN:86-0989829

The Foundation of Wings of Angels

Wings of Angels Foundation is a rescue mission concerned for the tens of thousands of poor located in Mexico immediately across from the US border town of Douglas in southeast Arizona and in nothern Sonora. These poor have come hundreds of miles from the Mexican interior in a last effort to seek food, medical care and shelter for their families who typically include a large number of children. Governmental social services and charitable groups are very limited in Sonora, and, to a great extent, overwhelmed by the flood of humanity.

Since 2000, the Wings of Angels monthly Crisis Intervention Clinic has held 84 consecutive clinics (6000 patient visits) in Mexico with volunteer medical doctors and nurses who provide medical and dental treatment, administer care and deliver medications, arrange surgeries, provide glasses, prosthetics and orthotics, provide family counseling and mentoring, formulated milk, diapers, physical therapy and equipment, wheelchairs, blankets, fresh produce from the Wings of Angels teaching garden, support for education, and winterized shelters.

So many resources, materials and skills are available to Wings of Angels from the US, that accomplishing all these important services is possible.

The mission of Wings of Angels Foundation is to rescue, stabilize and transform the more-than-poor border families in Agua Prieta and northern Sonora, Mexico

"Treat the problem of human suffering that fosters the need to leave Mexico"

For more information see website: wingsofangelsfoundation.org

A Volunteer Report from Denmark

In Denmark, it's common for students to take a semester off during their studies to either work as an intern in a company, study abroad to broaden their horizons in ways of learning, or, as I did, go travel. By coincidence I chose the United States and Mexico as destinations for my trip; as an anthropology and psychology student I was interested in learning about other cultures, but the primary goal with my trip was to get 6 months off and recharge my batteries before finishing my masters. Never would I have thought that the experiences I came to have could possibly have given me as much as they did, both in an academic and inspirational matter. Specifically one place still stands strong in my memory and motivates me to finish my masters, so I can actually get out in the field and as an anthropologist start using what I've spent five years learning at my university. Before visiting Wings of Angels I wouldn't have thought that a small foundation/organization would have such a big impact on me. I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it is, Wings of Angels did, that made my stay in Douglas unforgettable and that makes me long to go back as soon as possible.

To live in Denmark is to live in paradise, some people would say. Students are paid by the government to educate themselves, carrying weapons is illegal and nobody's ever killed by guns. The few homeless people we have are living in the streets because they choose to, not because they have to, and health care is free. So in many ways we are a spoiled people. However, what I've come to learn through my studies of integration and volunteer jobs in the field is that we have a problem with those who aren't like us. Immigrants and ethnic minorities, the others, are welcome to live in Denmark as long as they live under our rules. Immigration has only been going on throughout the past 40 years, and it seems to me that we are scared of other cultures threatening to destroy and take over "Danish culture". The fear of something different seems to be keeping us from solving the issues we stumble upon when working with immigration and integration. During my time as a Danish teacher for immigrant women or back when I was working in kindergarten for children of ethnic minorities, I learned that common opinion between help organizations in Denmark was "Yes, we do wish to help you become integrated into Danish society, but only if we do it our way." The fear of the others seemed to be determinating the strategies in which we wanted to help.

Observing which cultures we were actually dealing with was not relevant for the job, and considering the fact that there may be other and better ways to teach immigrants than the "Danish way of doing things" was not important. To me it seemed like a very judgmental and non respectful approach to things. "The culture of all ethnic minorities is useless in Denmark, and if they want to be helped, they need to give up their old culture, forget their identities and start living "Danish style." Need I say that the outcome of these strategies have not been very helpful in the process towards a multifarious and integrated Denmark?

When coming from such a background, where, on the surface, everything seems to be perfect, but where hidden racism towards ethnic minorities flourishes in most layers of society, visiting Douglas and Wings of Angels was a great relief. I had never imagined experiencing a help organization with a less judgmental approach towards people in need. I still have lots to learn about the relationship between the United States and Mexico, but I could imagine that it is somewhat rather tense because of illegal immigration among other things. Therefore I was so impressed to see the corporation between two cultures, working their way towards the same goal; helping those who really needed it.

For some people it must seem irrelevant for a help organization to spend a lot of time considering whom it is, they're trying to help and what the best possible way of approaching a certain culture and people would be. I agree that the most important thing is to get the help out there, where and when it's needed. That being said, it's also of major importance to consider factors such as culture, social class and the specific situation, the patient is in. Giving a man a new set of teeth is not very useful if you don't also give him a toothbrush and teach him how to use it. Helping a starving little girl getting back on her feet won't give her much, if her family isn't taught how to maintain the girl's new and improved condition. Having the patience to let the people you're helping make mistakes when they're trying to adjust to their new life is so important; getting used to a new life with new possibilities can take time, when you've lived the same life for so long.

I remember crossing the border from Agua Prieta to Douglas one time, waiting in line with all the other cars for the passport control. Dottee, the founder of Wings of Angels, was driving the car, and from her window she spotted a resident of Agua Prieta, whom Wings of Angels had given an artificial leg, so he wouldn't have to be limp and walk around using crotches. I bet this guy was happy when he got his "new leg", only problem was, that he wasn't wearing it when we saw him! Dottee called him to her window and talked to him about it. It turned out that he was very happy with his new leg, but when he was begging among the cars in the passport control line, he would receive more money if he wasn't wearing his leg; of course limping around with crotches would make better impression as him being a "poor beggar" that needed money. I don't think Dottee approved, but she understood him.

This is just one of the reasons why my stay in Douglas was so enjoyable and why I got so much out of it; I learned that helping is important, but understanding the people you are helping is also a big part of it. Respecting those people both as a part of a culture and a social class, but also as individuals is a big factor, if you want to succeed. Victimizing patients as poor persons who can't take responsibility and do anything by or for themselves will not make a help organization achieve their goals; on the other hand, teaching people that" you have a responsibility, we can help you get started, but in the end, you're the one who is making it happen", will help everybody help themselves and keep them being motivated for achieving their goals and a better life.

In a short term period, all this is not important. The important thing is to get out there and stop people from dying. But in a long term period, no help organization will survive if their only focus is to save lives immediately. In the way Wings of Angels involve themselves in the people, they're helping; treating everybody with respect and as individuals and continuing to be there, even after the bleeding has stopped, I have no doubts that this organization will be helping those in need in Agua Prieta for many years to come.

- Mona Hølzer