finding some alternative work and perhaps a little safety. They really found neither! Since there was no work available, and the mestizos of the area do not welcome them, the young men went to northern Mexico, and even as far north as Arizona, California, Oregon, Washington, Utah and Idaho, to work as farm laborers (many of them are indocumentados, that is, illegal by U.S. migration laws). From their many far-flung places, these Mayan Indian men try to send what little they make back to their wives and children. Often the money never reaches the families, due to theft and corruption, or even the failure of employers to pay for work completed!
Our Dominican Sisters decided that the best way to serve these women was to provide a safe place of quiet, prayer and safety for them. Many of the women have seen atrocities in their home villages. Life in the slums is noisy, congested and overwhelming for women who have been raised in the rural life of Mayan Indian villages. Some of the women have been raped, beaten up, or physically abused by alcoholic husbands. Others have been abused by Mexican soldiers. All the women are living at the edge of what any human being can tolerate. Sr. Maria del Carmen, O.P. and Sr. Toni, O.P., live in the midst of one of the slums. They are organizing basic services for the women, along with providing a Center of respite, prayer, retreat and safety where the women can "hide" from abuse, recover from sickness, and have a little comadrezca, "mothering attention" that they so desperately need.
Your goodness to the Dominican Mission Foundation makes you a comadre/compadre
of our Sisters and the Mayan Indian families we serve! |
This leaves the Mayan women
and children living in San Cristobal in a terrible state of affairs. Many live in horrible
little shacks, eking out a living selling hand-made goods to the tourists who frequently
come to see the antiquities of Mexico in this beautiful colonial city. (Image: Construction on the Center)
With the help of the
Dominican Mission Foundation and a number of other supporters, the Sisters have slowly
developed programs and are constructing a building to house them. As the money comes in,
the Center progresses. However, with or without funds, the Dominican Sisters accompany
their beloved Mayan Indian comadres in their struggle along the road of Calvary! (Image: The Women's Center, run by the Dominican Sisters)