December 14-21, 2013
Special Features of the Trip
Cost: $1000
Participants in the MMT program fly to San Diego and drive across the U.S./Mexico border into Tijuana, where they reside and work. Students will stay at the Posada Retreat Center in La Gloria located just outside of Tijuana. Throughout the week students work with Esperanza International, a non-profit organization which promotes the development of communities interested in improving their quality of life, through voluntary participation in the support of housing projects and environmental care programs. During the week days participants join families in the construction of simple concrete homes. This labor-intensive construction process includes the digging of foundations, pouring of concrete roofs, assembling brick walls, bending and tying rebar, and other strenuous physical activity. In the evenings participants meet with social workers to learn about the realities of families, visit an orphanage, tour a health clinic, and eat dinner with men who have recently been deported or migrated to Tijuana at Casa del Migrante. Participants build relationships in the colonias of Tijuana while learning about community empowerment. Students explore various issues surrounding the border, trade, immigration and our complex and vibrant relationship with Mexico.
Unique Growth Opportunities
Participants in this experience build relationships, "brick by brick" in the colonias Tijuana and with an organization which empowers families to build sustainable homes and communities, and to find new hope in the process. Issues of borders, trade, and immigration are addressed as we explore our call to be global citizens. Esperanza welcomes SU into the strength of a hopeful community working for social justice and economic development.
For more information, please contact Seán Bray, Social Justice Minister, at (206) 296-6079.