Category: Accompaniment

With Nueva Esperanza (NEAT) accompaniment by Congregation B’nai Tikvah and Temple Isaiah of Contra Costa County, Marvin, Indira, and their family have reached their goals to enroll their daughter in school, find legal assistance, and start employment.

Recently, Marvin’s sister was diagnosed with cancer and he asked the congregations accompanying him if they could help fundraise for her treatment. Please read their GoFundMe to hear their story and share to raise funds!

Help Glenda Aguilera Espinoza fight her cancer in Nicaragua. The government of Nicaragua is cracking down on any dissent from its citizens. Anyone speaking out against government repression can face violent punishment and even death. Glenda’s brother and his family have fled Nicaragua and have been granted entry to the United States to pursue an asylum claim. But the family that remains in Nicaragua is very poor and the family now in the United States is barely getting by and so has little extra money to send home to help Glenda with her cancer treatment… [read more]

Learn more about Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity’s Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team program.

Sergio Lopez is a young Nicaraguan man who is seeking asylum in the U.S. In Nicaragua he was persecuted by government military forces for peacefully demonstrating against Ortega’s crackdowns on working people.

In Nicaragua, and subsequently in Mexico where he fled and found work, he was robbed, kidnapped, harassed and tortured, both by government police and gang members.

He finally decided to come to the US, to seek asylum and was detained while crossing the border… [read more]

https://www.gofundme.com/f/SupportSergiosFamilyUntilHesFreed

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Learn more about Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity’s Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team program.

The Berkeley Zen Center attended the September 2019 NEAT training and matched quickly with Douglas. Hurrah!

Douglas had been forced to wait 11 months in Mexico before being allowed to enter the United States due to the Remain in Mexico Policy. In just the first month of his resettlement process, he reached with flying colors his goal of spreading the word about his immigration story and the migrant shelter he founded for the estimated 42,000 forced to wait for asylum at the border.  He spoke to 500 people at a Berkeley concert, was a guest speaker on the radio in Oakland, and partnered with Centro Legal to inform and inspire other migrants through his story.  This is what accompaniment is about—coming alongside people sharing their stories, and reaching their goals. 

Read more about his story and the shelter, Casa Hogar el Puente, and considering donating to its GoFundMe.

Update, November 2020: Douglas recently published his personal account of his testimony from the migrant caravan.  You can purchase his book (in Spanish) on Amazon.

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Learn more about Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity’s Nueva Esperanza Accompaniment Team program.