This past weekend, we started our monthly “Family Reunification” project for children in prison in Chihuahua state. Olivia Meneses, our project director, worked with the prison´s list of four teenagers who have not had visitors for months. They all live at least three hours outside the city and come from extreme poverty. We arranged bus tickets for them at the terminal and they were ready to go see their children.
All except one mother. She hadn’t seen her son in three years. But, after trying for two weeks to get a hold of her, we gave up. Then the prison social worker called us the night before. Her son in prison wanted to see his mother. So, Olivia started trying again. Olivia got a hold of a relative in a nearby village. Messages were passed back and forth. Finally, Olivia spoke with her husband. But, she lived 8 hours away. She would have to get on a bus that very night at midnight and ride all night to the city in order to make it for visiting hours at 9am on Saturday. She was excited. But she was scared too. She lived in the country, a very humble woman who had never been to the city. After we purchased the ticket, as she sat in the terminal preparing to leave, she began to panic. Olivia spoke with her on the phone, imploring her to be brave, that God would be with her, that her son needed to see her. She got on the bus. When she arrived in the city, one of our local volunteers picked her up and drove her to the prison. From 9 am until 1 pm, she got to spend time with her son. Then it was eight hours back home.
This weekend, one mother spent sixteen hours on a bus to spend four hours with her son who she hadn’t seen for three years. Words cannot express what that means to her and her son. And it was thanks to your support of our Family Reunification project, part of our Mobilize Mexico project, to mobilize volunteers and churches to respond to the needs of children in prison.
Thank you for making this weekend a huge success. It was one small step for these four families. But it means the world to them and their children.
Consider supporting our Mobilize Mexico project directly. Your contribution goes to Care Packages, Family Reunification, Workshops and Special Events inside the prisons that directly benefit children and their families. We coordinate these projects, but they are carried out by Mexican volunteers, local students, churches, and community members committed to caring out justice and compassion one child at a time.
