Just One Day…

Buenos días! Saludos desde Guatemala!

My name is Delfina Castro and I am the Program Director for YoungMoms in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania. At YoungMoms I have the opportunity to work with young women between the ages of 13 and 21 who are pregnant or parenting and living in Southern Chester County. Most of them are from Guatemala. NCP generously invited me to join this wonderful group of people with the goal of gaining a better understanding of the culture, communities, challenges and living conditions in Guatemala. After my first full day in Guatemala City I feel like this goal has already been accomplished and we still have so many more things to come!!!!

You already heard from Carrie about the end of our day that we spent at Jesus es el Camino. They joy and the hope I felt in that place is like no other I have experienced. They literally hugged us and shared with us like we were old friends, or even family.

I’ll try my best to describe the teenagers we met there, the ones who are working at the Utz Pan bakery. They are smart, hardworking, grateful, happy, smiley and very polite kids. Most of our Guatemalan young moms who migrated to the US went through a lot, physically and emotionally, and they are raising their own families far away from their families and their tight, strong and wonderful communities. The obstacles for a young mother in a foreign country are many, but getting to know these Utz Pan kids showed me how important it is to belong to a community and to have the support of a group of people like Jesus es el Camino to grow and become their best selves.

I’ll go back home knowing that if we keep on working on building a strong community and offering a caring and loving support for our young moms, we will eventually see the growth, the smiles and the joy in their faces as well.

During this day we were also able to understand a little more about the reasons why Guatemalans migrate. We went for a tour of La Casa del Migrante (Migrant House) and to CEDEPCA where we met the staff, learned about what they do, and also attended a presentation about the economical/social structure of Guatemalan society.

Our time at CEDEPCA was very enlightening. The staff was very open to share about their projects and we got to meet Corazón de Mujeres, a marvelous group of women that create the most beautiful things with their own hands. We are looking forward to CEDEPCA’s visit to the US in October and were able to spend some time planning the training they will do for YoungMoms’s staff about self-esteem, resilience and autonomy. Then our staff will be able to share this training with the young mothers.

I didn’t know about the existence of La Casa del Migrante and I was very impressed about the support network of 135 house they have worldwide. Even after walking alongside with the young moms for the last four years, I don’t get to know a lot about their migration journey. I understand that, for some of them, it was a dangerous, scary, difficult and traumatic experience and that it’s not easy for them to revisit and share. Here we learned about the hardships and the importance of practical help as a way of showing love and the worth everyone has no matter who you are, where are you coming from or what you look like. La Casa del Migrante opens their doors everyday to 150 people from different backgrounds, countries and personal stories and offer them a safe, warm, clean and loving space to sleep, rest and recharge. They provide homemade food and they share resources and useful information about the journey ahead.

Carlos, the house manager, has been working there for the last 18 years and he is the vivid image of human kindness. His faith and service vocation knows no limits. The work he and his team do is 24/7, offering support to families in one of their most vulnerable times. And he does it with a calm and a warm smile. He knows that there is a lot they cannot solve, but focus on making that night a good one, a moment of peace, a break to catch their breath. When I get back home, I’ll be even more grateful for all those volunteers who drive our young moms to medical appointments, who prepare a meal or babysit at our workshops, who help in any ways needed.

I know how hard it is not get overwhelmed and emotionally involved with the families we work with. Carlos told us his self care strategy was the support of his strong community of faith. It sparked lots of big questions about how I am doing what I was called to do: to love and to serve our Guatemalan neighbors here in the US.