Feedback from the Border

Hi All,

We sent 200 Freedom Kits for asylum seekers on our southern border to Susan Harriss with the UMC Pacific Conference.  She has been slowly delivering them to Tijuana to help the women and the girls living in camps.  She sent us this thank you email yesterday.  Thank you to everyone who helped with these kits, and to Barb and Rich for delivering them!

___________

Stephanie, I want to pass on many words of appreciation to the ladies of Freedom Kits of Yakima. The kits are wonderful and much appreciated. I was in Tijuana yesterday (Wednesday) and had the opportunity to visit a Midwife Clinic in Tijuana that works with migrants and asylum seekers for free. They work out of a rented house near the Pacific Ocean. In fact, the owner of the group said that sometimes the expectant mothers will go down to the beach to walk hoping that will help the baby come sooner. Anyway, they have a comfortable birthing room with oxygen equipment to help a newborn if necessary, a tall plastic pool for water birthing, and even a birthing stool. The Midwifes also teach sex education classes to girls and boys. Schools in Mexico apparently do not have sex education classes. The kids get any sex or body education from watching social media, movies, internet, etc. In the class the girls and sometimes with their mothers they find out how the body functions. These are the classes where how to use reusable feminine hygiene kits are taught. And yes, they are using Freedom Kits with their clients, especially the women that have just had a baby. I delivered 42 kits to the clinic yesterday 

and they hoped that I could deliver more in the coming months.

The non-profit that we work with/through (Centro 32) in Tijuana is also using the Freedom Kits. They love all of the bright bags that the hygiene products come in. And they too teach the girls and women about the use of the reusable pads. The Midwife  Clinic and Centro 32 are in contact with each other. The Centro 32 staff makes sure that the clinic gets some of the  donated products that we bring across the border. I still have 2 more bags of kits so that will last for quite a while.

Thank you so much for helping with our Border Ministry project. It is  so meaningful to so many of the asylum seeking families that are stranded in Tijuana. They do not have a way to legally come into the USA and can't or will not go back to a country that they fled for many reasons - all of them bad reasons.

Blessings to all of you.

Susan Harriss