Wiping Her Mother's Tears

“But our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ”

                Philippians 3:20

The Micah Corps spent the last two days at Grace United Methodist Church in Hastings, NE, hearing personal stories from immigrants. It was an emotional, yet much needed experience. We will share a couple of their individual stories here on this blog, but first we need to set the stage for these stories. The Micah Corps interns were sitting in a room in Hastings Grace UMC, and five women, all Latinas, and their children came into the room one by one. There was a fearful hope in their eyes, as they all sat down. A few spoke English, but a couple did not. We immediately introduced ourselves and what the Micah Corps stands for in order to establish trust for these women. We needed them to know that we were not here to hurt them, to exploit them, but rather to share their stories in order to promote understanding across our state in United Methodist Churches. The tension in the room was relieved when the women understood this, and read the Bible verse on the backs of our navy blue t-shirts. (Micah 6:6-8: Of what does the Lord require? To do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God.) The women began to tell us their stories.

  Imagine, for a moment, your mother, father, grandfather, grandmother, or any person who is close to your heart. Then, imagine not being able to say goodbye to them before they passed away to God. This happened to one of the immigrant women. She missed her grandfather’s funeral, a man she was very close to, because she could not leave the country for fear of never being able to come back. She has children here. They are in constant fear of their mother and father being deported. “Where will the children go?” our new friend lamented, ”To jail? For what? We are not criminals. We had to flee our country because we could not feed our children. We are just trying to live a normal life without being in fear of being taken away from our children.” Her wide-eyed innocent two-year-old daughter sat on her lap with Kleenex in hand, wiping her mother’s tears.

                There were also stories of hope! Several women in Nebraska, and across the U.S. want to flee domestic violence, but are afraid because if they go to the police they might be deported. However, Sandy Sypherd, Risk-Taking Mission and Justice Ministries District Coordinator, and Aida Olivas, Migrant Educator, told stories of Justice for Our Neighbors, Nebraska (http://www.jfon-ne.org/ ), a non-profit that provides free legal services to struggling immigrants, supported by Mission Shares of the United Methodist Church, helping these women by letting them know about the VAWA, or Violence Against Women’s Act, and helping them get on the track to immigration status without the knowledge of the abuser. They no longer have to fear their husbands or boyfriends, or fear deportation, and can now contribute to society just like you and I.

                As we finished up our emotional time of sharing, we were notified that the Immigration Reform Bill was passed through the Senate Committee. Joy spread across every face in the room, and we immediately took a picture (below) of our happiness to capture the moment.