The current focus of NSM Philadelphia is a collaboration with the Philadelphia Storytelling Project and co-directors Manuel Portillo and Mark Lyons. Through these efforts, immigrant communities are recording first-person accounts of their experiences which will become a powerful voice in organizing and advocating for justice.
Listen to stories by Sarbelia and Marta, two women in the Ecuadorian community in Upper Darby who have participated in the storytelling project. The recordings are available in Spanish and in English.
Read an online account of the vision for this compelling work in this introduction by Manuel and Mark.
Here is an excerpt from that introduction on the Open Borders / Philadelphia Storytelling Project website...
Participants record their stories, mix them with music, and share them on CDs, the radio, webcasts. The process of creating our stories and sharing them has been profound. Listening to each other’s stories and reflecting on our common experience is an act of honoring our lives and affirming our dreams and sacrifices. Through our stories we develop a collective identity as immigrants. Telling our story allows us to take risks, to talk about missing our families, our isolation, our frustrations as we try to feel at home in our new world. Our stories create openings for conversations with our friends and family, to say things unsaid. And now we are taking our stories to the world—to immigration authorities developing deportation guidelines, legislators who are deciding whether to provide healthcare for undocumented children, communities terrified by the specter of immigration raids. These stories must become part of The Great Immigration Debate.
We invite you to listen to some of these remarkable stories, filled with honesty and risk-taking and possibility and anger. Over the next few months we will share stories of sacrifice, separation and grief, of teens who talk about pregnancy and homelessness and finding a way to connect with their father at a baseball game, of farmworkers who harvest our food, of the terror of immigration raids and deportation, of high school graduates who came to the U.S. ten years ago and whose dreams of going to college are deferred because they have no documents, of learning English while hanging on to their culture, of frontier justice. And more. We will tell the story around the story—how sharing stories changes the way people see themselves, each other, the world. How stories demand an act of listening—the basis of all relationships. You will be able to listen to many of these stories on this website—three to six minutes in length, often produced by the storytellers themselves. All will be in English; some will be in Spanish, as well.
Source: http://www.wildriverreview.com/intro/open-borders/welcome-to-open-borders/lyonsportillo/oct09
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Tuesday, December 8, 2009
NSM's intern featured in Goshen College news
Check out this article about NSM Philadelphia's recent intern, Maria Byler, in the Goshen College news archives. http://www.goshen.edu/news/pressarchive/12-04-09-mip-byler379.html
(The complete article, by Noël King, first appeared in the Fall 2009 issue of Indiana-Michigan Mennonite Conference's Missional Seeds newsletter.)
Maria Byler spent the summer as a field worker in South Philadelphia with Franconia Mennonite Conference through the Ministry Inquiry Program. Above, she translates a worship service from Spanish to English at the Centro de Alabanza de Filadelfia (Philadelphia Praise Center), the congregation in which she participated during her 11-week internship.
During her experience working with the New Sanctuary Movement, Maria listened to immigrants' stories, visited detention centers, attended meetings, and helped with projects. She is currently a Goshen College senior social work major with a Spanish minor.
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Winter Appeal and December Coalition Meeting
New Sanctuary Movement of Philadelphia
Coalition Meeting: Intro to NSM
Thursday, 12/10 @ 7pm
Visitation BVM Church 300 E. Lehigh Ave
6pm: Mailing Party for our Winter Appeal
Come Celebrate Human Rights Day with the New Sanctuary Movement! Join us for an evening to learn about NSM's different programs, overarching goals, and the campaign to stop the Philadelphia Police Department from collaborating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). This is an opportunity to bring new people to learn about our work and for current members to gain a better understanding of the whole organization.
Join us an hour early to help with NSM's Winter Appeal! We will provide letters and postage, coffee, and good conversation. Bring your address books to send letters to your personal contacts, and help NSM raise the resources we need to grow this important work. We will meet at 6pm in Visitation school's basement.
Coalition Meetings are the 2nd Thursday of every month
In Peace and Solidarity,Jen and Peter
___________________________________________
Nuevo Movimiento de SantuarioReunion de Coalición: Introdución de NSMJueves, el 10 de deciembre a las 7pma la iglesia de Visitacion. 300 calle E. LehighA las 6pm: Fiesta para Enviar Cartas de Navidad
Venga a celebrar el Dia de Derechos los Humanos con el Nuevo Movimiento de Santuario! Acompáñenos para aprender de los diferentes programas del NSM, los objetivos generales, y la campana poner fin a la colaboración entre la policia y la migra. Esta es una oportunidad para a traer personas nuevas para apprender de nuestro trabajo y para los miembros existentes ganar un mejor entendimiento de la organización.
Los que puedan acompañarnos una hora antes de la reunión, estaremos preparando las tarjetas de navidad de NSM como parte de la campaña para recaudar fondos para nuestro trabajo. Nosotros proveeremos las tarjetas, los sellos, cafe y la buena compañía! Pueden traer su libreta de direcciones de familiares y amigos a los cuales enviarles tarjetas. Nos reuniremos a las 6pm en el sotano de la Iglesia de la visitación.
Las reuniones de la coalicón son los segundos jueves de cada mes
En paz y solidaridad,Jen y Peter
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