International Migrant's Day

The following is something I helped to write and is being sent out on behalf of my office for International Migrant's Day to the local media:

"On Tuesday, December 18, 2007, communities around the world will celebrate International Migrant’s Day. In a season where many people in our own city, country and around the world pause to spend time with family, we need to remember that varying circumstances prevent many migrants from doing the same. International Migrant’s Day, celebrates the adoption of the 1990 U.N. International Convention on the Protection of the Rights of all Migrant Workers and Members of their Families.

One of the recognizable signs of the times today is undoubtedly migration, a phenomenon which has become an important factor of the world-wide labor market, a consequence among other things of the enormous drive for globalization. Naturally in this "sign of the times" various factors play a part. They include both national and international migration, forced and voluntary migration, legal and illegal migration, subject also to the scourge of trafficking in human beings. Nor can the category of foreign students, whose numbers increase every year in the world, be forgotten.

With regard to those who emigrate for economic reasons, it is worthwhile to mention the growing number of women involved ("feminization"). In the past it was mainly men who emigrated, although there were always women too, but these emigrated in particular to accompany their husbands or fathers or to join them wherever they were. Today, although numerous situations of this nature still exist, female emigration has become more and more autonomous. Women cross the border of their homeland alone in search of work in another country. Indeed it often happens that the migrant woman becomes the principal source of income for her family. It is a fact that the presence of women is especially prevalent in sectors that offer low salaries. If then, migrant workers are particularly vulnerable, this is even more so in the case of women. The most common employment opportunities for women, other than domestic work, consist in helping the elderly, caring for the sick and work in the hotel sector.
Famous migrants include Carlos Santana and Gloria Estefan as well as Madeleine Albright, but migrants need not be famous to offer contributions to their home and host States. In celebration of International Migrant’s Day please take a moment to celebrate the economic and cultural contributions that many migrants bring to our community, state and country and to use every opportunity to promote basic human rights."

advent

I have always loved Advent. As a kid I loved everything about it, the sanctuary decorated for Christmas, the Christmas carols, watching each candle on the wreath get lit, every Sunday getting closer to the big white one in the middle. Then on Christmas Eve, dinner and presents at my Grandparents' house, sitting in the pews with my big family. I loved the smell of candles burning, my cousins, brother & I playing with the hot wax. Then we would head home, read the Polar Express & try to fall asleep. It was all about the wonderful anticipation of Christmas Day. As a kid, like most kids, Christmas was about all the presents & the idea that it was a time of year when anything really could happen, but even then I understood that Advent was about preparation, anticipation.



That's really what Advent is about, preparing for the baby who was born in a manger, and yes, it's true that as we grow it changes from preparation for Santa to buying presents and preparing for all the things that go along with the holidays. However, it's really about the little child that will lead us. Last Sunday as we drove to church in 80 degree weather, Kate & I talked about how excited we were that Advent had begun. As the first candle on the Advent wreath was lit at the beginning of the service, I felt that same feeling of excitement and anticipation that I did when I was a kid, it is the time of year when anything can happen.

The truth is that this year, Advent, the season of preparation finds me preparing for many different things. December so far has been filled with the LSAT, a Naturalization Workshop, and appointments with clients so I am ready to go to Pennsylvania in two weeks.

However, there has also been a sense of preparation in the appointments that I have had with clients. A woman came into our office last week inquiring about the progress of her case, our office manager told her that I was working on the case & she could set up an appointment with me. The woman was anxious because, again, the holidays were coming and she would spend them, again, without her teenage daughter. I explained to her how dangerous the border was right now, and that the truth was that if she crossed, she would jeopardize our ability to help her. On the inside, my heart was breaking because I would not be able to stand the thought of Christmas without at least part of my big, loud, loving family. This woman isn't alone, though, the reality is that all over south Texas and across the border states, immigrants are preparing for an incredibly dangerous journey home for the holidays. The path is long and rough and some may not live and some may not make it back. The Christmas story itself starts much like this, immigrants on a long and dangerous road, preparing for the birth of Christ.

My Christmas list this year includes many things that you can buy in a store, but the truth is that one of the things I want the most is peace, peace for the immigrant, peace for the soldier, peace for the hurting family, peace for those whose hearts ache with lonliness, peace for everyone...

en paz,
jenna

"I have traveled
Many moonless nights
Cold and weary
With a babe inside
And I wonder
What I've done
Holy Father
You have come
And chosen me now
To carry Your Son
I am waiting
In a silent prayer
I am frightened
By the load I bear
In a world as cold as snow
Must I walk this path alone
Be with me now
Be with me now
Breath of Heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven
Light in my darkness
Pour over me
Your holiness
For You are holy
Breath of Heaven
Do you wonder
As you watch my face
If a wiser one
Should have had my place
But I offer all I am
For the mercy of Your plan
Help me be strong
Help me be
Help me
Breath of Heaven
Hold me together
Be forever near me
Breath of Heaven
Breath of Heaven
Light in my darkness
Pour over me Your holiness
For You are holy"

Mary's Song