Breathe
By Magda Rivera Carrillo
We are always left with the paths of resistance and tenderness to face what is coming.
Right now I am processing the fact that I abruptly ended a job and that in the next few days I will have to say goodbye to the girls, boys and teenagers I worked with for a year and three months. I will not go alone. We started and will close this cycle together: Vasti, Claudia, Fernanda, and I in Hermosillo, and my colleagues Izza, Lizeth and Selene, in Nogales, Sonora.
Through the Executive Order of January 20, the U.S. government suspended funding to development agencies worldwide and ordered a 90-day "pause" in their activities and those of implementing partners. This includes La Jugarreta Espacios de Participación A.C. in which I worked as a facilitator of the Psychosocial Attention to Children and teenagers in Human Mobility program, in the shelters of DIF Sonora and the Office of Attention to Migrants.
The State Department's Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration notified UNICEF of the suspension of funds and the stoppage of activities as of January 24, and the latter, in turn, informed the organizations implementing the programs that receive foreign aid, so that as of January 28, the activities of the project that provided accompaniment to unaccompanied children and adolescents in Sonora were suspended from October 2023 to date.
The news shocked me and I did not have much time to react, because not only does it mean the loss of a job, as I said, in an unexpected way, but it also made me very sad to think about the girls, boys and teenagers who will be the main affected by these cruel and inhuman immigration policies, where there is no room for compassion or tenderness.
Trump claims that foreign aid is not aligned with U.S. interests and values. I wonder what values he is referring to, what is the typology of ethics that Trump so strongly advocates?
In my opinion, this is a systematic violation of children's rights, by not considering their best interests. Is it not unethical to exclude unaccompanied children from care, safety, health, education and affection during their transit and in places of refuge, where they wait with uncertainty to be reunited with their families on the other side of the line?
In the context of the immigration crisis, girls, boys and teenagers will be the most affected by deportations, the cancellation of asylum and refugee applications for them and their families, and will be more vulnerable to the risks of crossing a hypervigilated border, with the deployment of 1500 officers in the border strip, among other actions announced by Trump to stop the flow of immigrants who only seek the opportunities that they are denied in our country and in other nations. To this will have to be added the ten thousand elements of the National Guard by Mexico based on the agreements announced yesterday by President Sheinbaum.
Children and adolescents will be the most vulnerable, as they will travel through territories with the presence of cartels, kidnappers, defenseless against sexual abuse and trafficking of children, exposed to snake bites, to die of thirst or heat stroke, to die from the high temperatures of the desert, to drowning or from a bullet through the chest, etc.
They will be the most affected without the psychosocial support provided by organizations such as La Jugarreta in temporary shelters for migrants in Hermosillo and Nogales, Sonora, managing safe and hospitable spaces with the participation of children and migrant families.
But, above all, providing accompaniment and emotional support during their stay in the shelters to lower their stress level due to the migratory mourning that many of them have had adverse experiences that they must process. In addition, it favors the development of social skills, expression and integration of knowledge.
As it happens in nightmares, I hope to wake up from this bad dream, that this sinister crossroads will end and the miracle of returning to the shelters will become as real as the clarity of the morning.
What we know about "the pause
The Executive Order of January 20, makes it clear that President Donald Trump conceives of humanitarian aid as a threat to world peace, so he suspended funding to development agencies such as UN Women, UNDP, UNICEF, among others, setting a 90-day "pause" to "assess program efficiency and consistency with U.S. foreign policy."
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Because it considers that foreign aid is not aligned with the interests of the country it governs and because "in many cases, they are antithetical to U.S. values," and also "serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly opposed to harmonious and stable relations within and between countries." and also "serve to destabilize world peace by promoting ideas in foreign countries that are directly opposed to harmonious and stable relations within and between countries."
Pursuant to the Executive Order on the Reassessment and Realignment of U.S. Foreign Assistance, the Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration of the U.S. Department of State notified UNICEF of the suspension of funding and shutdown of activities effective January 24.
This notice of suspension of funds indicates that "decisions on whether to continue, modify, or terminate the grant(s) will be made after this review."
We will play again
I don't know when, but we will play wolf again, English hide-and-seek, ship sinks, and laughter will fill the courts, the halls, the corridors, the tejabanes and the dining rooms of the hostels, we will sing again "a moler café, a moler café, a moler, a moler, a moler café..." "If your pork gets fat make it thin, don't give it sugar, sauce or bread..."
We will go again to the Cineteca Sonora and MUSAS, we will do new rallies, we will watch movies and eat popcorn, we will tell more stories with puppets, we will paint alebrijes, monsters and hearts on cardboard, and we will stick them on the walls with cinnamon tape.
We will return to bake bread and talk around the fire, we will return to embrace each other to feel the beating of our hearts. We will return to imagine, to laugh, to talk and ask questions, to put together puzzles, to look for the hidden treasure to eat the chocolate coins. We will return to read under the shade of the eucalyptus trees and to eat Hawaiian pizza and write poems and stories.
We are still waiting for the turibus rides, the February 14 get-togethers and the commemoration of the International Women's and Girls' Day, the comic workshops, so many other activities and I am going to be patient so that discouragement does not bring me down, I am going to be fond of myself and take good care of myself, because when I see you again, we will play again.
Winter 2025.
Venues where activities were implemented
Baja California
Sonora
Chihuahua
Mexico City
Chiapas
Guerrero
Michoacán
Tabasco
*B.A. in Communication Sciences, cultural manager. Certified reading mediator of the National Reading Rooms Program of the Fondo de Cultura Económica. She worked for 25 years in public service. She is currently part of Agencia Narrativas, a cultural company dedicated to publishing, communication and cultural management.
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The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of the company. Opinion 51.
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