Preemptive Love Journal, Vol. 6

VOL.

6

A

FIELD

GUIDE

TO

END

WAR

We believe in a love that can change the way things are. A love for all who don’t belong, and all who long for more. For those who look different, love different, pray different. For neighbors, enemies, and ourselves. We believe in going where no one else will go, to love the people we’re afraid to love. To remake our world.

TO END WAR.

2 CHAPTER

One

Two

PROVISIO N

VOCATION

T H E I N - B E T W E E N SPACES Borders are defining points in the lives of many, especially those who seek to cross them in search of safety. p10

A FUTU RE WRITTEN

BY T HE TREES Amber, the fossilized resin of ancient trees, is offering families in southern Mexico an alternative to leaving home. p32

T H E R O A D N O RTH Why families are fleeing… and their treacherous route to the US-Mexico border. p16

A C R I S I S O F S URVIVAL Venezuela was once the wealthiest country in South America. Now it’s the poorest. Here’s why. p18

D R O W N I N G IN H U N G E R N O M ORE Parents in Venezuela will do anything to feed their kids. And we will do anything to help them. p24

THE COM MUNITY THAT FARMS TOGETHER...

Community-based farms in Venezuela and Mexico make it possible for families to stay rather than flee, and for those who’ve already fled to find a new way forward. p38

RISK ING HOPE Life in the world’s second most violent city. p42

JOBS ON WHEELS Refugees have no idea how long they’ll be stuck in Mexico. So we’re bringing jobs to them. p45

Behind the cover

Every story is a window into another person’s life. An opportunity to see beyond the borders that divide us. An invitation to leave behind the way things are and imagine a world where everyone rises.

Illustration by Israel G. Vargas Photograph of US-Mexico border by Getty Images Preemptive Love

CONTENTS

CHAPTER

3 CHAPTER

Three CONNECTION THE KING OF BURÍA An icon of justice emerges from colonial oppression. p50

WHAT’S IN A NAME? What the labels we choose say about us. p54

10 FACTS ABOUT THE UNITED STATES… OF MEXICO There is more to Mexico than you might know. p58

FROM FOOD PACK TO DINNER TABLE Food is about more than filling hungry bellies. It’s about nourishing families. p62

THE PEACEMAKING POWER OF VISUALIZATION Imagine the more beautiful world… into reality. p68

CHAPTER

Four SHOP Refugee-made goods and more. p73 VOL. 6

Preemptive Love

After suffering a stroke, Rafael lost his speech and motor skills. While he lives alone in Venezuela, his ex-wife cares for him daily. Our team brought enough food for a month for Rafael, his ex-wife, and their children.

Program Officer, Latin America RONA L L A BR A D OR,

“Hope reaches tin and cardboard houses, unexpected but timely. Hope crosses unsuspected destinations; hope reaches out to the most vulnerable to bless and sustain.”

CONTRIBUTORS

4

5

HANIEL LOPEZ

GABY COMPRÉS

Gaby is an early childhood educator and a poet from the Dominican Republic. Her most recent collection of poetry, There is a Poem Here, is available on Amazon. Her work is mostly inspired by nature, her own experiences, and her work with children. You can find Gaby and her poetry on Instagram at @gabywrites.

RONAL LABRADOR

A journalist by trade, Ronal has covered hard news in his home country of Venezuela for eighteen years. Ronal uses his deep understanding of the underlying issues behind poverty to document the stories of those we serve with compassion and dignity. For Ronal, faith and family are cornerstones of life.

ALINE MELLO

Aline is an editor, writer, and a 2018 Undocupoets Fellow.

Through her writing she hopes to show how we are all more than the labels placed upon us.

Originally from Brazil, Aline lives in Atlanta, GA.

ILLUSTRATION BY MERCEDES DEBELLARD

ERIN WILSON

Born in Mexico, raised in the US, and now living in Mexico again, Haniel has years of experience serving migrant and refugee populations. He’s taught at several universities in Ciudad Juárez, while also volunteering in the various shelters in the region, helping asylum seekers learn English and connecting them to local resources. Fueled by his passion for serving refugees, Haniel coordinates our programming across Mexico.

Outside of work, he enjoys couch-surfing while traveling the country, playing guitar and singing in his church, and attempting to keep his fishing hobby alive while living in the desert. Haniel is most excited about marrying his smart and beautiful fiancée, Rachel, this spring.

Erin has been part of Preemptive Love for eight years and embodies much of who we are, simply in the way she lives. Deeply loving and kind, Erin sees the best in every person and captures their humanity and unique story through her words and photographs.

ALSO CONTRIBUTED: Rafael Avila, Tammy Burke, Jeremy Courtney, Jessica Courtney, Deborah David, Amanda Donnelly, Jon Hensley, Nathan Holles, Ben Irwin, Ronal Labrador, Kim Mack, Chase Moore, Drew Perlmutter, Katelynn Sigrist, Lindsay Tevebaugh, Saadia Qureshi, Charlene Winfred, Kayla Yiu CREATIVE DIRECTION AND DESIGN: Metaleap Creative Printed in Canada VOL. 6

STORIES 6

ARE Jessica visits an amber mine in southern Mexico.

Preemptive Love

POWERFUL

7

It’s amazing how we are wired to believe the first story we hear, and base most of our beliefs on it. The first stories I heard about Latin America were stories rooted in fear. Growing up near the Texas-Mexico border, almost every story I heard about Mexico involved extreme poverty or terrible things being done to people.

As I grew up, some of these stories changed. Mexico and Latin America became places that needed to be saved from their poverty by my friends and I on spring break mission trips.

When I walk these countries today, I wrestle with those early stories centered around my people versus those people. Every time I’m invited into someone’s home or to a business meeting in a remote village, I’m a little surprised that I am welcome. Who am I to be in these rooms?

What qualifies me to hear the stories and dreams shared? There is only one answer: access.

As I walk in these places today, I walk with different stories. I have listened and learned and come to understand that much of the poverty in these places has been created by unfair trade practices or corrupt land deals. The advantages taken by countries with power, including mine, have contributed to the horrific violence driving families from their homes to the US border today. I walk these gorgeous, fertile lands—and it makes no sense that families should starve in these places. But the stories that have been told and the harm they have caused leave little room for anything more than survival.

In the Preemptive Love Journal’s first issue of 2021, we are telling new stories. Stories of how access can open opportunity and lift people out of the situations that unjust, decades-old policies have created. We hope these stories help you dream with the dreamers and link arms with the planters, so that together we can create a better story. A story that knows we belong to each other. A story that listens to the other, chooses to believe the best, and finds a way forward. A story of partnership and invitation. A story that begins to heal the destructive impacts of decades old warfare and builds a new world, together.

Jessica Courtney, Chief Program Officer & Founder VOL. 6

8

el amor que das

it is the love you give

se convierte en

that becomes

el amor

the love

I N F O R M A T I O N A L M O M E N T l a n g u a g e , p h r a s e , s o m e t h i n g i nteresting

que recibes

you get

y eso se convierte en

& that becomes

el amor

the love

que eres

you are

y eso se convierte en

& that becomes

el amor

the love

que serás

you’ll be

es eso lo que nos sostiene

it is this that holds us

lo que hace que

you&i

tú&yo

together—

estemos unidos

the love

el amor

que te doy

el amor

i give you

the love

you give me

que me das

el amor

love

es

is

el

the

hilo

string

que une nuestros

that tangles our

días&alegrías&palabras

days&joys&words

es ahí donde

it is there

me encontrarás

where you’ll find me

—Gaby Comprés

Preemptive Love

9

PROVISION

CHAPTER

FOOD / MEDICINE / SHELTER / WATER We

go

to

the

epicenters

it’s

the

war.

If

fend

for

themselves,

next

war

is

mend

the

only

way

families

wounds

to

stop

are

forsaken then

already of

of

the

being war

before

violence, the and story written. it’s

because

spread

of

left

to

of

the

We

help

too

late.

VOL. 6

10

THE

IN-BETWEEN Preemptive Love

11

BORDERS ARE DEFINING POINTS IN THE LIVES OF MANY, ESPECIALLY THOSE WHO SEEK TO CROSS THEM IN SEARCH OF SAFETY.

BY ERIN WILSON

I

U LL

STRATI

BY SIMON PRADES

ON

S PAC E S VOL. 6

12

you’d be hard pressed to see any border here at all. Where the last paved road at the edge of the neighborhood turns to gravel, a forest obscures the cement-lined creek that marks the border between Colombia and Venezuela.

Moms and their kids, women traveling alone, and men carrying heavy loads enter the forest, make their way along a narrow switch-back path, cross the creek, and then walk up a steep hill before disappearing between trees on the other side. ¶ In a different place, this path in the forest might simply be a shortcut between home and the grocery store. Here, at this trocha, an unofficial border crossing, it can be a shortcut between starving at home in Venezuela and finding food in Colombia, a short walk away. ¶ Two police officers at the forest opening are the only giveaway that this isn’t an ordinary path. The officers largely ignore the cluster of men waiting to carry heavy goods from one side to the other, in exchange for a little cash.

Instead, they focus on those leaving the forest toward the neighborhood beyond. They check IDs and ask about criminal records, enforcing enough of the law to keep their community safe, but without trying to stop the flow of goods, some of which are the difference between life and death. ¶ The official crossing is a short drive away—four lanes wide and completely empty because of yet another COVID-19 lockdown. It’s the unofficial crossings, like this humid, shady place, where it becomes clear that borders are nothing more than the fluid expression of our current view of who is “us” and who is “them.”

FROM ABOVE,

Preemptive Love

A form of separation

Borders are ideas given tangible form—sometimes a physical barrier built to keep some in and others out, sometimes a colored line traced out on a map.

All borders are porous to some degree. They are less rigid (often nonexistent) for some, including those with wealth, those who look like us, think like us, or share the same economic level as us.

Borders are seen as immovable expressions of power. But in the long view, looking at the same area over hundreds or thousands of years, we see that borders are incredibly fluid. Ideas of belonging and land ownership change over time. Values change. The factors

13

A mom and her daughters walking as they do errands; it’s a normal part of everyday life. For those who live on the Venezuelan-Colombian border, a trip like this often includes walking across an unofficial border crossing.

that make us feel safe change.

Some places like Europe have experimented with open borders. People made a collective decision that those living in neighboring countries share enough common values and economic interests that national borders didn’t need to be as strictly controlled. In other places like the United States, the economic differences with neighbors to the south are perceived as so great, that border barriers are becoming ever harder to cross. The separation between “us” and “them” is strictly enforced.

The language we use

There is a common tale in many US families of an immigrant ancestor, often a grandparent or great-grandparent. Maybe they stowed away on a ship. Maybe they arrived with strangers after their parents died on the long sea crossing from Europe. Perhaps they fled starvation during the potato famine in Ireland, religious persecution in England, or poverty in Italy—

the details differ from one family to the next. But the core narrative remains: they arrived in the US (or what would become the US) with nothing but the clothes on their back, a few dollars in their pocket, and maybe a few words of English.

They worked hard, and provided a good future for their descendants.

That is the core of the “American Dream.”

The passage of time offers the kind of distance that makes these stories what they are: inspiring and, often, sanitized. In their day, those ancestors wouldn’t have been called “immigrants” by their neighbors. They would have been called something less respectable.

Like “alien.”

It’s a powerful word that’s been used by the US government since 1798. A word that provides the most thorough dehumanization— you are so unlike us, we may not even recognize you as fully human.

Truth is, if you were born in the US to a non-indigenous family, chances are good that your ancestors who first came were unwanted by those who arrived earlier.

They were mistrusted and feared.

They were suspected of being takers who had nothing to give. [name changed] fled his home in Honduras, he had a day’s notice—just long enough for his family to pack a few things and say some hasty goodbyes. Gang members showed up at his business the day before—and Honduran gangs don’t offer empty threats.

Fleeing north wasn’t so much a choice to leave as it was a choice to live. He and his family are currently staying in a shelter in northern Mexico. It’s the kind of place where it’s hard to find work, hard to start life over, hard to feel safe.

WHEN RAUL

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14

Should Raul and his family succeed in entering the US, they’ll become “aliens.” They will trade some of their humanity for the hope of safety.

When you can (and can’t) go back

The vast majority of folks who cross borders from Venezuela to other countries in South America, and even Central America and into Mexico and beyond, would rather stay home. They would much prefer to be safe from violence or starvation right where they grew up and have community. But that’s become increasingly impossible for millions of people.

Adriana [name changed] is proud to talk about the small denim factory she used to run back home in Venezuela. Her sewing skills and keen work ethic helped her earn a good living. That was before sanctions were imposed, before the economy collapsed and it became impossible to buy the fabric she needed.

Preemptive Love

Adriana had the talent and customer base, yet she had no choice but to close her business. The economic situation in her country has only become worse since.

Today she occasionally sews pajamas for her customers, much cheaper to buy than jeans. But her customers have to provide the fabric themselves, or they need to pay Adriana to go to neighboring Colombia to make the purchase.

For her, crossing the border isn’t a big deal. She has the proper identification. Millions of Venezuelans lack the papers they need to cross legally. They have very real needs, like access to food and

Heavy fortifications at the border between the US and Mexico are a tangible sign that the “us and them” divide is wide here.

BORDERS ARE NOTHING MORE THAN THE FLUID EXPRESSION OF OUR CURRENT VIEW OF WHO IS “US” AND WHO IS “THEM.”

medicine they can’t get in their communities. So they have to find a different way across.

Trochas, unofficial crossing points often controlled by local gangs and cartels, provide a way across for those unable to cross at checkpoints—but at a cost.

In some cases, the only place to cross is a muddy river. If you can afford it, you pay a little extra to ride a raft across, along with any purchases you made. If not, then you pay for the chance to wade through the river. At other trochas, you cross on a remote footpath. It can be dangerous—and it is never free to cross. If you don’t have money, you’ll be expected to pay with some kind of service. If you’re a young woman, you’ll be expected to pay with your body.

For some, using a trochas is part of their regular commute. In “United Nations speak,” those folks are pendulum migrants, because their migration pattern is back and forth across the border. Yet the millions

of Canadians who live within a short drive of the US border and cross frequently to shop or use US postal services—they’re never referred to as pendulum migrants.

Their relative wealth (and, in many cases, their whiteness) earns them the label “cross-border shoppers” or “daytrippers.”

This border-hopping life can work for those who cross for economic reasons. But not for those experiencing violence. Millions flee home because of gangs, domestic abuse, or, if they’re part of the LGBTQ+ community, threats from family or neighbors. Those who flee violence can’t return home after a brief visit. They travel as far as they need to be safe. For some, that brings them the entire length of continents.

We got to know Eduardo [name changed] at a shelter in Mexico, through a shared love of food.

Pupusas, to be exact—thick griddle cakes often made from cornmeal, and the national dish of El Salvador. While Eduardo is from Honduras, his wife is Salvadoran.

So pupusas are a specialty.

Shortly before they fled, someone tried to kidnap Eduardo’s daughter during her school commute. Convinced there would be more attempts if they stayed, Eduardo and his family left behind the lives they knew, in search of safety. This is the story of millions of families. And like so many others, Eduardo is currently living in uncertainty, unable to return home or move forward.

The price of living in limbo

When you flee home, every experience that made you leave in the first place is magnified until you find a safe place to land. You are

still vulnerable to violence, and without the protection of family or community. You have difficulty finding work. You’re often taken advantage of, treated poorly because you’re so desperate for work, and have little recourse to fight abuse. Your life is controlled by the rules of so many others. During COVID lockdowns, you are quarantined inside a shelter and unable to work. When national laws controlling the acceptance of refugees and migrants change, every plan you had is turned on its head.

Then there is the emotional price for waiting near the border.

In communities like Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, a stone’s throw from El Paso, Texas, the distance between where you are and where you long to be is agonizingly small. A narrow creek, a metal fence, and some border patrol officers exercising power. You can see the place that offers safety, watch residents commute on the highway, see the streetlights come on at dusk. But unless you’re extraordinarily lucky, you will not step foot there. in the lives of those who cross them in search of safety or opportunity—whether they cross back and forth or cross once, never to return. Border fortifications tell some, “You are safe as long as we keep those people over there out,” and others, “You don’t belong here.”

And for those who cross one border (or several), only to be stopped at another, their lives are defined by the in-between.

But these in-between spaces offer an invitation—to press in rather than turn away, to listen to the stories of those whose lives are shaped by a border, and to choose to see them as anything but “alien.”

BORDERS ARE DEFINING POINTS

VOL. 6

O N L Y 3 , 2 1 9 P E O P L E w e r e g r a n t e d a s y l u m t o t h e U S i n 2 0 2 0 — a t i n y f r a c t i o n o f t h e t otal number who sought refuge that year.

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C A

N E W

A R I Z O N A

MEXICALI

TIJUANA

M E X I C O

CIUDAD JUÁREZ

NOGALES

HERMOSILLO

CHIHUAHUA GUERRERO NEGRO

RUTA DEL CENTRO GUAYMAS PUNTA CHIVATO

P

A

TORREÓN

C

I

F

I

S

MA ZATL ÁN

C RUTA DEL PACÍFICO

O

THE

C

E

IRAPU

A

ROAD NORTH

PUERTO VALL ARTA

GUADAL AJARA

N MANZANILLO

IXTAP

SOME WILL RISK ANYTHING, EVEN ONE OF THE WORLD’S MOST HARROWING JOURNEYS, FOR A CHANCE AT SAFETY.

PACIFIC ROUTE (1,600 miles) CENTRAL ROUTE (1,100 miles) GULF ROUTE (750 miles) TRAIN ROUTES including “The Death Train” (El Tren de la Muerte) PREEMPTIVE LOVE LOCATIONS (approximate)

I

LL

USTRATIO

BY DAAN VAN DIJK

N Source: Based on Las rutas de los centroamericanos por México, Rodolfo Casillas, 2008

Others risk their fate on the tren de la muerte (“death train”), so named because of the many migrants injured or killed hopping on and off freight cars. From the southern Mexico border, they must travel anywhere from 750 to 1,600 miles—all for a minuscule chance at asylum in the United States. The dangers they face are many. Injury, robbery, trafficking, assault. Imagine what dangers must have stalked them back home, to be willing to risk such a journey. ¶ Preemptive Love serves at both ends of the border crisis. In southern Mexico, we’re creating jobs to stabilize communities and give people a reason to stay instead of flee. In the north, we provide safety, food, and income for those sheltering within sight of their dreams—just over the US border.

SOME GO ON FOOT.

T E T X EA XS A S

˜ ACUNA ˜ CIUDADCIUDAD ACUNA PIEDRAS PIEDRAS NEGRAS NEGRAS

NUEVONUEVO L AREDO L AREDO

REYNOSA REYNOSA

ALTILLO SALTILLO

MATAMOROS MATAMOROS

MONTERREY MONTERREY

G GU U L L F F RUTA DEL GOLFO RUTA DEL GOLFO

OO F F

M ME E X X I I C C O O

SAN LUIS SANPOTOSÍ LUIS POTOSÍ

MÉRIDA MÉRIDA

UATO IRAPUATO

QUERÉTARO QUERÉTARO

VERACRUZ VERACRUZ

LECHERIA LECHERIA ORIZABA ORIZABA

CHETUMAL CHETUMAL COATZACOALCOS COATZACOALCOS

PAIXTAPA ACAPULCO ACAPULCO

PALENQUE PALENQUE

TENOSIQUE TENOSIQUE IXTEPEC IXTEPEC

B E B L EI LZ E I Z E

ARRIAGA ARRIAGA

TAPACHUL TAPACHUL A A

G U GA UT AE T M EA M L AA L A

H OH NO D NU DR UA RS A S

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CRI Preemptive Love

A of I SIS SURVIVAL 19

Venezuela was once the wealthiest country in South America.

Now it’s the poorest.

Here’s why.

BY CHARLENE WINFRED

I

LL

USTRATIO

BY PATRICK WHITE

N

VOL. 6

V 20

Home to breathtaking landscapes—expansive lakes, towering mountains, the world’s tallest waterfall, sun-drenched beaches, and waters every shade of heavenly blue—it has all the trappings of a paradise. Venezuela gave the world fashion designer Carolina Herrera, filmmaker Sebastian Gutierrez, revolutionary leader Simón Bolivar, multiple beauty pageant winners, and the sublime magic of writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez.

But Venezuela has been making headlines for entirely different reasons in recent years: it is currently home to one of the world’s most devastating humanitarian crises.

Three out of every four people here do not get enough to eat. A full third of the population is facing imminent hunger. Most of the country lives below the poverty line, and almost a quarter have fled Venezuela to look for work, to try and give their families a shot at escaping crushing hardship.

That was all before COVID-19. Once the pandemic hit, work dried up all over the world, and there was no more money for emigrants to send home.

There is no food. No clean water in some cities. No healthcare. No medicine, no fuel, and no power. This is the reality of life in Venezuela, a country with the world’s largest known oil reserves.

So how did the richest country in South America become the most impoverished?

ENEZUELA IS STUNNING.

An oil-fueled transformation

Fast Facts OFFICIAL NAME:

Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela / República Bolivariana de Venezuela POPULATION: 28m CAPITAL: Caracas GOVERNMENT:

Federal presidential republic LANGUAGES: Spanish (official), and many indigenous dialects CURRENCY: Bolívar soberano Preemptive Love

The history of Venezuela is riddled with conflict. The war for independence that freed Venezuela from its Spanish colonizers in the early 19th century also left the country in shreds. This legacy of devastation, political turmoil, and poverty was evident until the 1920s: Venezuela was a poor, mostly agricultural country.

That was a century ago. In 1922, vast underground reservoirs of “black gold” were found under Lake Maracaibo, and the country’s fortunes changed in the blink of an eye. In the span of a mere decade, oil was powering most of Venezuela’s economy. By 1935, it was the world’s leading exporter of oil, and it was importing basic food items instead of producing them.

Oil was the proverbial basket that Venezuela put all its eggs into.

But like a heartbreaking number of countries blessed with valuable mineral wealth—fossil fuels, gold, diamonds, and other sought-after riches—Venezuela succumbed to the resource curse.

The US comes knocking

When oil production got underway in Venezuela, the United States was one of the first foreign investors to come knocking.

As oil poured out of Venezuelan pumps, US oil companies enjoyed generous concessions from the Venezuelan government, and the relationship between the two countries blossomed. By the 1930s, three foreign companies, including two from the US, controlled almost all of Venezuela’s oil production. Oil also brought Venezuela closer to the US politically, economically, and culturally.

As the effects of the Cuban Revolution rippled through South and Central America in the late 1950s and 60s, Venezuela—having just formed its first civilian government in 1958—was favorably regarded by the US as a democratic, liberal oasis.

Cracks emerge

The relationship between Venezuela and the US began to cool starting in the late 1990s, when the left-wing nationalist Hugo Chavez was elected to power.

An admirer of Cuba’s revolutionary movement, Chavez took his country in a direction the US didn’t regard as friendly, including his move to nationalize the oil industry in order to reclaim profits from foreign companies.

Hugo Chavez was an immensely popular president, especially among the rural poor, who benefited enormously from the massive social programs he presided over—despite concerns about governance, fiscal management, and rising debt levels from unrestrained spending. His defiance of the US was widely supported by the Venezuelan pop-

ulation, as well as other countries in the region.

In 2010, Venezuela’s fortunes changed again. Poverty, inflation, and chronic shortages set in, leaving a growing number of Venezuelans without basic necessities like food, medicine, electricity, and fuel.

Beginning in 2015, the Obama administration imposed sanctions designed to force a change in the government of Venezuela. The US and its allies imposed even farther-reaching sanctions in 2017 under President Trump, and two years later declared an embargo.

Sanctions did not cause Venezuela’s collapse. But they made it even harder for the country to dig

OIL WAS THE PROVERBIAL BASKET THAT VENEZUELA PUT ALL ITS EGGS INTO.

its way out—and the ones who suffer most are the families who go hungry, day after day after day.

The ban on transactions with Venezuela, and freezing of Venezuelan government assets in the US, including payments to its nationalized oil company, further devastated the country.

Other nations who trade with Venezuela run the risk of being likewise sanctioned by the US. This effectively shuts down Venezuela’s trade with most of the major players in the global economy. Imports of food and medicine, which the country relies on for survival, have declined sharply.

Not that most people can afford VOL. 6

1 1 % O F V E N E Z U E L A N S h a v e n o w a t e r s e r v i c e a t all.

21

22 them, since hyperinflation set in, starting in 2016.

The embargo has unleashed further catastrophe on the Venezuelan people, and we are seeing it unfold today.

The situation today

Venezuelans are not just facing one crisis, but several interlocking crises, all at once. It’s hard to imagine so much hardship could be meted out on one country—let alone that one country could survive it all.

HYPERINFLATION

In 2014, oil prices crashed, and Venezuela’s reserves took a hit, as did the generous social programs that all this oil money made possible. At the same time, the price of imported goods—which the country depends on to survive—rose.

The government began printing more money to buy basics, starting a vicious cycle of inflation. With an astronomical rise in prices almost daily, and wages—already low given the depressed economy—staying the same, life’s essentials are out of reach for most families here.

HUNGER

In 2020, a dozen eggs set a family back about $10—which is pretty expensive, even for a typical US family’s income. In Venezuela, the average wage was just 72 cents a day at the time—assuming you could find a paying job.

The scale of hunger in Venezuela is simply staggering. Three out of four families go hungry because they literally cannot afford to eat. When more sanctions were imposed in 2017, one study found that 75 percent of the population had lost an average 19 pounds (8.7 kg) per person. Close to one in five children under 5 years old Preemptive Love

Sanctions: What and Why Sanctions are a set of economic punishments placed on a country or specific individuals by other countries. They are most commonly imposed through trade barriers, taxes on imports and exports, and restrictions on a range of financial transactions.

Proponents of sanctions say they can be used to force a change in behavior by governments. Critics argue sanctions do little to deter adversarial governments, and instead have devastating consequences on the country’s economy and its people.

suffer malnutrition, and increasing numbers are dying of hunger.

WATER

The Resource Curse Some economists use the term "resource curse" to describe countries that are rich in valuable mineral wealth but, for a variety of reasons, fail to transform that wealth into sustainable economies and flourishing societies. Having so much natural wealth should lead to riches beyond imagination, but for many countries, it often leads to war, instability, and environmental devastation.

In late 2020, The New York Times reported on the dire lack of clean water facing most Venezuelans.

Sanitation and hygiene are impossible when there is no water to flush toilets, wash hands, or keep the home clean to prevent sickness.

Six times as many babies die from diarrhea than did over a decade ago. Most of the country, 86 percent, doesn’t have reliable water.

In parts of the country where we work, water comes just once a month through the taps, so families have to fill any container they have before the flow is cut off. In some cases, the taps might run a couple of hours before they go dry for another month. For those who can scrape together enough money to buy clean water, there is little available. Everyone is thirsty.

HEALTHCARE

Venezuela’s healthcare system has collapsed. Sanctions and skyrocketing prices make medicine hard

SANCTIONS DID NOT CAUSE VENEZUELA’S COLLAPSE. BUT THEY MADE IT EVEN HARDER FOR THE COUNTRY TO DIG ITS WAY OUT.

zuela, as people flee violence and economic collapse.

According to the UN, more than 6.5 million people—nearly a quarter of the entire population— are believed to have fled home by the end of 2020, an unthinkable number for a country not at war.

Many of those who left did so to find work, so they could send money back to some two million households—roughly a third of the country—to live.

THE EVER-PRESENT PANDEMIC

to come by, unsurprisingly. The hospitals that are still operating do so at a fraction of their former capacity, and many without reliable power and water.

COVID has become another in a line of infectious diseases like measles, tuberculosis, and diphtheria that are on the rise due to failing nutrition and a lack of resources for prevention and treatment.

FUEL AND ELECTRICITY SHORTAGES

Long periods of blackout—leaving large swaths of the country in the dark, without phone and data services—have become increasingly common the last few years, as Venezuela’s infrastructure fails.

Oil production is shuddering to a halt as the US embargo stifles demand for Venezuelan oil. People queue for hours, if not days, to find fuel for their vehicles. The price of fuel drives the price of everything else up—transportation, food, water.

AN EXODUS OF VENEZUELANS

Poverty and hunger are causing a huge increase in crime and social unrest. They have also triggered a massive migration out of Vene-

COVID is making everything much, much worse. Lockdowns to halt the spread of the virus have hit economies all over the world.

But for Venezuela, it has been a wrecking blow inside existing devastation.

With COVID containment measures in place everywhere, jobs are disappearing and businesses are closing. More than half the vital remittances going into Venezuela have stopped. For two million households, a final lifeline has been cut off.

What can we do?

The scale and depth of the grinding poverty affecting ordinary Venezuelans can seem insurmountable to those of us who rarely have to worry about life’s basic necessities.

But in the years that we’ve been serving communities who’ve experienced war and trauma, we learned never to underestimate these friends—and never to count them out. We have also learned that people know the solution to their problems.

Our friends in Venezuela are no different. They know what they need. They need food for their tables and pantries, so they don't have to worry about the next meal.

They need medicine and healthcare, so they don't have to buy it on the black market or, worse, go completely without.

That’s why in 2020, we distributed food packs: 187,500 meals, for 6,250 people

Because fuel is so scarce in Venezuela, much of the distributing was done on foot. Our teams carried packs on their backs, and used wheelbarrows or push carts to walk food to families. They delivered precious food at considerable danger to themselves, in places where violence is rife—dodging gangs and hungry mobs, working around curfews.

Just over the border in Colombia, we ensured Venezuelan migrants got safe, socially-distanced medical care that most could not afford:

Medical care, personal protective equipment, hand washing supplies, and education, for 6,966 people

But the people of Venezuela will need much more in the days, months, and years to come, as shifting political, economic, and social circumstances amid the COVID pandemic make uncertainty the only certainty.

So we are continuing to work to ensure the most marginalized communities have access to the basics: food, water, and healthcare.

We continue to listen closely to the wisdom that only those living in this desperate need possess.

We remain on the ground in Venezuela, standing alongside our friends, working so their communities will rise again.

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I n 2 0 2 1 , U S P r e s i d e n t B i d e n g r a n t e d T E M P O R A R Y P R O T E C T E D S T A T U S t o V e n e z u e l a n s l i v i n g in the US, protecti ng them from deportation.

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D R O W N 24

2kg pasta

2L cooking oil

US

2kg flour

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ON BY FRÉDÉRIQUE VERNILLET

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I N

1 can sardines

400g green beans

500g black turtle beans

Preemptive Love

N O

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I N G 1kg powder milk

PARENTS IN VENEZUELA WILL DO ANYTHING TO FEED THEIR KIDS. AND WE WILL DO ANYTHING TO HELP THEM.

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500g butter

3kg sugar

BY ERIN WILSON, RONAL L ABRADOR

U N G E R 1 carton eggs

5kg pancake (tortilla) mix

O R E

6kg rice

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“ N OBODY KNOWS how difficult this is, how

difficult it is to go out and beg for food. But even more difficult is that my family goes to bed without eating anything for a whole day.” ¶ We arrived at Aurora’s door at 6:00 pm, when she would normally prepare the daily meal for her grandchildren, if they had food. We didn’t interrupt her cooking—they had no food, and it had been more than a day since they had eaten anything. The longest Aurora and her grandchildren have gone between meals is three days. ¶ “Every time they ask me [for food] and I don't have anything, I feel like I’m drowning."

Señor Marcial, 80, stands outside his home in Venezuela. BOTTOM: A family receives a month’s supply of food. RIGHT: Aurora’s youngest grandchild, Andrea, during a food distribution.

TOP:

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D u e t o h y p e r i n f l a t i o n , V E N E Z U E L A N C U R R E N C Y H A S B E E N R E P R I N T E D T W I C E in the last four years.

28 “When the sun comes up, I go for a walk. I have a hard time because of all the illnesses I suffer from, but God gives me strength because I don’t want my grandchildren to suffer. I always go out to the street to look for someone to help me, someone to bless me with a little flour, a little rice, a little sugar. I look for small portions.”

Aurora sobbed as she explained how she spends her days. Even in her situation of extreme poverty, she doesn’t want to be a burden to her neighbors.

Studies suggest that a family

Preemptive Love

of five in Venezuela would need to make a minimum of $250 a month to cover food and living expenses. Many of the families we serve earn a monthly wage of $2.

It is impossible for them to close this gap themselves.

“Thank you, thank you!”

Gratitude came spilling out of Aurora’s grandchildren before they even had the chance to look through everything included in their family’s food pack. For children used to chronic hunger, it can be shocking to see so much food at once. Just having a choice,

Fuel is so expensive in Venezuela, due to the ongoing economic crisis, that our teams often deliver food on foot by wheelbarrow, handcart, or whatever means they can.

ILLUSTRATION BY MERCEDES DEBELLARD

29

eed hungry families.

F Give today.

Living Her Last Days in Peace It was Hermilda’s dream to have access to a few weeks’ worth of food, to be free from the worry of starving.

“I ask God to send me his help. I know God will help me very soon.”

When we arrive on the doorstep, ready to help, often we meet people having their very worst day ever. It’s fair to say that Hermilda experienced her very worst day ever, every day, for 10 years.

We met her at her home in Venezuela. She was 80 years old and had been a widow for the past 10. “My husband, my best friend—he died in a hospital because there was no medicine. I had to sell everything to save him, but I couldn’t. I sold my clothes, I sold a fridge, and I couldn’t save him.”

Hermilda gave everything she had to save her husband. But in the end, she left the hospital empty.

Because of the kindness of neighbors, she was able to eat a few times a week. And then there was her monthly government pension: $2.14. Per month.

With that, she

could buy a few pieces of bread and six eggs.

Hermilda’s home—hardly a home after the roof blew off and she had to sleep on a tarp-covered couch—didn’t provide much comfort.

She was barely able to survive.

“What are your hopes, Hermilda?” we asked at our first meeting.

“I would feel really peaceful and happy if I had some food for every day, for several weeks.”

We started planning quickly how to help our new friend. Getting food to Hermilda was a top priority, and soon our team had the great joy to bring Hermilda enough to food to last well over a month. Enough to free her mind from worry.

“Hey…” It was a latenight message from Rafael, one of our teammates in Latin America.

“Hermilda… she

passed away today.”

Just one day after receiving her food parcel, Hermilda died.

The illness she struggled with for so long finally won over her tired body. Our team was heartbroken.

At the same time, there was an overwhelming sense of gratitude.

Hermilda lived her last days knowing she was loved and cared for. She knew we listened and came back to help. She knew she wouldn’t go hungry—her dream of having weeks of food came true.

Sometimes we help people in ways that change the course of their entire lives. Others, we know only for a short time—and we are the ones whose lives are changed.

Together we gave a precious woman her greatest dream.

Peace and grace to you, Hermilda.

You were loved.

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options of what to eat first, can be overwhelming.

“For me?” said 8-year-old María, when she saw the bags of sugar and powdered milk. Humberto, 11, was excited too. “Flour for tortillas!”

Two-year old Andrea is still too young to understand the impact of the moment, but for Aurora, this food delivery relieved some of the anxiety she feels for her granddaughter. In her young life, Andrea has never had enough to eat, and because of that, she hasn’t grown properly. There is no money to buy milk, so little Andrea’s meals consist of a bottle full of the water used to cook rice or pasta. It fills her belly for a few hours, but offers little nutrition.

Now she has food to fill her belly and strengthen her body.

Monthly food packs are back-breaking to deliver. Gasoline is nearly impossible to find, and extremely expensive, but our distribution teams are so committed to put food into the hands of their neighbors, they deliver it by foot. These distributions are driven by love.

Monthly packs are full of commonly used, shelf-stable foods.

Staples like flour, sugar, powdered milk, and drinking water, and protein-rich foods like canned tuna and ham, and eggs.

For families like Aurora’s, these packs are a lifesaver in more ways than one. They provide essential nutrition, yes. But they also provide families tangible evidence that they matter, they are loved, and they are not forgotten by a world often silent about their plight.

30

tienes permiso

you are allowed

para crecer,

to grow,

para florecer,

to bloom,

para cambiar:

to change,

¿acaso no es de eso que se trata estar vivo?

isn’t that what life is for?

el tiempo no pasa en vano.

time does not pass by in vain.

el tiempo enreda sus dedos entre tu pelo,

time tangles its fingers through your hair

une sus manos con las tuyas

threads them between yours

esperando no dejarte igual,

hoping not to leave you untouched,

esperando cambiarte.

unchanged.

no dudes

do not ask

si aquí hay lugar para ti

if there is room for you

todo a tu alrededor te pertenece

everything here to you belongs

todos los colores son tuyos para pintar

every color is for you to paint with

todo aquello que quieres ser ya lo eres

everything you can be you already are

y no tienes que ser quien eras.

and you do not have to be who you were.

—Gaby Comprés

Preemptive Love

VOCATION

CHAPTER

DIGI T A L W O R K / A G R I C U L T U R E / S M A L L B U S I N E S S / M A K E R S Refugees They

and are

everything We start the

partner new jobs

war-torn

families

courageous they with

need them

businesses. they

need,

and inside to

are

than

resourceful. of

risk

to

new when of

victims.

They

them

learn

Because the

more

have

flourish. skills

people violence

and have fades.

32

A

FUTURE WRITTEN by the

TREES AMBER, THE FOSSILIZED RESIN OF ANCIENT TREES, IS OFFERING FAMILIES IN SOUTHERN MEXICO AN ALTERNATIVE TO LEAVING HOME.

BY ERIN WILSON

OT

OGRAP

HY BY RYAN HAYSLIP

PH

Preemptive Love

ST

YLING

BY TAMARA CONNOR

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34

G

at his bench, grooves worn into the dark wood top from hours of refining amber and silver with files, saws, and torches. After we watch for a while, daylight slowly fading as the sun slips behind the mountains of southern Mexico, Gabriel turns toward us. He’s ready for a challenge. We sketch out a rough shape on a piece of paper—an idea to try for a new product. Gabriel turns back to his bench and goes to work. ¶ The sound of his tools is drowned out by loud music and competing conversations—Gabriel’s shop is on a thin slip of land sandwiched between neighborhood bars.

A stray puppy, hens, a very confident rooster, family, and friends all mill around this small patch of muddy ground. Gabriel’s workbench is an island of order in the midst of chaos.

This is where raw materials, skill, and ideas are turned into wearable art. ¶ When Gabriel sets down his tools, he hands us a prototype for a new piece of jewelry. He is an artist, unique.

And at the same time, Gabriel is very typical of this community. More than half the jobs in this place are reliant on a single finite resource: amber.

ABRIEL WORKS QUICKLY

Helping families stay home, together

Learn more about our makers around the world and shop their handmade products.

Preemptive Love

Just as Gabriel’s workbench is an island of sorts, the same can be said of where he lives. Tens of thousands of migrants from South and Central America flow past this region as they make their way north to the US-Mexico border.

Most migrants are searching for safety. Some for opportunity. And while there are some who find what they need along the way, many travel until they reach the hard-stop border of what they believe is their promised land: the United States of America.

It’s difficult for Gabriel and members of his community to stay, too. Work is hard to find. Most children live far from the nearest high school, so their formal education ends at middle school. This winter, twenty families lost their homes to floods. Those same floods destroyed several amber mines, dramatically reducing the amount of raw material available to work with, which in turn reduced profits for everyone in the industry, from miners to jewelry creators. Parents worry about their children’s futures—if it’s this hard to make a living now, what hope do their children have?

When resources are scarce, how does a community like this stay intact? How do you stay home? How do husbands and sons desperate to support their families resist joining the flow of migrants heading north to

A m b e r h a s b e e n u s e d t o m a k e j e w e l r y S I N C E 1 1 , 0 0 0 BCE.

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the US border, deepening an already serious humanitarian crisis?

Or to put it another way: what does it look like to stop the next crisis before it starts?

In the mountains of southern Mexico, it looks like helping families see past a finite present, in order to create an infinite future.

Preemptive Love

Gambling for amber

We wind our way along curvy mountain roads at first light. The world seems blue, the air thick with fog. Dotted along the roadside, we pass men emerging from the fog, walking to work with the traditional machete strapped to their backs. Each makes his way

up a steep mountainside to a cleft in the rock, where he pays the landowner each month for the privilege of mining here.

Mining for amber is like gambling, but with slightly better odds. A miner might work months without a single find.

But one decent find can feed his

family until his next success, if he’s lucky. Men from their twenties to their sixties spend their days bent over in hot, humid caves, wielding 20-pound hammers and chisels as long as your forearm—trying to find a pocket of translucent rock.

The amber here comes from fossilized tree resin, 25 million years old. It is the tangible evidence of a response to trauma. Trees sometimes sustain injuries, and when these ancient trees were wounded, they released resin to protect the injured area. The trees themselves have long since returned to earth.

But seams of preserved resin, hardened over time, remain.

Recent landslides, the same that destroyed 20 local homes, also destroyed many of the mines in the area. Massive sections of mountain (and rich seams) were sent down steep slopes, creating deep piles of mud and rock, forever changing the environment. It was a devastating loss for men who had invested weeks or months chiseling through a section of mountain that is now gone.

The miners will start again.

They have to—this is what they know how to do. They will return to the community, and ask for permission to mine somewhere else.

That is the first step for any miner.

They must ask permission of a landowner, and pay for the right to work on their land. Then they will carry their tools up a steep mountain face, and carry on the slow work of revealing what has been hidden inside rock for so long.

Craft rooted in relationship

Luz stands as she works, packing up orders of beautiful amber jewelry.

Her husband Hosue (pronounced ho-SWAY) sits nearby, polishing

WE SKETCH OUT A ROUGH SHAPE ON A PIECE OF PAPER— AN IDEA TO TRY FOR A NEW PRODUCT. GABRIEL TURNS BACK TO HIS BENCH AND GOES TO WORK.

pieces of amber on a soft, outgrown onesie. Their children are nearby too, curiosity bringing them close to listen to the conversation.

Every piece that Luz uses to create a necklace, bracelet, or earring is worked by hand, one at a time. Each piece is held to the light, and examined closely to see how it should be cut. It is then shaped and polished—again by hand—and crafted into wearable art. It is a labor of love passed down from her grandmother, one of the pioneers in jewelry making in this area.

Every part of the process of crafting with amber is rooted in relationships. Miners must maintain good relationships with their community in order to secure permission to work. Jewelry makers rely on a network of relationships to source raw materials and identify sales opportunities.

Luz and Hosue depend on community connections for their business. They spend their income locally, investing in the economy where they live. For this couple, it was only natural they would pour

part of their income back into their community at a time of need.

Right after the recent landslide that caused so much devastation, Luz and Hosue packed a pickup truck with groceries and visited neighbors in need. When it mattered most, they showed their neighbors they weren’t alone.

Building a future, right where they are

Leaning into relationships and listening to our friends here in southern Mexico—that’s what gives us hope for the future of this community. We visit makers and ask what they want for their future, for their children. We hear their desire to stay among their beautiful mountains. But we also hear the uncertainty, the fear that a town so dependent on a single resource won’t be able to sustain itself forever.

They’re right, of course. Just as oil-rich, oil-dependent countries like Venezuela have learned, there needs to be a plan for when the bottom falls out. And spending time with these makers, in their homes and at their workbenches, seeing their creativity and skill, we are hopeful they will continue to build a future for their families, right where they are. Whether through amber or other resources and possibilities around them they have yet to explore.

What does it look like to create a world where we stop the next crisis before it starts?

Sometimes the first step looks like handmade jewelry crafted in the mountains of southern Mexico by families who won’t become the next wave of migrants at the US-Mexico border, because they already have what they need— right where they are.

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C h i a p a s , M e x i c o ’ s s o u t h e r n m o s t s t a t e , h a s t h e L A R G E S T P E R C A P I T A I N D I G E NOUS POPULATION in the country.

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The Community That Farms Together...

BY ERIN WILSON

COMMUNIT Y-BASED FARMS IN VENEZUELA AND ME XICO MAKE IT POSSIBLE FOR F A M I L I E S TO S TAY R ATHER THAN FLEE, AND FOR THOSE WHO’VE ALREADY FLED TO FIND A NEW WAY FORWARD. VOL. 6

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has dreamed of this for years. It’s painful to watch his community in western Venezuela go hungry. It’s painful to see so many industrial jobs lost to a broken economy, impacting families who already lost the knowledge of how to grow their own food to modern industry.

Standing in a big hall, socially distanced and masked, Pastor William laid out one of his dreams: a small farm to feed his community. Chickens for meat and eggs, to provide an important source of protein.

Showing children how to grow plants at home, so they can teach their families. A way to sell surplus crops, to make the project self-sustaining.

Pastor William has thought through every detail.

There was just one thing holding him back: money. He couldn’t find anyone willing to partner with him, to make this dream come true, so families can stay home, instead of leaving the country to escape hunger.

When you spend time listening—sitting down with people, hearing their stories—you learn about more than their need. You hear a way forward. Because the truth is, most people don’t need you to find one for them. They already have it. What they need is a partner to take those first steps with them.

So we listen to their vision, to their strategy for bringing it to life. Then we step in to help realize it.

ASTOR WILLIAM

W

hunger in Venezuela— and nearly all households report some level of food insecurity, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)—some of the reasons are easy enough to grasp. The long-term economic crisis and staggering inflation, for example. But other factors are less obvious. Large-scale farming, which is heavily dependent on oil, has ground to a halt because of international sanctions. And after all, it’s impossible to buy food that was never grown in the first place.

Industrial farming is no answer to the hunger crisis in Venezuela, but a community farm in a rural area holds a lot of hope. A pilot project with quick-growing crops like yuca (you may know it as cassava or manioc) will provide nutrition, as well as a chance to troubleshoot problems before expanding.

This is only a first step for families in Venezuela.

Help families stay and thrive—right where they are.

Give monthly.

Preemptive Love

M

HEN YOU THINK ABOUT

2,700 miles north, along the US-Mexico border, the need is different.

Church- and government-run shelters have made room for thousands of refugees in urban neighborhoods. Whenever the crisis peaks, church ORE THAN

halls, sanctuaries, and other spaces are filled with sleeping mats to make temporary shelters. Some churches committed to helping until more permanent solutions can be found. These faith communities are rich in hospitality, but unequipped to take on the financial burden alone.

Two of the largest expenses are food and utilities. Urban churches don’t have fields to grow crops, but nearly every property has space somewhere. At two shelters in Juárez, we've piloted both small and large-scale solutions that can meet a range of needs.

A rooftop greenhouse on what was once an underutilized flat roof is now the perfect spot to grow tomatoes at one church property. The weather in Juárez can be both cold and windy—so the protection of

41

IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO BUY FOOD THAT WAS NEVER GROWN IN THE FIRST PLACE.

a greenhouse is necessary. Raised beds and a drip irrigation system give seedlings a place to grow.

Some of the shelter residents will learn how to care for the plants, offering new skills, a source of income, and a welcome diversion.

When the tomatoes are ready for harvest, some will become part of meals at the shelter. Some will end up in nearby restaurants that prize local produce. Profits from the sales will help maintain the greenhouse and cover some of the shelter’s other expenses.

At a second church-run shelter, a more ambitious project has been tested. Here, a closed-loop ecosystem including a greenhouse, fish ponds, rabbit hutches, and chicken coops connected by an irrigation system will provide a wider variety of foods. This innovative urban

farm will not only produce needed food for shelter residents, but also paid employment for a handful of them, as well as income for the whole shelter, to keep the project running and ultimately help pay for the operating costs of the shelter itself.

Sustainable agriculture can be a solution so families in Venezuela don’t have to flee home, and so those who’ve already fled, like those at the US-Mexico border, don’t have to wait helplessly for the next crisis. Agriculture can provide essential nutrition, job skills, and income. But it can also provide a chance for a different kind of interaction between the host community and migrants— one where everyone is humanized, where trust is built, and where the risk of violence is decreased.

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Preemptive Love

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L I F E I N T H E WO R L D’ S S ECO N D M OST V I O L E NT C I T Y

BY KIM MACK, HANIEL LOPEZ, CHARLENE WINFRED

C

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is a complicated city. Tucked against the curve of the Rio Grande River separating Mexico from the United States, this borderplex city is one of the largest in Mexico. It’s a hub for numerous industries. It’s also an epicenter for the asylum seeker crisis along the US-Mexico border.

Over the past few years, Juárez has seen an influx of migrants hoping for their chance at asylum across the border in the United States. Caravans of people—sometimes thousands in number—arrive desperate and hopeful. Many come from the Northern Triangle of Central America— Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. But others come across oceans, too, from the Caribbean, Ethiopia, Uganda, Cameroon, and even Syria.

Ever since 2019 when the US implemented its Migrant Protection Protocols—otherwise known as the “Remain in Mexico” policy—those seeking refuge have been stuck in a kind of limbo, forced to wait months or even years in places like Juárez, while their cases wind their way through the US legal system. This process, already torturously slow, ground to a complete halt because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Even now, with a new administration vowing to unwind the policies of its predecessor, it’s unclear what, if any, impact doing so will have for the tens of thousands already waiting here.

So what kind of life do asylum seekers find in Juárez?

Locals describe Juárez as full of people who are hard-working, deeply committed to providing for their families. Many work extra shifts so they can take care of their families and send money to loved ones in other places. Juárez has taken care of the many thousands who have come to IUDAD JUÁREZ

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the border, setting up shelters and providing food and other help for those who wait.

But Juárez is also one of the most dangerous cities in the world—and asylum seekers are among the most vulnerable. Drug cartels and gangs prey on migrants, recruiting them into their ranks because, to them, they are dispensable. Migrants join because they need a job. Drugs and gangs are often the easiest and sometimes the only route open to them. But with the rise of drugs and gangs, so, too, comes a rise in crime and corruption. Since 2018, more than 20,000 people have disappeared in Mexico’s drug war.

Friends living in Juárez say Preemptive Love

FOR MANY MIGRANTS, THE HOPE OF A JOB IS JUST AS CLOSE, YET JUST AS PAINSTAKINGLY OUT OF REACH, AS THE BORDER THEY WISH TO CROSS.

they are always looking over their shoulders, always watching for danger. The general atmosphere is tense, on edge. During the COVID lockdowns, murders in Juárez rose 15 percent. Women are especially at risk—in the last five years, femicide (the murder of women simply because they are women) has risen 137 percent across Mexico.

It’s even more dangerous for those who belong to the LGBTQ+ community. A recent study found that LGBTQ+ migrants are 97 times more likely to experience sexual abuse at border detention centers. These friends are often fleeing because of sexual assault and violence back home, yet they are no safer in Mexico while they

wait to cross the border. In 2019, murders of LGBTQ+ individuals increased 27 percent from the previous year. LGBTQ+ asylum seekers are less likely to be employed, they have a harder time finding shelter, and they’re at greater risk of violence than any other group.

For migrants desperate for a new future, Juárez is a destination of hope, what many pray will be a short stop on their way to the United States. But like so many things in life, it’s never that easy.

Juárez is gritty and raw—full of seen and unseen dangers and risks.

For migrants who arrive ready to cross, Juárez becomes the home they never wanted, offering a cruel view of the United States with no way to get there.

Jobs are plentiful in Juárez, but they are out of reach to many asylum seekers, who need authorization to work in Mexico. Even if they get their hands on a permit, even if they find a job—that means venturing out of the relative safety of their shelters with a target on their backs because of their asylum-seeking status, their gender, their orientation, or all three.

For many migrants, the hope of a job is just as close, yet just as painstakingly out of reach, as the border they wish to cross.

What these friends need is a way to work—a future that does not stop at the walls of their shelter or a border they cannot cross.

A way for the most vulnerable— including women and members of the LGBTQ+ community—to earn an income, to provide for themselves and their families.

A chance to start building the life they’ve dreamed of, right where they are.

Even right on the borders of their dream.

JOBS ON WHEELS REFUGEES HAVE NO IDEA HOW LONG THEY’LL BE STUCK IN MEXICO. SO WE’RE BRINGING JOBS TO THEM.

BY ERIN WILSON

Driving along the southern section of El Paso’s Interstate 375, snugged up against the Rio Grande River, the Mexican city of Juárez is on full display. Homes and businesses cover the city’s hills, and signs in Spanish and English give hints to the cross-border existence lived by many of its residents.

For the local population, Juárez is their chosen home. Perhaps families stay because of generational ties, or the plentiful jobs at US-owned factories. For those living here because they were displaced by violence elsewhere, time spent in Juárez is something like a penance—the price they pay for a chance at entry into the United States.

Refugees and migrants have no idea how long they’ll be in Juárez—months or years. They can’t go forward. They can’t go back home. And because of COVID-19, they can’t even leave their shelters to find work. So we are bringing opportunity to them.

We’re building a mobile tech hub, which will create jobs for refugees living in border shelters, so they don’t have to risk kidnapping and assault in a volatile city to find work. It will provide needed windows of stability for those tossed by every rumor of change in US immigration policy. It will offer compact modules of training and coaching, equipping participants with skills they need to secure good jobs, without requiring long-term commitments. And it will open the door to a global, digital marketplace—and with it, opportunities that can withstand upheaval, displacement, or disease.

IT’S QUITE PICTURESQUE, REALLY.

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M o s t j o b op p o r t u n i t i e s i n J u á r e z a r e a t t h e m o r e t h a n 3 0 0 M A Q U I L A D ORAS, or assembly p lants.

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46 A game-changing solution,

In 2017, we launched our first tech hubs in Iraq to provide training, coaching, and microwork opportunities for Syrian refugees, Iraqis displaced in their own country, and vulnerable members of local communities. And it worked.

Our tech hubs have equipped nearly 3,000 young adults so far.

Many workers see their earnings increase by an average 14.7x in the first six months. More than nine in 10 say they feel a sense of control over their own future. Nearly the same number say their families are more secure as a result.

The needs are similar along the US-Mexico border. But the crisis here requires a dynamic, adaptable solution. One that meets the immediate need of security for refugees, while providing the unique practicality of a mobile classroom.

For some, a place in this program will open the door to paid projects with international clients.

For others, the opportunity to study digital accounting will position them with skills missing from so many communities across the globe, where business records are still kept on paper ledgers, and the evidence of profits and lines of credit can be lost in a puff of smoke.

For everyone who joins our tech bus and learns basic computer and job-finding skills, they will go forward with the tools they need to support their families, no matter where in the world they land.

INSIDE THE TECH BUS

Recommissioning the future

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Repurposed school buses are a fixture in Mexican culture. Decommissioned in the US and shipped south, they provide a relatively affordable transportation option. In many communities, they are used

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adapted

Inside, the tech bus will include several workstations for asylum seekers to study accounting and IT, hone their job-finding skills, and earn income doing microwork without leaving the safety of their shelter grounds.

47 Solar panels will make the most of the abundant sunshine in Juárez to power the tech bus as it travels from shelter to shelter.

to transport employees to jobs in factories. For our mobile tech hub, a repurposed school bus will be used to safely bring opportunity to refugees and migrants, where they are sheltering.

The renovation process is driven by local talent. Cleaning and repainting the bus, fitting it with electricity and work stations, installing safety features such as locks and fire extinguishers—these tasks are all being done by those who call Juárez home.

A school bus transformed into a mobile tech hub is quite literally a vehicle for opportunity.

The kind of work refugees will learn and do here can be done anywhere there is an internet connection, by anyone with a smartphone.

It opens up the possibility of paid work to those who’ve been excluded from the workforce and those who had to give up work when they fled for their lives.

Migrant moms who struggle to feed their children can annotate photos while their children nap, and after they’re put to bed at night. LGBTQ+ and Black asylum seekers don’t have to risk becoming targets of violence outside their shelters in order to find work.

Those who live under strict COVID quarantine orders don’t have to let a pandemic rob them of their chance to earn an income, either.

Our goal is simple: revolutionize the way refugees work, everywhere. Even along the US-Mexico border. When we do, young adults displaced by violence will be able to do more than survive—they will be able to thrive. oin our community of J peacemakers to create jobs for young adults fleeing violence. Give monthly.

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tú puedes florecer aquí:

you can bloom here—

entre los sueños y el dolor,

between dreams and heartache.

entre las alegrías y las penas.

between sweetness and sorrow.

puedes florecer aquí,

between where you are and

en el espacio entre donde estás

where you want to be.

y donde quieres estar.

all of this holds space for you—

mira, hay lugar para ti.

when have wildflowers lacked room to grow?

además, ¿cuando les ha faltado a las flores espacio para crecer?

Preemptive Love

—Gaby Comprés

CONNECTION

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50

Preemptive Love

BY K AYL A YIU

An icon of justice emerges from colonial oppression

THE

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At the turn of the 16th century, Europe was ravenous.

Its leaders and explorers groped for the ends of the earth, the bounds of their kingdoms—and with ample resources, equipment, and weaponry at the helm, who would stop them? At home, an economy of slavery churned quietly on the backs of African captives, their neighbors no less, and so it seemed only natural that Europe’s reign abroad would subsist on the same profitable oppression.

To the “newly” discovered Venezuela, the Spanish came in droves.

Once a handful of explorers reported natives adorned in gold, Spain quickly established its authority in the mines. One man and his son hurried from Puerto Rico, where the gold reserves were being exhausted, and brought their slave, Miguel, to work. Miguel combed the mines of San Felipe, just off the coast in what is today the state of Yaracuy in northern Venezuela. He labored alongside fellow Africans, who’d been kidnapped and transported across the Atlantic, and the indigenous, forced to labor their own soil.

Clashes between Spaniards and slaves were common but short-lived.

The Spanish often subdued them with violence. Anyone particularly uncooperative was killed. The captives’ only options for escape were relocation or hiding. So when one day a Spanish foreman threatened to punish Miguel, and Miguel not only fought back—but with the foreman’s own sword—his chances of survival seemed slim. But Miguel prevailed and quickly escaped to the Cordillera de Mérida mountains nearby.

At this point Miguel had been inherited by his owner’s son, who was aware of the slave’s reputation for cunning and fearlessness but ultimately clueless to Miguel’s whereabouts or intentions—namely, building a maroon colony in the mountains. It turns out Miguel was a natural leader, and it didn’t take long for him to enlist other laborers, both African and Preemptive Love

indigenous, to join his hidden settlement for escapees. In 1552, Miguel led his recruits in a revolt at the very mines from which most of them had fled. They took as much gold, equipment, and weapons as they could hold, and returned in kind the punishments they’d suffered day after day at the hands of the Spanish, leaving a number of officers dead.

Across Yaracuy, word spread of Miguel’s uprising against Spain—the tales becoming more fantastical, the chatter among captives more hopeful. His slave-led rebellion was not the first in Venezuela, but it was certainly the most influential. Unlike a previous revolt further to the north, Miguel’s laid the foundation for a new kingdom, a haven for forced laborers. For the next three years, he organized raids ransacking Spanish plantations for contraband and freeing enslaved workers. He’d pluck them from their labor and return them to safety in the colony, where they’d receive tasks and roles to keep the community running. He organized leadership, established a church, and even revived elements of his African heritage and incorporated them into the community.

Those who were freed came to see Miguel as a superhero-father-figure of sorts, and they eventually named him king of Buría, his wife queen, and his son prince. While the world hungered for Black and brown subjugation, the king of Buría was one of the only protectors they had.

Spain considered Miguel’s colony a nuisance and tried to assassinate him several times, but Miguel seemed to always be one step ahead. His people were busy engineering weapons in anticipation of attack, and they were willing

to use all skills on hand. At times Buría adopted the indigenous Jirajira people’s more surreptitious warfare––watching and waiting, trickery, face-painting––and other times used direct combat. The Jirajira were proficient with bows and arrows, the Africans with spears and swords—and though an unexpected pair, they integrated to ward off their common oppressor.

The colony continued to stand until one day in 1555, when Miguel insisted he fight on the front lines and was killed by a Spanish officer.

Though the king’s followers tried to continue without him, they were demoralized and ultimately killed or recaptured and enslaved.

For those who survived, it could have been a dream. Had they really been free, exercising human agency those few short years?

Had they been foolish enough to believe it would last? The men and women who followed Miguel had in fact tasted liberty, but for a brief moment in a lifetime of colonial subjugation. And for all they knew, that was it.

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ODAY MIGUEL’S MOUNTAINS

host an annual spiritual gathering. People go on pilgrimage here in anticipation of the Day of Indigenous Resistance.

They spend a week engaging in cleansing rituals, prayers, dancing, and healing. They’re followers of what is called the cult of Maria Lionza, a uniquely Venezuelan tradition with elements of Catholicism, West African animism, and indigenous spirituality. Similar to the Catholic veneration of saints, the cult of Maria Lionza incorporates key people into their worship—often rebellious heroes of the past and champions of the independence and protection of

MIGUEL MAY HAVE CAUGHT ONLY A BLURRY GLIMPSE OF FREEDOM DURING HIS LIFE, BUT IT WOULD EVENTUALLY EVOLVE INTO A CLEAR AND RICH VISION FOR THOSE WHO FOLLOWED.

indigenous communities. One of these spirits, no doubt, is Miguel (or as he is more commonly known, El Negro Miguel).

It turns out that after Buría’s demise—and in spite of it—Miguel became a legend. Perhaps it was his dogged, seemingly foolish commitment to justice, or the way he led with such boldness and courage, but people began to speculate that he possessed some supernatural power. Or perhaps that he was African royalty, destined for divine authority wherever he went. The more tales were told, the more enchanting Miguel became, and though his legacy continues to cycle through oral tradition, today he is immortalized as the subject and inspiration of much Venezuelan literature.

The king of Buría was indeed human and imperfect. He, too, tended to lead with violence and could be ruthless toward even his own supporters. His kingdom was not without racist tendencies and social castes. But what remains

to be celebrated is the movement he kindled—the autonomy of Buría may have been fleeting, but it made resistance elsewhere a real possibility. Hopeful notions of freedom echoed among the oppressed in Venezuela, and nearly two hundred years after Miguel’s maroon colony fell apart, there were thousands in its place. As long as the Spanish Empire exploited the Africans and the indigenous, runaway slave communities, or cumbes, would continue to pop up. Insurrection after insurrection would continue to challenge colonization—often resembling that first uprising in the San Felipe mines.

Once Miguel ran from the mines toward the mountains, resistance to colonial Venezuela would look different. Hidden communities styled after Buría’s became a refuge from European dominance, from exhaustion.

They became places to revive and preserve lost heritage and culture, to rediscover dignity.

Distinct groups of people found themselves bonded together against injustice, their differences unexpectedly complementing and coexisting. The communities would accumulate in number and power and create a climate in which Simón Bolivar could one day pry much of South America from Spanish hands. Miguel may have caught only a blurry glimpse of freedom during his life, but it would eventually evolve into a clear and rich vision for those who followed. Until then, what the Spanish Empire encountered in Miguel de Buría was exactly what they could expect from others against whom they wielded their power in Venezuela: defiance in the name of justice and equality.

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IN the counselor’s office. I was in fifth grade and had just moved from Massachusetts to Georgia.

“Miss Meyo, I wanted to know how you’re doing in your first week.”

“My last name is Mello,” I corrected him.

“Sure, sure. But I want to pronounce it correctly. How are you doing?”

“But it’s Mello. I’m doing fine, thank you for asking.”

I realized he was breaking the double L as if my name was in Spanish. I tried to tell him that in Portuguese we don’t do that to the L. But he insisted on calling me Miss Meyo for the reminder of the school year.

I think he was trying to be helpful, even welcoming. But he had gotten it wrong. And he refused to adjust when I corrected him.

The assumption that I am Hispanic or that my native language must be Spanish has followed me ever since I immigrated to the United States in 1997. Even after I tell someone that Brazilians like me speak Portuguese, they tend to insist on Spanish, claiming the two languages are essentially the same.

When I was younger, I used to draw a crude map of South America, outlining Brazil and I SAT IN

NAME?

What the labels we choose for ourselves and others say about us

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56 the countries around it. Surely, if people just understood the history behind it, they would change. I’d explain how the Pope had drawn a line down the map and divided the Americas between Spain and Portugal. And when Spain was kicked out, its former colonial territory divided into smaller countries. But when Portugal left, Brazil became one united country—the largest in Latin America, fifth largest nation in the world.

“If we had split into smaller countries,” I’d say as I drew hypothetical lines inside Brazil, “Portuguese might be taken more seriously, because it wouldn’t be just confined to one country in South America.”

But halfway through my mini presentation, I’d realize most people don’t care as much as I do, and my little lesson was going nowhere.

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chose to label everyone from Latin America as “Mexican.” This included Puerto Ricans, whose homeland had just been annexed in 1898.

There is nothing wrong with being called Mexican when you are from Mexico. It is a complex and thriving country with a rich history. But to be called Mexican when you are not is to ignore someone’s history, background, and experiences.

By the 1980 Census, the word “Hispanic” was added. What is the problem with the word Hispanic?

For me, the only problem is that it is not a word that describes me.

The US Congress passed a law in 1976 that described Hispanics as “Americans who identify themselves as being of Spanish-speaking background and trace their oriHE 1930 US CENSUS

Preemptive Love

I’VE LEARNED THE LABELS WE CHOOSE FOR OTHERS CAN SAY MORE ABOUT US THAN ABOUT THEM.

gin or descent from Mexico, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Central and South America, and other Spanish-speaking countries.” This includes Spain.

I am not from a Spanish-speaking country, so I’ve always dismissed the word as one that is thrown at me, but not mine.

But even some people who could be classified as Hispanic find the word too all-encompassing. Not only does it cover many countries across four continents; it ignores the mixture of populations that happened in Latin America. The combination of different groups of Africans, indigenous peoples, and Spaniards created a blend of religion, diets, languages, and ethnicities. To call everyone Hispanic is to paint over that with a beige brush—at best ignoring the rich history, and at worst saying it is not important.

I

at the start of 2020. While in a store, I started a conversation with a Texan.

VISITED TEXAS

“This is my first time in Texas,” I told him. “Actually, my first time in the Southwest.”

“We’re not a part of the Southwest, though,” he said, with a smirk.

“No?” I thought of New Mexico to its left, Louisiana to its right, “Then what region are you in?”

“No region. We’re just Texas.”

He grinned and I laughed. But I knew there was truth behind his claim. Some Texans believe they are Texans. Nothing more, nothing less.

To claim to be Hispanic is to say, to a certain degree, “We are the same, part of one group.” It would be like saying the US and Canada are the same thing because they speak the same language.

If we are adamant about making sure that what makes us unique is acknowledged, then why would we not extend the same generosity to others?

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’VE LEARNED the labels we choose for others can say more about us than about them. This is especially true when we allow prejudice to be our main motivator. In a country that is still trying to reckon with its racist history, prejudice in labels is in the air we breathe.

Who is the other? And why must we identify them?

James Baldwin argued that racism is the white person’s problem.

In the essay “Letter from a Region in My Mind,” he writes:

White people in this country will have quite enough to do in learning how to accept and love themselves and each other, and when they have achieved this— which will not be tomorrow and may very well be never—the Negro

57 problem will no longer exist, for it will no longer be needed.

He implies that our need to label “the other” comes from the need to love and accept ourselves.

By saying, That group is bad or dirty or less than, we can more easily tell ourselves, At least we are not like them, and then claim, We are better.

But I will go further than Baldwin and say that while racism is indeed a white person’s problem, it is also the immigrant’s inheritance.

When we come to the US, we are usually vulnerable and looking for safety. Many of us find it in the groups of immigrants already here.

But that urge to find safety might never dissipate, and in pursuing it, we often end up rejecting anything

Glossary LATIN AMERICA

The prevailing term for American countries where Spanish, Portugese, or French are widely spoken. There is disagreement about whether the term was popularized by European colonial powers or by Central and South Americans opposed to the imperial ambitions of the United States. Either way, the term is seen by many as a relic of imperialism, one

that overlooks the region’s many indigenous communities.

HISPANIC

A widely used ethnic designation for those who speak Spanish or trace their origins to Spanish-speaking countries. Not everyone prefers this label; some would rather be identified by their families’ country of origin or nationality.

LATINO

A common ethnic/ geographic designation for people

that is not perceived as white in our own selves. Thus we might reject our indigenous and African background. We might change our names so they are easier to say.

We might work on our American accents and even forget our native language.

Then, if we are ever in a situation where the American president calls Mexicans “rapists,” it is easier to say, “Yes, those people are,” while excluding ourselves. We aren’t rapists. We’re not criminal aliens. Not like those people. It is a pursuit of safety, and as someone whose main motivation is often safety, I understand it. But when we pursue it blindly, we get caught up in the systemic racism baked into this country, whether we choose to or not.

who trace their origins to the region widely known as Latin America. Not everyone with ties to this part of the world identifies as Latino—particularly among communities of indigenous or African descent.

(Among the latter, the term Afro-Latino is increasingly common.)

LATINX, LATINE

Gender-neutral alternatives to the grammatically masculine term Latino.

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page about the Census classification of Hispanic, they include a series of questions with the same answer: N THE PEW RESEARCH

“I immigrated to Phoenix from Mexico. Am I Hispanic?”

“You are if you say so.”

“My parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico. Am I Hispanic?”

“You are if you say so.”

And even: “I was born in Maryland and married an immigrant from El Salvador.

Am I Hispanic?

“You are if you say so.”

I am the kind of person who gets annoyed when people say they’re from Atlanta when really, they live an hour from the city. So, someone born in Maryland who married a Salvadorian considering themselves Hispanic is not something I would readily accept.

But perhaps the Pew Research is kinder than I am. Who am I to decide who is or isn’t Hispanic?

And why do I feel like it is my right to choose what others are called? Or how they are labeled?

Perhaps the way forward is paved in questions and believing people. I wish my counselor in fifth grade had asked me how to pronounce my name, or at least believed me when I corrected him.

It’s not easy to be corrected. But when we know that we are merely humans in an ever-changing society that is constantly altering its language, then simply adjusting after correction is not a big deal.

The labels we use for others say more about ourselves than about them. So let them say we are compassionate, intentional people who are trying our best.

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THERE IS SO MUCH MORE TO MEXICO THAN EITHER NEWS REPORTS OR TRAVEL ADS CAN CAPTURE.

BY CHARLENE WINFRED

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10 SURPRISING, FASCINATING, UNEXPECTED FACTS ABOUT THE UNITED STATES…

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This, on one end of the spectrum, is what most of the Western, media-consuming world hears about Mexico. Then on the complete other end of the spectrum: travel ads filled with photos of world-class resorts in coastal utopias, where you can soak in the sun and every luxury under it. ¶ Mexico, the country that has given birth to some of the world’s oldest civilizations, is home to violence and poverty, luxury and nightlife. The gap between these two images seems almost too enormous for both to exist on the same plane of reality. But there is also much more to this fascinating country than either image can convey. ¶ In the years we’ve worked in Mexico, we’ve encountered beauty and hardship, histories both ordinary and exceptional, and links that connect us all in surprising ways. The news often tells us one story about Mexico—the challenging and difficult. But here, too, are some surprising things about Mexico that you may not read about in the news.

1

Mexico is part of America.

The United States doesn’t have exclusive rights to the name “America.” It is a nation in the Americas, and so is Mexico.

In fact, the country we know as Mexico is actually the United Mexican States, or Estados Unidos Mexicanos. Its leaders were so inspired by the independence movement of their northern neighbor the United States, they adopted

the name after gaining autonomy from Spain in 1821. Since the newly independent Mexico was also a collection of states, the name stuck.

2

People from the US are Mexico’s largest immigrant group.

No, you didn’t read that wrong.

Much has been said about the large Mexican immigrant population in the United States. But what about

3

the reverse?

More residents of the United States migrate to Mexico than any other nationality. In May 2019, Mexican officials estimated that the US-born population had reached nearly 800,000. That’s four times what it was just three decades ago, and is probably still a modest estimate. The US embassy in Mexico City puts the actual number around 1.5 million.

A MEXICAN INTRODUCED COLOR TV TO THE WORLD.

Guillermo Gonzalez Camarena was a brilliant engineer from Guadalajara, Mexico, who secured the patent for the world’s first workable color television system in 1942. Inventors elsewhere had been awarded earlier patents for color TV technologies, but Guillermo’s was the first system practical enough to manufacture. He also made the first public broadcast in color in 1963, introducing the world to color TV. Guillermo’s TV was quickly surpassed and is no longer in use today. But his impact on the world is indelible.

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M E X I C O C I T Y I S S I N K I N G A B O U T 1 0 I N C H E S P E R Y E A R . I t w a s o n c e t h e w o r l d ’ s s e v e n t h h ighest capital city. It is now the eighth.

MIGRANT CARAVANS. DRUGS. GANGS. VIOLENCE. THE WALL .

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THE FIRST BOOK IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE WAS PRINTED IN MEXICO CITY.

North America’s first printing press began operating in 1539, less than a century after the original. The press was set up in a house in Mexico City by an Italian named Giovanni Paoli, whose name was later Hispanized to Juan Pablo.

The first book to come off this press? Breve y más Compendiosa Doctrina Christiana en Lengua Mexicana y Castellana, or “Short Compendium of Catholic Doctrine in Nahuatl and Spanish.” No copies survive today, but Juan Pablo’s legendary press in the heart of Mexico forever changed the future of the Americas.

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The pill was developed in Mexico.

Scientists all over the world were working on developing synthetic birth control in the mid20th century. But it was a Mexican chemist named Luis E. Miramontes, together with Jewish refugees George Rosenkranz and Carl Djerassi, who made the breakthrough responsible for producing the active ingredient in the world’s first contraceptive pill. This hormone was most effectively synthesised from a wild yam which grows in southern Mexico.

The pill was a momentous event in the history of the world, leading to wide social, cultural, and economic change, and a lasting mark on future generations.

6

Mexico gave the world chocolate.

For most of its history, the sweet treat we know as chocolate wasn't something you ate. It was something you drank, and it wasn’t sweet.

But one thing hasn’t changed: chocolate has always been heavenly.

People have likely enjoyed Preemptive Love

chocolate for thousands of years.

Evidence of its consumption has been found in 3,500-year-old remnants of pottery from the Olmecs, the oldest civilization from Mexico and Central America.

The name “chocolate” was derived from the Nahuatl word xocoatl, which was a bitter drink the Aztecs—the empire that flourished in central Mexico around the European medieval era—made from the cacao bean. But xocoatl wasn't any old drink. Theobroma cacao, the scientific name for the cacao

8

tree, means “food of the gods” in Latin. To the Aztecs, chocolate was sacred, a revered substance not for ordinary mortals.

The Spanish, who were the first European colonizers of Mexico and Central America, brought chocolate to Spain. By the late 1500s, chocolate was all the rage among the rich throughout Europe, sweetened with sugar or honey.

The Industrial Revolution around the turn of the nineteenth century brought mass production, and made the food of the gods available

ONE OF MEXICO’S MOST FAMOUS ARTISTS ALMOST WASN’T.

Frida Kahlo is a giant of the art world. You probably know she was from Mexico. But what you may not know is Frida didn’t always want to be a painter. She had ambitions to be a doctor.

At 18, Frida was in a near-fatal accident that forced her to give up her medical studies. That was when she started to paint.

Today, Frida is widely known for her surreal, evocative

for ordinary mortals around the world to enjoy.

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Mexico also gave the world corn.

One fifth of humanity relies on corn for nutrition, and the story of this versatile staple starts in the southern reaches of central Mexico. Scientists believe humans were selectively cultivating a type of grass called teosinte around 9,000 years ago, in the Tehuacán-Cuicatlán Valley, a region where early agriculture developed.

From there, domesticated corn varieties traveled all over the Americas.

When the Spanish arrived, they discovered that all the indigenous people ate this bread which Aztecs and other communities that spoke Nahuatl called tlaxcalli. The Spanish decided to call it “tortilla” or “little cake” and the name stuck.

The tortilla has remained largely unchanged for thousands of years, and lies at the heart of Mexican cuisine today.

9

Everyone’s favorite holiday plant is from Mexico.

The Aztecs called it cuetlaxochitl

and used its sap as medicine for fevers, as well as making red dye.

Montezuma, the last Aztec king, was said to have loved it so much, he had caravans of the gorgeous plant brought to Tenochtitlán, the ancient Aztec capital now known as Mexico City. Today, the poinsettia is a beloved sign of the Christmas season.

Mexicans call it la flor de nochebuena (flower of the holy night). One of the many legends surrounding the poinsettia is that of a young girl who was too poor to offer anything but weeds as a gift to baby Jesus on Christmas Eve. When she brought her bundle of weeds into a church, they turned into a gorgeous poinsettia.

10

Mexico has a hidden Arabic heritage.

Arabic influence came to Mexico by way of Spain, and can be seen, heard, and tasted here to this day. Some of the ingredients that give Mexican cuisine its distinctive flavor were introduced to Spain by Arabic-speaking northern Africans. Think coriander, cumin, cloves, and cinnamon.

If you’ve had tacos al pastor and shawarma, you will have noticed similarities in how slabs of meat are roasted on spits—this technique was developed during the Ottoman Empire. Lebanese immigrants brought shawarma to Mexico in the late 1800s. They were soon followed by Syrians, Palestinians, Jordanians, and Iraqis.

Famines in Lebanon and the surrounding area during World War I and the Arab-Israeli war triggered a new wave of migration in the twentieth century.

Today, around eight percent of Mexican Spanish is derived from Arabic, including words for sugar (azúcar in Spanish, sukkar in Arabic), lemon (limón in Spanish, laymün in Arabic), and hopefully (ojalá in Spanish, alhamdulillah in Arabic, which translates to “if God wills it”).

In the Mexican city of Veracruz—a key port of arrival for Arabs who came here—stands a statue dedicated to the Lebanese immigrant. It’s a nod to the contributions of people from the Arab world to Mexico’s history and culture.

self-portraits, which deal with many themes of lifelong suffering—among them birth, death, pain, love, and revolution.

Overshadowed by her famous husband Diego Rivera, her work was not well known in her short life, but gained renown decades after she passed. Frida’s life was marked by great pain from her injuries, her tumultuous marriage to Diego, affairs with famous men and women, fierce love for her country, and a refusal to be boxed in by others’ standards and mores. Today, she is a global icon for feminists, LGBTQ+ communities, and those who walk unusual paths in life.

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T H E N A T I O N A L A U T O N O M O U S U N I V E R S I T Y O F M E X I C O ( f o r m e r l y t h e R o y a l a n d P o n t i f i c a l U n i versity of New Spain) first opened in 1551.

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FROM FOOD PACK TO DINNER TABLE OT

OGRAP

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THE FOOD WE PROVIDE IN VENEZUEL A IS ABOUT MORE THAN FILLING HUNGRY BELLIES. IT’S ABOUT NOURISHING FAMILIES, INCLUDING YOURS.

BY KIM MACK

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PA B E L L O N CRIOLLO

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W h e n f o o d is r e a d i l y a v a i l a b l e , V e n e z u e l a n s t y p i c a l l y e n j o y a L A R G E B R E A K F A S T, a LARGE LUNCH, and a LIGHT SUPPER.

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Pabellon Criollo

W A R E PA D E DOMINO

The national dish of Venezuela is pabellon criollo. Pulled meat is paired with rice and black beans, then served with plantains and a fried egg on top.

about the table being a place of connection, a safe place to engage with those different from us.

Food is often the pathway to relationship and conversation, the portal to understanding and experience. When you travel someplace new, the local market or the hole-in-the-wall restaurant is an immediate window into the culture of the place—here in the smells and sounds, the local language, the rhythms and music and tastes so unique to each place.

E TALK A LOT

One way to learn more about other people, other places, is to experience their food. Food comes with tradition and history, nostalgia and legacy. When we plan emergency food distributions to families on the edge of hunger in places like Venezuela, we don’t just look at nutrition and calories. That’s important, yes.

But we also care what foods most help families feel connected to their culture, their place, their heritage.

We try to include the foods they are used to cooking and eating. The ones that bring them joy.

Our food packs in Venezuela contain foods to nourish growing children and sustain hard-working moms and dads. And also ingredients to make the dishes so precious to them. Cornmeal for arepas.

Black beans, tuna, and eggs for pabellon criollo. Flour and sugar for paledonia cookies.

Food packs are vital for families who don’t know where their next meal will come from. Wherever we go, we look for ways to equip families to sustain-

What’s in a food pack?

Every food pack is different, tailored specifically to the people in that place and their needs. Common items include rice, flour, oil, sugar, black beans, pasta, cornmeal, margarine, powdered milk, sardines, tuna, and eggs.

Some families also receive detergent, general hygiene kits (5 liters of water, face masks, toilet paper, soap, toothpaste, shampoo, toothbrushes), and feminine hygiene products, baby diapers, and bottles.

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66 ably provide for themselves. Not because we don’t want to keep helping them, but because most families want to be independent and self-sufficient. Whole communities are rebuilt when everyone is able to stand on their own and work together.

So we’re not just providing food packs to families in Venezuela. In another part of the country, we’re partnering with local communities to start sustainable farms, so families have both food and income.

We’re providing chickens, pigs, and goats. We’re planting corn and yuca, so families have food week after week, season after season.

And we’re partnering with a local food distributor so families can sell their produce to the community—so farmers have income and their neighbors have something nutritious to eat.

To bring you a little closer to our friends in Venezuela—and give you a taste of the help you’re providing—we’ve gathered some recipes cherished by Venezuelan families. Their national dish, their daily bread, their favorite foods.

Try these recipes in your home, as a way to experience the tastes of Venezuela. Share them with friends and family.

We are not so different from those in other parts of the world.

We might not believe the same things or speak the same languages. We might have different traditions and living situations.

But we all gather around the table.

We all find comfort in familiar tastes and smells, in recipes passed from neighbor to neighbor, from generation to generation.

Arepas: Venezuela’s bread Arepas are similar to English muffins, but fluffier and made with cornmeal. They’re served with cheese or stuffed with beans and sometimes eggs or meat or other fillings. Popular in Venezuela, arepas can be eaten at any meal. They’re a delicious vehicle for any topping or filling you can imagine!

What is yuca?

Sometimes called cassava or manioc, yuca is a starchy tuber found primarily in subtropical regions. In Venezuela, yuca is sometimes served alongside pulled meat inside arepas.

If you can’t find yuca in your local grocery store, you can substitute with sweet potatoes.

Arepas 2

CUPS MASAREPA, OR PRE-COOKED

CORNMEAL 1

TSP SALT

2-½ CUPS WATER (ROOM TEMPERATURE) 2

Download free recipes.

Preemptive Love

A R E PA S

TSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

Stir together masarepa, salt, and water.

Allow to sit for 5 minutes. The mixture will form a dough as it sits. Wet hands and knead dough until smooth. Divide into 8 balls.

Heat oil in a skillet or on a large griddle.

Flatten each dough ball to about 1/2" thick discs. Cook each disc, flipping once, until golden brown on each side (about 7 minutes). Repeat until all discs are cooked through.

Arepa de domino (vegetarian)

Pabellon Criollo

1

MEDIUM ONION, DICED

1-½ POUNDS FLANK STEAK

3

CLOVES GARLIC, MINCED

1

ONION, DICED

1

TBSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

2

BEEF BOUILLON CUBES OR PACKETS

1

CAN BLACK BEANS

4

CUPS WATER

1

TSP SALT

2

CUPS UNCOOKED RICE

½

TSP CUMIN

1

CAN BLACK BEANS

QUESO FRESCO, SHREDDED

2

CLOVES GARLIC, MINCED

1

TSP CUMIN

Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large pan. Add the onion and garlic and cook 2-3 minutes. Add the can of black beans, undrained. Add salt and cumin. Stir. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Cut open an arepa and top with black beans and shredded queso fresco.

2

TSP EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL

1

CAN DICED TOMATOES, DRAINED

Combine flank steak, onion, bouillon, and water in pot. The water should cover the flank steak; add more if necessary. Cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 90 minutes, or until the meat is tender and cooked

V e n e z u e l a n s t y p i c a l l y t o a s t w i t h t h e w o r d “ S A LUD.”

67

through. Remove pot from heat and set aside.

Prepare rice according to directions.

Fry the garlic in olive oil over medium-high heat for 1-2 minutes. Add the can of black beans, undrained. Add cumin and salt to taste. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Shred the flank steak. In a large skillet, add diced tomatoes and flank steak and cook together. Add liquid from the flank steak as needed. Simmer together for 5 minutes.

To serve: Add rice to one third of the plate, meat to the other third, and beans to the last third. Top with a fried egg or fried plantains (or both).

VOL. 6

Preemptive Love

OF POWER

PEACEMAKING

THE

68

I

LL

USTRATIO

BY XIMO ABADÍA

N

IMAGINE THE MORE BEAUTIFUL WORLD… INTO REALITY BY KIM MACK

VISUALIZATION

69

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IT’S HARDER TO CALL someone your enemy or

see them as “other” when it’s someone you know, someone you’ve talked to, someone you’ve shared an experience with. That’s why it’s so important to gather with those who are different from you. ¶ But what do you do when meeting people is difficult because we’re still social distancing? Or maybe you live somewhere rather homogeneous? How do you push yourself outside your normal circles when it feels like the opportunities for doing so are limited? ¶ How do you build connections with those in other places around the world if you’re unable to travel? Is there a way to grow our empathy for migrants on the US-Mexico border, for families trapped in poverty in Venezuela, for all those around the world who have completely different lives and situations than our own?

Preemptive Love

Identifying implicit bias We all have subconscious attitudes and assumptions we make about those who are different from us.

That’s implicit bias.

Such bias often goes unnoticed until it’s challenged.

By facing your implicit biases and being mindful of them, you can actually change and even begin to de-bias.

Untangling our biases is a lifelong process—as we add new biases based on our experiences, and uncouple old ones as we learn and grow. But if we are consistently, intentionally aware of our assumptions and the perspectives of others, over time we can do the work of de-biasing.

Learn more about our Love Anyway peacemaking opportunities.

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Try it yourself

WE CAN IMAGINE THE BRIDGE BETWEEN US, UNTIL ONE DAY WE’RE ABLE TO CROSS IT WITH OTHERS, HAND IN HAND.

already imagined experiences talking or sharing a laugh.

And even if you only imagine scenarios that don’t go so well, you will be better prepared to handle hard conversations in real life. You might find yourself slower to get angry at others, because you’ve already done the work of confronting them, if only in your mind.

Nothing can take the place of face-to-face conversation and personal interactions. But sometimes life—or geography—make that tricky. Social distancing, schedules, the places we live. It doesn’t mean we have to give up. It doesn’t mean we can’t do the work of meeting with those who are different from us.

We can start in our minds. We can build a practice of visualization that increases our empathy, decreases our implicit bias, and emboldens us to hold real, honest conversations. So when the pandemic is over, when we run into someone at the coffee shop, or when we get to travel again— we are ready.

We can engage with courage and compassion. We can imagine the bridge between us, until one day we’re able to cross it with others, hand in hand, in person.

Visualization doesn’t have to take long. Find five minutes where you have space to focus. Close your eyes. Imagine a familiar place, like a local coffee shop, the grocery aisle, or your favorite park bench. Be detailed—what do you hear?

See? Smell? What season is it? What time of day? Now imagine someone joining you. You don’t know them, but you know they believe completely differently than you. Maybe they’re a Democrat and you’re a Republican. Or they’re a Christian and you’re a Muslim. Or they are pro-choice and you are pro-life.

Maybe they’re from a different part of the world than you.

Imagine how your conversation might go, if you met on a whim.

What would you talk about? What would you look at together? What would you laugh about or share?

If you discussed politics or religion, how might that go?

What would you do if the conversation became confrontational or angry?

How could you make it an encouraging or enriching experience?

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W H E N Y O U V I S U A L I Z E A N A C T i t a c t i v a t e s t h e s a m e p a r t s o f y o u r b r a i n a s w h e n you perform the act in real life.

It might be easier than you think. You don’t even have to leave your house to take the first step.

A recent study by communication experts Benjamin Warner and Astrid Villamil found that visualizing a conversation with someone different from you can actually decrease your implicit bias.

Warner and Villamil had participants imagine meeting someone from the opposite political party and starting a conversation. Participants were asked to envision this scenario in detail—even down to a specific day and place. Then they imagined themselves as a third-party observer, watching the conversation unfold.

Visualization exercises have been shown to help form more positive attitudes toward those who are different from you. And it’s stronger than you might think.

Even participants who pictured a conversation going badly ended up feeling more positive about people from the other group.

When you give voice to someone else’s argument—even in an imaginary conversation—it forces you to entertain the reason or logic that might lie behind their perspective. In doing so, you may find yourself understanding more of where they’re coming from, even if you still don’t agree. (And agreement isn’t always the goal as much as understanding.)

Making visualization a regular practice will go a long way in reframing how you see the world and those around you. If you imagine positive scenarios, you’re likely to find that you start feeling more comfortable approaching those who are different.

You might grow more open to others, and more receptive to our shared humanity—because you’ve

72

¿qué hay que hacer

what to do,

para ser amado?

in order

¿que hay que hacer

to be loved?

para merecer amor?

what to do,

la respuesta es

to be worthy of love?

que solo hay que

and the answer comes:

ser

to be

y ser

to be

y ser.

to be.

—Gaby Comprés

Preemptive Love

73

SHOP

CHAPTER

GIFTS TO END WAR The They flourish.

They spaces reminder

gifts

you

can

help

They carry

can a

dominated of

give

the

can

a remind

message by more

change

refugee’s a of

fear

loved

small

one

welcome and

beautiful

the

business

that

they

and

peace

mistrust. world

world.

that’s

matter.

They’re

into a

possible.

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GI F TS FO R T H E HOME DELICATE COPPER BOWL WITH RUFFLES

Home is a place to be known. To be loved. To belong.

With these handmade gifts, you can make your home an image of the world you want. A world where everyone rises.

$18

Copper vessel.

Made with sunset essential oil, 100% paraffin wax, and one cotton wick.

Fragrance made with essential oils.

Phthalate-free, meeting California’s strict Prop 65 requirements for indoor air quality.

Expect potential size variation.

LEMONGRASS CANDLE, TURQUOISE $32 21 oz.

Each of these gorgeous, handpoured candles is scented with lemongrass essential oils to deter mosquitos.

100% paraffin wax with three wood wicks. Fragrance made with essential oils. Phthalate-free, meeting California’s strict Prop 65 requirements for indoor air quality.

Limited quantity.

TERRA COTTA TRIPOD CANDLES $34

100% paraffin wax with three wood wicks. Fragrance oil made with essential oils and synthetic oils.

Phthalate-free, meeting California’s strict Prop 65 requirements for indoor air quality. No dyes or other additives. Limited quantity.

Lemongrass Tobacco Rum

Use code VOLUME6 for 15% off your order at preemptive love.shop

*Offer expires June 30, 2021 Preemptive Love

HAND-CARVED WOODEN CANDLE $35

Hand-carved wooden vessel. This fragranced candle is layered with warm vanilla, golden peach, and base notes of gentle musk. Each vessel is unique and not two are alike. Expect color variation. 100% paraffin wax. Fragrance made with essential oils. Phthalate-free, meeting California’s strict Prop 65 requirements for indoor air quality.

76

REFUGEE-MADE SOAP $10

SOAP

All-natural, handforged soap. Made in Iraq with 100% pure ingredients.

Fragranced with natural oils. Allergen and parabenfree. Because this product is handmade, it may vary in color. 3 oz.

Limited quantity.

Options: Lavender, Patchouli & Orange, Activated Charcoal, Raspberry Lemonade, Coffee, Chamomile

HARDWOOD SOAP DISH

HANDMADE INDONESIAN HARDWOOD SOAP DISH $10

Handmade by refugees in Iraq. Due to the handmade nature of this product, variations in color and staining may apply. Soap dish may or may not contain Kinsman branding.

Preemptive Love

77 BRIGHT ENDEAVORS X PREEMPTIVE LOVE, LAVENDER SPRIG CANDLE $22

This hand-poured candle was lovingly made by a woman in Chicago receiving professional skill training in a transitional job.

9 oz. candle burns 35-40 hours. Made in Chicago, USA.

HAND-THROWN CERAMIC CANDLE $28

Limited quantity. Light jasmine scent. 100% paraffin wax with natural cotton wick.

Fragrance oil made with essential oils and synthetic oils. 12 oz. ceramic vessel. Phthalatefree, meeting California’s strict Prop 65 requirements for indoor air quality. No dyes or other additives. Available in: Pink Midnight Sky

HAND-STITCHED FLOWER TEA TOWEL SET $38

Three hand-stitched black tea towels made by refugees in Iraq.

Cotton tea towel with cotton poly yarn accents. Limited quantity.

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HAND-WOVEN REED BASKETS $29 T ray: 13” x 13” x 2.5” $19 S mall Oval:5.75” x 7.5” x 1.25” $15 M ini Round: 4” x 4” x 2” $17 S mall Round: 5” x 5” x 2.25” $15 P ot Holder: 8” x 8.75 $15 Coaster: 4” x 4.5”

Handmade in Iraq. Variations in color, sizing, and style are expected.

SMALL ROUND

SMALL OVAL

MINI ROUND

Preemptive Love

79

TRAY

COASTER

POT HOLDER

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80 COOKIE MOLD $18

Each cookie mold comes with a recipe card and cotton drawstring bag.

Due to the handmade nature of this product, variations in color, size, and mold shape may apply.

HONDURAN COFFEE $18

From Copán Ruinas, Honduras.

Medium-body and acidity, with notes of apricot, fig, honey, and chocolate. Whole bean, 12 oz. bag.

Freshly roasted.

Preemptive Love

81

COFFEE, GARDENIA, RASPBERRY LEMONADE GIFT SETS $22

These limited edition sets include 1 bar of soap and 1 handknit washcloth.

All-natural soap made with 100% saponified olive oil, essential oils, and natural ingredients.

Fragranced with natural oils.

Allergen and paraben free. 3 oz.

Limited quantity.

Colors may vary.

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82

SAFFRON ROOBIOS HERBAL TEA BLEND $17

Preemptive Love has teamed up with Tahmina Tea to offer an organic, caffeine-free tisane of South African Rooibos and honeybush, with lemon, ginger, and Afghan saffron.

This whole leaf blend has a sweet and earthy body, finished off with tangy and complex notes. Each canister contains 12 biodegradable pyramid bags that can be steeped up to three times.

Our tins are made from USA recycled steel with airtight closure to ensure optimal freshness.

Preemptive Love

83

SAFFRON CHAI BLACK TEA BLEND $17

Preemptive Love has teamed up with Tahmina Tea to offer a bold, organic Assam black tea with Indian Chai-style spices and Afghan saffron. This whole leaf blend has a robust body with multiple layers of flavor, finished by smooth, delicate notes of saffron. Each canister contains 12 biodegradable pyramid bags that can be steeped up to three times. Our tins are made from USA recycled steel with airtight closure to ensure optimal freshness.

PREEMPTIVE LOVE SELFREFLECTION CARD DECK $10

53 total cards: 1 instruction card, 18 cards for kids, 34 cards for adults.

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Preemptive Love

85 ART PRINTS $22-25

11 x 14“ poster screen printed on #100 French Paper.

Poster hanger not included. Printed in the US. Options: Rose Art, Butternut & White, Terracotta & White

REFUGEE-MADE MAGNETIC WOODEN ART PRINT HANGER $24

Wooden art print holder using wood, leather, and magnets.

Dimensions: 11” x 1” x .5” Made in the US by an Afghan refugee.

Wall-hanging hardware not included.

Sapele Bass Oakwood VOL. 6

86

ACC E SS O R IE S Use code VOLUME6 for 15% off your order at preemptive love.shop

Can jewelry make the difference between someone staying and someone fleeing home? Can a bag slung over your shoulder inspire someone else to embrace those around them? We think so.

*Offer expires June 30, 2021

AMBER EARRINGS $34 Arch $32 Bar $34 Drop $30 Mini Hoop $30 Stud

Each earring is handmade. Due to the unique nature of amber, no two earrings are alike.

Color, pattern, and shape variations should be expected.

Nickel backing.

Spot clean with jewelry cloth.

WOOD EARRINGS $34 Arch $30 Stud $34 Circle

These beautiful wood earrings are carefully crafted by hand by local men and women using Mexican tigerwood.

Preemptive Love

AMBER CYLINDER BEAD NECKLACE $37

Each necklace is crafted by hand using amber mined from the Sierra Madre Mountains by local men and women.

This necklace features a cylinder bead and two circle beads. Due to the unique nature of amber, no two necklaces are alike. Color, pattern, and shape variations should be expected.

Gold-plated chain. Spot clean with jewelry cloth.

88

LOVE ANYWAY TOTE BAG $12

Refugee-made cotton tote bags.

10“ handle drop. Available in: Rainbow

WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER TOTE BAG $12

Refugee-made cotton tote bags.

10“ handle drop. Available in: Rainbow Black

Preemptive Love

89

WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER KEYCHAIN $8

Print-stamped plastic keychain.

Yellow Green Blue Black

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AP PA R E L Use code VOLUME6 for 15% off your order at preemptive love.shop

Your love is a force. It cannot be silenced or contained. It is brave enough to step across enemy lines. Strong enough to change the way things are. Show the world your love.

*Offer expires June 30, 2021

LOVE ANYWAY SWEATSHIRT $48

Screen-printed tri-blend, sponge fleece, raglan sweatshirt in unisex sizes. XS - XXL is made of 50% poly, 37.5% combed and ringspun cotton, 12.5% rayon. XXXL is made of 50% Polyester, 46% Cotton, 4% Rayon.

Certified WRAP.

WE BELONG TO EACH OTHER HOODIE $50

This classic unisex hoodie is great for year-round layering and features a retail fit, crossover neckline, hood, and long sleeves with cuffs.

Certified *Worldwide Responsible Accredited Production (WRAP).

Vintage Black Heather Mustard Heather Sand Autumn

Dust Mauve Green Gray

IMAGINE THE MORE BEAUTIFUL WORLD TEE $27

Screen-printed, heavyweight tee in unisex sizes. 100% Cotton. Ethically sourced and environmentally responsible.

Blue White (also available in long-sleeve) Burgundy

Preemptive Love

92

LOVE BOTANICAL TEE $27

Tri-blend tee in unisex sizes. Made of 50% poly, 25% combed and ringspun cotton, 25% rayon. Certified WRAP. Oatmeal Mauve

Preemptive Love

93 LOVE ANYWAY PRIDE TEE $27

Black, tri-blend tee in unisex sizes.

Made of 50% poly, 25% combed & ring-spun cotton, and 25% rayon.

Certified WRAP.

LOVE ANYWAY FLOWY MUSCLE TANK TOP $28

Exceptionally soft poly-viscose fabrication drapes around curves. The modern elongated armholes and curved bottom hem make it perfect for layering.

TO END WAR FLOWY MUSCLE TANK TOP $28

Exceptionally soft poly-viscose fabrication drapes around curves. The modern elongated armholes and curved bottom hem make it perfect for layering.

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GI F TS FO R K IDS Even the youngest among us can be a peacemaker.

Kids can often see the more beautiful world before our adult eyes catch a glimpse of it. Fuel their imaginations for peace with these gifts.

Preemptive Love

95 PEACE BEGINS WITH ME $25

100% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton.

Certified WRAP.

Use code VOLUME6 for 15% off your order at preemptive love.shop

Black Natural

Baby one-piece sizes: 3-6mos.

6-12mos.

12-18mos.

18-24mos.

*Offer expires June 30, 2021

Kids shirt sizes: 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T Youth shirt sizes: YS, YM, YL, YXL

TOY KNITS

Each doll may vary. Made with acrylic yarn. $25 Panda Family

One large and one mini panda. $35 Pink Puppy

Colors from light grey to beige and brown.

Limited quantity. $35 Blue Puppy

Colors from light grey to beige and brown.

Limited quantity. $35 Brown Bear

Limited quantity. $35 Ballerina Bunny

Limited quantity.

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PEACE BEGINS WITH ME LION $25

Black: 100% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton.

Mauve: 52% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton, 48% poly.

Certified WRAP. Black Mauve

Baby one-piece sizes: 3-6mos.

6-12mos.

12-18mos.

18-24mos.

Kids shirt sizes: 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T

PEACE BEGINS WITH ME DINOS $25

Black: 100% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton.

Mauve: 52% Airlume combed and ring-spun cotton, 48% poly.

Certified WRAP. Black Mauve

Baby one-piece sizes: 3-6mos.

6-12mos.

12-18mos.

18-24mos.

Kids shirt sizes: 2T, 3T, 4T, 5T

Preemptive Love

It’s not about the other person. It’s about us. Our posture. Our hearts.

It’s the conviction that everyone is worth loving, regardless of their point of view, regardless of whether we agree or disagree with them, regardless of the preconceived notions we hold. ¶ We love, not in spite of who others are, but because of who they are, in the fullness of their humanity. ¶ Love anyway is not a badge or an excuse. It’s not patronizing or dismissive. It’s not a defensive move to protect or hold on to power for ourselves. It’s not an excuse to avoid doing the deep work of self-reflection, evaluation, and change. ¶ It’s a challenge, an invitation to look at your biases and assumptions, your fears and worst-case scenarios. It’s uncomfortable and scary. It releases control and doesn’t grasp for it back. It says again and again and again: I may be wrong. I may need to change. ¶ It’s an invitation to love at a higher level. To look another human in the eye and affirm that we belong to each other, wholly. ¶ It’s a continual pursuit of change, growth, and connection.

It’s leaving space for where we might be wrong or our perspective incomplete. ¶ Love anyway is a constant commitment to reflection and revision.

It’s holding our beliefs with open hands, allowing time and experience to change our minds, and to change the minds of those around us. ¶ It’s a lifelong journey toward radical acceptance of ourselves and others. It’s knowing we cannot fully thrive while others are suffering. It is living out the more beautiful world, hand in hand. ¶ Love anyway demands grace for our enemy, and releases us from the things we have done, the people we’ve been. It holds all our past and all we might become as essential pieces of who we are right now. ¶ It’s a home for the homeless, hope for the hopeless, safety for the targeted, welcome for the marginalized. ¶ Love anyway is peace for us all.

THE WORLD IS SCARY AS HELL. LOVE ANYWAY.

NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION U.S. POSTAGE

PA I D

BLAINE, WA PERMIT NO. 207 1300 Darbyton Drive Hewitt, TX 76643