Asylum in My Roots

In 2018 I received a calling. That calling was heard in my mother's voice. She made me aware that there was a need that I could fulfill. The calling would bring purpose and meaning to both her and I and be part of healing are ancestral trauma. My mother died in 2013 of uterine cancer. 2018 is the year when thousands of Central American people fled their homeland and traveled, by any means necessary, to arrive at the border of Mexico and the United States. The passage involved great risk and came with exorbitant costs. Mothers with young children came, leaving behind their extended family support network. Father's came hoping to find work and make a home to which they could later bring their family. Young women came. Some of the risks were extreme. And some of them played out. Yet the peril of this journey was better than staying in the dangers of their homeland. My great grandfather Rodriguez made a journey like this. He lived in the Azores of Portugal. When war broke out in Europe, there was a draft for military service. My great-grandfather knew that he would be risking his life if he went into war. He knew that meant he would be leaving his wife and two children without his support. He didn't believe in the war. Instead, he risked his life to take his fishing boat out into the commercial waters and be taken aboard a US cargo ship. Months later, malnourished and with close to no resources, he arrived to the Eastern shores of the United States. He began working in the fishing industry, sending money to his family in Portugal, and saving what he could. Within the period of a few years, he was able to send for his wife and two children. My maternal grandmother was born as the youngest child of a family of eight children. My grandma DaSilva's family left their Homeland of the southern Iberian peninsula to come to Hawaii and work in the cane fields. This is the type of agricultural work that was conducted by enslaved people and sharecroppers. Due to the process of assimilation, I don't know many of the details regarding what they were escaping. However, it is noteworthy to me that my grandmother had olive skin tone, black curly hair and was short of stature. This likely indicates that she was a descendant of the Moorish people of the southern Iberian Peninsula. The Moorish people were a colony of Black Muslims from Morocco who came to Iberia to conquer the indigenous Imazighen people. The Moors were later conquered by the Northern Catholic Portuguese during the lethal progroms of the inquisition. After being conquered, the Moors were often enslaved or held the role of servant in the white imperial Catholic society. My grandpa Castro left his family from the southern Iberian peninsula of Spain to come work in the cane fields of Hawaii. Once again, due to the process of assimilation and thereby the destruction of the stories of our people, I don't have a lot of details as to why he left. However, it is noteworthy, that my grandfather had dark olive skin, black kinky hair and was short of stature. These are also indicators that he was of Moorish ancestry. It is most probable that his family fled Southern Spain due to racism and prejudice. It would seem that asylum is rich in my ancestry. Perhaps it is for this reason that I felt called to find anyway that I could support navigating the people of the caravan to having a safe home. Initially, I volunteered with Central Latino Americano. I took a training on how to receive the story of the asylum seekers that would be presented to the judge. I translated this story and sent it to a group of attorneys who were willing to make their services available for the final hearing of asylum. Because the position was without funding and there's a learning curve, it was not sustainable for CLA to continue supporting me in learning. They encouraged me to go into the community and do it independently. So I did. Once I began working freelance in the community, I found a grassroots organization called Oregon Community Asylum Network. This is largely a collection of retired liberal progressive white people. They also felt the call to support the people from the caravan. I found a roll in consulting with OCAN. I provided consultation regarding developing an attitude of cultural curiosity and humility. I consulted and provided educational opportunities around the nature of trauma for OCAN leadership. I was called upon to help cross-cultural and cross-language relationships between hosts and seekers. I provided crisis counseling to asylum seekers re-experiencing trauma. I was called upon to help find housing. I enjoy close trusting relationships with several of the asylum seekers. They have become my people and I theirs. It is my hope and my inspiration that I would find support in developing a funded navigation and integration service for the asylum seekers. This service would have a flow chart of the steps to acclimation once arriving in Lane county. It would include the first steps of getting medical care, food, housing and ongoing communication with their family in their home country. Once those basic needs have been initiated, they would be supported to formerly file for asylum. There would be supported to file for work permits. They would be supported to attend their ICE check-ins and to keep ICE informed of pertinent changes. The service would help asylum seekers to connect with bilingual/bicultural counselors and therapists. They would be helped to get vision screening and dental care. Families with young children would be connected with Head start. The service would include ongoing training in cultural humility and support Lane county residents to recognize and appreciate the rich gifts of living side by side with our central American neighbors. Additionally, creating sustainable housing options would be identified. Short term temporary and transitional housing, intermediate housing such as rentals and shared rentals, and long-term housing such as rent-to-own options would be developed. The fact that I have safe housing, and have had housing throughout my life, is not something I have earned. It is access I was born into. It is something my ancestors risked their lives so that I could have. Our Central American neighbors that are seeking asylum here are trying to create that opportunity for themselves and their descendants. It is my honor and my joy each time one of my people have access to a safe home here as my neighbor.