From El Salvador to Indiana With Love

From El Salvador to Indiana With Love

By Beth Beery, Manchester Church of the Brethren on August 14, 2024

In the Stories of Solidarity Series, the UUSC Community Accompaniment Project With Asylum-Seekers (CAPAS) features intimate stories of UU congregations coming together to offer care and community to those in migration. This series will feature the real-life voices of UUs taking on the role of supporting people in migration through providing homes and resources for those in need.

The Manchester Church of the Brethren in North Manchester, Indiana has maintained close ties with Latin America for years. They have a sister church relationship with a congregation in El Salvador and over the years members have visited El Salvador and several from the church in El Salvador have visited Indiana. In 2018 the church decided to sponsor their first immigrant family through Showing up for Racial Justice (SURJ). The congregation fell in love with the Guatemalan mother and her two children. Once they were more independent, the church decided to sponsor a second family. The second immigrant family came via CAPAS thanks to the guidance of Rev. Dottie Mathews, the founder of the CAPAS program. This second family of three came to us from Colombia. They were a young mother, father, and daughter.

They did well in the move from the capital of Colombia to a rural farm in Indiana. We later found that moving them closer to our town and closer to more of our church members was advantageous. The father started working with a handyman in our congregation and appreciated all the skills he was picking up. He talks of wanting to use these skills to someday build his own house. Their daughter has done very well in school, and she has enjoyed the local pool and gymnastics. We have enjoyed watching the family grow. They now have a son that was born on a cold winter's day about a year and a half ago.

Although the mother does not have her driver's license yet, she can walk to work at the cafeteria of the local university. Her coworkers have enjoyed getting to know her as well. The first December they were here, one of our church members had the idea of putting candles outside the place they were staying on Dec 7 for the Día de las Velitas (Day of the Little Candles), a national holiday in Colombia. Several church members helped prepare the celebration and it was fun for all.

Last summer, several of us accompanied the families to the Indianapolis Zoo and it was so fun to watch the families relate and enjoy a day together.

It has been very rewarding for our congregation to get to know these young families and walk beside them.

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