By: Roxane Ramos The Kino Border Initiative’s educational programming offers information and insights into the reality of the border as well as direct experience. Education is embedded in everything the Kino Border Initiative does, and its programming reaches migrants, students, churches, immersion groups, legislators, and anyone interested in visiting the KBI in person or online. The KBI works to dispel commonly held myths about immigration, correct misinformation, and provide … [Read more...]
Archives for September 2014
The Music of the Border
By: Roxane Ramos This year’s first place winner of the UA Poetry Center’s Bilingual Corrido Contest recounts a moving migration story of aspiration, struggle, and love. Daniela Ibarra first heard the story in 2009 when she was living in Sonora, Mexico for a year. An abuela (grandmother) in a dentist’s waiting room shared the trials of her grandson, left behind in Mexico, and his mother, seeking better fortunes in the United States with the expectation of reuniting soon. This is so often … [Read more...]
The Young Ambassadors of the KBI
By: Roxane Ramos The Kino Teens, a social justice group associated with the Kino Border Initiative, take what they learn about border issues on the road, locally and nationally. For the teenagers who attend Lourdes Catholic School in Nogales, Arizona, the border is not some distant abstraction—it is their home. And the debate that surrounds immigration reform is not simply political rhetoric—it is part of their everyday lives. So the students at Lourdes took on the issue, and organized the … [Read more...]
Up Close: The People of the KBI ~ Immersion Reflections from High School Students
By: Roxane Ramos Immersion experiences are precisely what they sound like—on-site visits that place participants right where they can observe the realities of a situation firsthand. For the Kino Border Initiative, immersions are a way to convey the reality of the border through direct engagement. Visitors get to speak with migrants and hear their stories; they serve meals and sort clothes; they tour the streets of Nogales, Sonora, and hike the harsh desert outskirts, harmless enough with … [Read more...]