Pictures of Plaza 25 de Mayo

Here are some pictures of the 25 de Mayo Plaza, the main plaza in Resistencia. Check out the rest of my pictures: http://picasaweb.google.com/JoshEbener/Argentina

Greetings from Argentina

My blogs for the next year will mostly center around my seminary internship, which I’ll be doing in Resistencia, Argentina, with the ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America) Global Mission Horizon International Internship program. The internship is the third of four years for me in my studies (pursuing a Master of Divinity degree) at the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago.

Greetings from chilly Argentina, where winter is finishing up, with temperatures in the 40s and 50s, and lots of clouds and rain. It may seem strange to those of you sweating in 90s and 100s that I broke out the winter coat, long underwear, and am clinging to a box heater. I am also sipping lots of mate, the classic Argentine tea, which I may actually like more than coffee.

Here’s the play-by-play of my last week… I left on Monday, August 13 from Chicago Ohaire to Washington DC, and that night I flew to Buenos Aires, arriving the next morning (Tuesday). I was picked up at the airport by the ELCA Global Mission South America regional directors and spent the day with their family. I was also able to meet the president and staff of IELU (Iglesia Evangelica Luterana Unida – United Evangelical Lutheran Church), and to see some of downtown Buenos Aires (see picture). It’s true that the city has a European feel. We walked past a political rally (no, I didn’t participate), which was for Cristina Kirchner, the wife of current president Nestor Kirchner, who seems to be the current front-runner for the presidential elections to be held in October (an exciting time to be here).

I took the bus that Tuesday night, which headed northward for 12 hours as I slept, and then arrived in Resistencia (where I’ll be living this year) Wednesday morning. Pastor Raul Gleim picked me up from the bus station and I spent the first two with him and his wife in their house. Then on Friday after last year’s YAGM (Young Adults in Global Mission) volunteer took off, I moved into the house where she stayed. It is a little house in the back yard of a very sweet elderly couple’s house, and in the front of the house is the church office.

The terrain is flat and swampy with tropical plants and lagoons. Resistencia, a city of roughly 400,000 people, is a city of sculptures of all sorts of styles. The city centers around a very large plaza, Plaza 25 de Mayo (25th of May), which is the actual Independence Day of Argentina (and also my birthday). The culture here is distinct, especially as compared to Buenos Aires. It’s more laid back and they have a nice siesta in the afternoons. This is the capital and main urban center of the Province of Chaco. Chaco is home to many indigenous people, who are an ostracized minority in the country. Chaco is also one of the poorest provinces in the country. There are many children throughout the province who suffer from malnutrition. Because of these realities, there are many people that migrate to the city and settle on the outskirts.

So far I have been getting acquainted with my pastor/supervisor, who along with the other people I’ve met, has been very warm and welcoming. I have already gotten to attend a worship service at Misión Maria Magdalena (Mary Magdalene Mission), which is on the outskirts of Resistencia. The church has been a driving force for, and partner with, many social programs in the neighborhood, and the pastor works with a couple of social workers. There are hot meals for children, after-school programs, health programs, and several other programs the church is involved with. The other church I’ll be with is in Corrientes, a city of about the same size, which is across the Parana river. I’ll be preaching at both churches next week.

That’s it for now, thanks for all of the prayers and support you all have offered me.

Deportation of Elvira Arellano

Please read the article below. Several months ago I was able to meet Elvira Arellano, her son Saul, and the pastor of the church she was taking sanctuary in, and I can say that her spirit of hope amidst adversity is absolutely inspirational, and this New Sanctuary Movement (a movement where undocumented immigrants are staying in churches as a means of sanctuary and protection) is equally inspirational. It's no wonder her story of perseverance has drawn national attention. I hope her deportation will only strengthen and put more attention on the grave injustices of the current immigration system and the seperation of families.
For more information about the New Sanctuary Movement and how you and your church can get involved, go to: http://www.newsanctuarymovement.org

Illegal immigrant deported after leaving church
Activist and national symbol for illegal immigrant parents leaves son behind

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20284646/

LOS ANGELES - An illegal immigrant who took refuge in a Chicago church for a year to avoid being separated from her U.S.-born son has been deported to Mexico, the church’s pastor said.
Elvira Arellano became an activist and a national symbol for illegal immigrant parents as she defied her deportation order and spoke out from her religious sanctuary. She held a news conference last week to announce that she would finally leave the church to try to lobby U.S. lawmakers for change.
She had just spoken at a Los Angeles rally when she was arrested Sunday outside Our Lady Queen of Angels church and deported, said the Rev. Walter Coleman, pastor of Adalberto United Methodist Church in Chicago, where Arellano had been living.
“She is free and in Tijuana,” said Coleman, who said he spoke to her on the phone. “She is in good spirits. She is ready to continue the struggle against the separation of families from the other side of the border.”
Her 8-year-old son, Saul, is now living with Coleman’s family. During a news conference in Los Angeles after Arellano’s arrest, the boy hid behind the pastor’s wife and wiped away tears.
Arellano had said on Saturday that she was not afraid of being taken into custody by immigration agents.
“From the time I took sanctuary, the possibility has existed that they arrest me in the place and time they want,” she said in Spanish. “I only have two choices. I either go to my country, Mexico, or stay and keep fighting. I decided to stay and fight.”
Second deportationArellano, 32, arrived in Washington state illegally in 1997. She was deported to Mexico shortly afterward, but returned and moved to Illinois in 2000, taking a job cleaning planes at O’Hare International Airport.
She was arrested in 2002 at O’Hare and convicted of working under a false Social Security number. She was to surrender to authorities last August but instead sought refuge at the church on Aug. 15, 2006.
She had not left the church property until she decided to travel by car to Los Angeles, Coleman said.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed her arrest and said she was deported Sunday night through San Diego’s San Ysidro border crossing. The discussions there included Luis Cabrera, Mexico’s general consul in San Diego, and Robin Baker, ICE’s director of detention and removals in San Diego, ICE spokeswoman Lauren Mack said.
“Obviously this was a woman who didn’t want to go. They wanted to make sure any possible legal avenue that may have been open to her was closed,” Mack said. “This was a very, very sensitive removal for us as well as Mexico.”
Outside an ICE office in Chicago on Monday, about 50 people protested Arellano’s deportation. “It wakes us up to do something,” said Bertha Rangel, who brought her three young children to the rally.
Arellano is staying with a friend in Tijuana, Coleman said. He said she had brought to light her struggle, and for that, “she has won a victory.”
Vows to fight from Mexico“She’ll be organizing on the Mexican side of the border while we’re organizing in the (United) States,” Coleman said Monday. “She’ll be talking to organizations throughout Mexico and congressmen in Mexico City.”
Coleman said he and other activists will continue Arellano’s original plan to go to Washington, D.C., and take part in a prayer meeting and rally for immigration reform at the Capitol on Sept. 12.
Immigration activists promised protests and vigils to support Arellano.
“We are sad, but at the same time we are angry,” said Javier Rodriguez, a Chicago immigration activist who worked with Arellano. “How dare they arrest this woman?”
Anti-illegal immigrant groups said the arrest was long overdue.
“Just because the woman has gone public and made an issue of the fact that she is defying law doesn’t mean the government doesn’t have to do its job,” said Ira Mehlman of the Federation for American Immigration Reform, which favors limits on immigration.
Arellano has repeatedly called for a stop to immigration raids that break up families with some members who are in the U.S. legally and others illegally. She has said her son would be deprived of his rights as a U.S. citizen if he had to go to Mexico simply because she did.
While being arrested, Arellano spoke briefly with her son before submitting to authorities, said Emma Lozano, Coleman’s wife and head of immigration rights group Centro Sin Fronteras in Chicago.
“She calmed him down, hugged him and gave him a blessing,” Lozano said.