#ArtisansBeyondBorders – Art & Faith in the Desert

Artisans Beyond Borders 2024 Spring/Summer Newsletter: Borderland Recuerdo Workshops, Exhibitions, Shelter News and more…

During the school year, students from across the U.S. often come to the Tucson/Nogales sector for Border Immersion studies. At our favorite workshop this Spring, a large group of students, guided by Shelley K. White, Associate Professor and director of Experiential Learning at Boston College’s Global Public Health and the Common Good, joined Bordadora profesora Wendy Lopez Aguilar and this writer for a hands-on Border Arts Workshop.

“…Your story and experiences were so moving! The art was beautiful, and so was our experience practicing it…” Emma. This transformative experience allows the participants to connect with the asylum-seekers on a deeper level, understanding their struggles and resilience through art.

“… participating in this restorative work, I found the art to be super healing and restful…” Miryam

The Recuerdos de la Frontera that each student created at the workshop inspired them to curate their own exhibition of storycloths “Presente: El Arte de la Humanidad.” back at Boston College. The storycloths they chose, hand-stitched by asylum seekers sheltered in Nogales, were then auctioned off by the students to benefit Undocumented students.

The students took the initiative to create a beautiful Instagram page, https://www.instagram.com/art.for.migration.justice/, to bring attention to the Storycloths. Check it out, and be sure to follow and forward. They set an example for all of us by using art and culture to move the needle forward and subvert the ongoing dehumanization of migration. We are so proud of them!

Bordando Esperanza Exhibitions in Boston and Miami

This Spring also, our exhibition “Bordando Esperanza – Embroidering Hope” mantas created by asylum-seekers stranded at the border from 2020 – 2023, opened at Suffolk University Center for Diversity and Inclusion. The exhibition was joyfully represented by Sister Lika Macias, Director of the shelter La Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones in Nogales, Mexico.

After the Suffolk University exhibition closed, the exhibition went to the University of Miami. After learning about Wendy’s experience migrating from El Salvador with a child, students again took the lead and organized their own student-led bilingual guided tours of the exhibition.

We’re looking forward to September when Bordando Esperanza will be showing at the University of Chicago. Students will hang the show, and makers from the Borderlands—Tucson and Nogales, Sonora—will be in attendance to inform and hopefully inspire.

Shelter News

Never Abandon your Dreams

Embroidered by Ana from Ecuador, at the shelter La Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones

The average wait to cross the border legally and petition for asylum is now 6-8 months. Families who’ve made it to the Arizona-Mexico Border are lucky to secure space in a shelter.

Now, after almost eight months of waiting in shelter La Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones in Nogales, Sonora, our weaving teacher Carla’s number has been called, and she is leaving legally for the U.S.

As an artisan specializing in textiles, Carla is a phenom. She designs her own apparel, sews by hand and machine, embroiders, knits, and now weaves. Even more impressive than her textile skill set is the way in which she empowers others to learn. Carla is a wonderful teacher. She’ll be an asset to any part of the U.S. where she and her family settle.

Helping artisans survive and thrive in their new communities is a big part of our core mission as it has evolved over the last few years. Your donations to the Artisans Beyond Borders website will help Carla with the resources and support she needs to realize her lifelong dream of opening a shop.

Carla teaching embroidery, sewing and weaving to children and adults

Carla has passed the baton to our next on-site resident teacher: Yandé, a textile designer from Senegal who, like Carla, is multi-talented. Delighted to add weaving to her palette, Yandé now teaches other residents and visitors in the same subtle and patient way as Carla. Both of them are blessings at the shelter and the community at large. Artisans Beyond Borders can continue to pay the teachers a modest monthly stipend for as long as donations to Artisans Beyond Borders allow.

Yandé and Carla dressing a table loom together

This writer with Carla and Yandé, the shelter’s current teacher. Yandé holds up an intricately embroidered Guadalupe, the empress of the Americas, with the U.S. on one side and Mexico on the other. Every square inch of Yandé’s custom piece, a month in the making, is embroidered in chain stitch!

Casa Cardo

Thanks to the collaborative efforts of Artisans Beyond Borders and volunteers, an outbuilding at a new small shelter in Tucson has been beautifully transformed into ‘la Sala de las Artesanias,’ the craft room.

For resident solo women asylum-seekers and their children, the light-filled multi-use space is a santuario, a sanctuary for imagination and soul. Generous art and craft donations from the community have already provided opportunities and materials for weaving and healing, embroidering, sewing, and more. The Santuario is now fully stocked, so Artisans Beyond Borders gratefully accepts financial donations (only) on the website to cover healing-centered arts programming for the women and children.

And more…

After six years running, Artisans Beyond Borders will be taking a Summer Sabbatical in the country from June to September 2024. This writer, for one, is looking forward to days filled with flow, long-form writing, and weaving. We wish everyone a wonderful summer. See you in September!

P.S. If you are not already subscribed to this blog and you want to continue receiving good news behind the scenes, please hit the subscribe button. We need more followers to be able to grow into a more hopeful future here on the border and beyond. Thank you!

In Border peace,

Binational Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders

New Year 2024 – Un Regalo para Ti ~ A Gift for You

“We will see together a new Dawn,” embroidered by Carla

*God will not abandon us*
Embroidered at the shelter Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones, by Lorenza

2023 was a dark time for displaced families around the world, yet against all odds, hope endures. As we move forward into 2024, let’s amplify these quiet voices of hope.

Magical Mariposas

When I think about hope, it’s Jhony’s face I see, a child from El Salvador, in a newcomer family, staring in awe at a mariposa alive in his hand. That day, at Tucson’s recent Migrant Memorial Service at Southside Presbyterian, Jhony tiptoed up to me, spellbound with enchantment, and opened his hand. Holding his breath so as not to disturb the fragile butterfly, he looked up and met my eye in silent wonder.

Each year, the Migrant Memorial service remembers and honors the hundreds of people who die each year migrating across our desert. Stones gathered from the desert, marked with the names of the dead are placed, one by one, at the base of the Migrant Shrine in the church’s courtyard. Most of the stones are marked desconocido, to represent the incredible number of unknown Jane and John Doe’s. After every stone was put into place, the Reverend Allison J. Harrington called all the children to her and presented them with a box. When the children opened the box, a kaleidoscope of monarch-colored butterflies swarmed the courtyard, and a collective Oh! rippled through the crowd.

In many cultures, Monarchs represent the souls of our deceased loved ones. For Mexicans, the monarch’s historically large migrations symbolize family unity reminding us that we are all family in the afterlife. According to Wikipedia, the same is true for Egyptian, Indian, Russian, and Irish cultures as well. Above all, Monarchs symbolize Hope, a gift for us all. I won’t soon forget this day and I doubt that Jhony will either.

*Transform your fear into strength and you will live*, Embroidered by Mayeli

Make and Give

In a world dead-set on destruction, the most radical response is to create and then create more. Wonder-fully. Fearlessly. Individually and together in solidarity. To create is generative, life-affirming, and naturally healing. To create is to hope.

Recently, Tucson’s Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders teamed up with high school youth to create Maker bags stuffed with healing-centered art supplies and activities for families legally waiting in line for asylum at the port of entry in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico. The youth, here from Bainbridge Island in Washington State with their teachers to learn about the U.S.-Mexico Border, were guided by educators at Globalroutes.org.

At the recently renovated Ward 6 conference building in Tucson, the students bagged supplies and materials for 160 comfort projects ranging from culturally aligned Bordado-embroidery Maker Bags & Mandala designs for adults, to Ojos de Dios – God’s Eyes and pulseras de Amistad – friendship bracelets kits, to backpack journals for school-age kids, and coloring packets for pre-schoolers. Students labeled each bag Un regalo para ti – A Gift for you and then added bows. The students were dedicated and organized.

These well-thought-out Arte y actividades projects (Craftways) were put together based on experience with families in trauma at Casa Alitas, Tucson’s main shelter for asylum seekers. As volunteers, we all agreed that it was time for the Craftway kits, good medicine for the heart, hands, and soul, to go directly to families waiting at the border entrance. With enough donations secured, we hope that our colleagues at Voices from the Border can carry the practice forward.

At the Port of Entry

At the De Concini port of entry in Nogales, tense families packed in shoulder to shoulder against one wall. At first, people seemed a bit unsure, but the more projects we gave out with no expectations, the more relaxed the crowd became, and the more smiles ensued. Families were surprised and delighted to be offered a choice of projects.

Linda, volunteering with Voices from the Border hands out Maker’s bags to families waiting for an appointment to legally cross the border, Nogales, Sonora, MX

Volunteers from Artisans Beyond Borders (ABB), Tucson’s Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Migration Ministries, Tubac’s Border Community Alliance, and as far away as Marana teamed up with volunteers Pancho and Linda from Voices from the Border.

A woman waiting, seeking asylum, begins immediately embroidering with the new materials.

It was a special day for this writer. Separated by the wall and the pandemic, it had been forever since I’d seen Pancho, our first partner in Mexico. From the start of ABB, in 2019 when we volunteers first began to do arts outreach in the streets, Pancho, a frontline nurse at the border and a great friend to the people, was the first to jump in and help us organize, translate, and build trust. Whenever we felt like we couldn’t do enough, Pancho reminded us: “Poco a poco” – you do what you can.

Speaking of doing enough, the families that we served that day were under a roof and had blankets to ward against the cold while they waited at the port of entry. By contrast, families with little or nothing are being dropped off now by the cartels at remote areas along the wall. They are desperate. Every day, local helpers try to bring enough blankets, warm clothing, food, and water to families stranded at the wall. We all do whatever we can. Please consider donating directly to our helpers on the front lines:

The Green Valley – Sahuarita Samaritans

No More Deaths – No Mas Muertos

Tucson Samaritans

Humane Borders

Creative Community at the Shelter

After all of the Arte y actividades were passed out, we went to the posada celebration at the shelter La Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones. Las Posadas is a traditional Mexican religious festival commemorating Mary and Joseph’s migration from Nazareth to Bethlehem in search of a safe place for Mary to give birth to Jesus. In addition to tamales and traditional drinks, shelter youth gifted all the visitors with sweet performances and dancing. Whenever I visit this shelter, I always leave feeling invigorated and spiritually replenished. It’s like drinking the purest water from a deep well of friendship and family.

The littles and their teachers for Las Posadas at la Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones. Their costumes, including the girl’s skirts, were created from brown wrapping paper.

The shelter’s weaving studio Artisans Beyond Borders established in the summer of 2023 in collaboration with shelter staff, allows guests quiet respite, focus, and flow. Guests have learned the basic techniques and best practices for handlooming patterned mug rugs (coasters), Diamond Twill bookmarks, and more. One-of-a-kind and limited, some can be found for sale in the office at the shelter. They are also offered for donation while supplies last at ArtisansBeyondBorders.org website.

Hand-loomed Mug Rugs woven by guests at the shelter

Diamond Twill Bookmarks handwoven by guests

One of the coolest skills that guests picked up this year was backstrap weaving taught by Karen, an ABB volunteer from Marana who has studied with master weavers around the world.

Backstrap weaving at la Casa de las Misericordia y Todos Naciones Shelter, Nogales, Sonora, MX

We visitors from the U.S. come as guest teachers. As long as donations to ABB hold out, we can pay a small stipend to keep an on-site teacher at the community. Early on, after our first teacher rotated out, Mayra became the next weaving teacher. Mayra quickly surpassed basic skills and went on to teach guests to weave on handlooms and now backstrap weaving. Her patient and loving presence will be dearly missed when it comes time for her to leave for the U.S. The tradition “each one, teach one,” we’ve instilled at the shelter helps Mayra pass the baton to the next teacher.

Embroidering continues to flourish at la Casa de las Misericordia y Todas Naciones, and we are seeing more story cloths as time goes on. I believe we see more now because the makers feel truly safe at this gated shelter. They finally have the space to breathe and the support to have their feelings.

If they don’t feel confident enough to draw what they see in their imaginations, they feel comfortable asking for assistance from Director Sister Lika Macias, a painter, who can help them realize their vision. Similar to story cloths found in other conflict areas around the world, the embroiderer stitches her or his story of migration and loss, memory, and prayer. Deeply personal and true, the maker can begin to heal in the process.

*We will see together a new Dawn*, embroidered by Carla

Bordando Esperanza – Embroidering Hope Exhibition

If you are in the Tucson area and you are interested in story cloths, especially as they relate to the cultural history of our borderlands, faith, and migration, there’s still time to view the exhibition “Bordando Esperanza- Embroidering Hope, 75 individual mantas embroidered by asylum seekers, at Border Community Alliance in Tubac where the exhibition has been extended through January 2024. This Winter, the Exhibition will be at Suffolk University in Boston. We are planning for Miami University in the Spring and are reserved for the University of Chicago in the Fall of 2024.

If you’d like to help support Wendy Lopez and her family, our embroiderer from El Salvador (now in Tucson) who created the central story cloth of the exhibition, visit our Direct-to-Artisan sales page: Her contemporary feminine work is super popular and she takes commissions. This is a wonderful opportunity to support artisan families to survive in the U.S.

To everyone who has supported the Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders throughout 2023, mil gracias – thank you! None of this would have been possible without your support.

May Peace prevail in the year to come.

V. James and Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders

1/1/2024

What’s happening now with Artisans Beyond Borders? Adaptation with Migration

Spring/Summer 2022

It has been a busy season for Artisans Beyond Borders. The top story in June is Artisans Beyond Border’s Binational ZOOM panel on “Adaptation with Migration” for W.A.R.P. (Weaving a Real Peace), the International networking organization for Textile Artisans and their initiatives. We lead off a number of fabulous panels, with wonderful presenters from all over the world that you don’t want to miss if you can help it. Panels on Saturday, June 25, and Sunday, June 26 are FREE, open to everyone, and easy to register. (Scroll down that page to see all the rest of the presenters and descriptions of their panel discussions).

Adaptation with Migration

Panel Discussion with Artisans Beyond Borders

Saturday, June 25th at 12:30 pm US Eastern Time

“Every day around the world, people make one of the most difficult decisions in their lives: to leave their homes in search of a safer, better life. At la Casa de la Misericordia y Todas Naciones – the House of Mercy and all Nations, asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border have a safe place to wait for entry to the US. There, Artisans Beyond Borders supports bordadoras (embroiderers) and tejedoras (weavers). Through the acts of weaving, stitching, and crocheting, these artisans create a piece of home in this new, unknown place. Artisans Beyond Borders and their non-profit partners in Mexico help restore grace and agency through traditional handwork, solidarity among the artisans, and respect for cultural and familial arts across borders.

The binational Artisans Beyond Borders also works with embroiderers and weavers newly arrived in the U.S., who are legally petitioning for asylum after waiting months, even years, at the U.S.-Mexico border. One of the first things often lost in migration is one’s own cultural and familial art, resulting in deep cultural bereavement and deculturation. What are Artisans Beyond Borders and their partners doing to preserve our new neighbors’ maker tradition(s)? On this panel, we will hear the stories of Artisans Beyond Borders, their partners, and the artisans themselves. We will discover why upholding handmade cultural and familial arts – pre-and post-migration – is critical now to all of us moving forward.”

Panelists:

Sister Lika Macias is the executive director of la Casa de la Misericordia y Todas Naciones – the House of Mercy and all Nations, a migrant led shelter in Nogales, Mexico. Hermana Lika is a respected and skilled community leader who believes strongly in the power of art to heal, comfort, and foster solidarity amongst the shelter’s residents. Recently, Sister Lika and staff established a Maker space at the shelter for the resident embroiderers, weavers, and sewers. A talented painter in her own right, Sister Lika studied traditional iconography in Rome, South America, and Russia.

Esmerelda Ibarra, an indigenous embroiderer from Guerrero, Mexico, is a leading voice in the Save Asylum movement advocating for human rights and the dignity of indigenous people. Esmerelda worked with Artisans Beyond Borders while she and her family were stranded at the U.S. Mexico border for almost two years, and now in the U.S. as she and her family await asylum. Esmerelda’s indigenous embroidery, carried by the United Nations Association Center in Tucson, has also inspired the Global Initiatives program at the Parsons School of Design. “At the border, I was able to embroider again and it made me remember my beautiful childhood. It brings me love and much tranquility inside my heart,” she says.

As the Border and Migration Outreach Coordinator for the West Coast Mennonite Central Committee and the co-coordinator of Arizona’s Casa Mariposa Detention Visitation Program, Katherine Smith is dedicated to working with asylum seekers and teaching others about immigration and border realities. After college, Kat spent a year volunteering with the Women’s Co-op ANADESA in Santiago Atitlán, Guatemala and lived with her host family of traditional embroiderers. Back in the States, she served as the Site and Volunteer Coordinator for Casa Alitas (House of Wings), Tucson’s lead Migrant Shelter, and now she works closely with Artisans Beyond Borders leading the U.S. Support team for las bordadoras (the embroiderers) who are legally awaiting asylum in the U.S.

**Valarie James with a bordadora at Tucson’s Casa Alitas Shelter**

Panel Moderator: Valarie James, the founder of Artisans Beyond Borders, affirms art, faith, and social justice in the U.S.-Mexico Borderlands. As an artist and writer, James is best known for collaborative public art in Tucson including Las Madres: No Más Lágrimas (No More Tears), The Migrant Shrine at Southside, and the installation ‘Hardship and Hope at the U.S. Mexico Border’ at the Museum of World Culture in Gothenburg, Sweden. As a retired Clinical Art Therapist, James led the trauma-informed arts & activities at Tucson’s Casa Alitas Migrant shelter and she is currently the lead curator for the artisans’ traveling exhibition Bordando Esperanza – Embroidering Hope: Retablos of Asylum. Writings on arts and immigration can be found at Art and Faith in the Desert

In the last 4 months, the Artisans Beyond Borders exhibition Embroidering Hope ~ Bordando Esperanza has traveled from the Good Shepherd UCC Church in Sahuarita, Arizona to the University of Southern California, to St. Marks Episcopal in Columbus, Ohio.

*Bordando Esperanza* ~ Embroidering Hope
April 2022, University Religious Center,
University of Southern California

Carrying the soul and the stories of the makers, the exhibition has been beautifully received. Spend time with any of the 75 original mantas, especially the bordados devocionales – the devotional embroideries, and you may find yourself slipping into Visio Divina, the ancient Benedictine way of “listening with the ear of your heart.” Email: contact@ArtisansBeyondBorders to book the exhibition at your University or house of worship.

Columbus Alive

NPR

Yes!

Seeing all the embroidered servilletas on display in the exhibition, I’m transported back to a warm day last winter and the smell of freshly baked buns as they came out of the huge adobe horno built on the land at la Casa de la Misericordia y Todas las Naciones shelter in Nogales, home to many of the artisans while they wait to legally cross the border to apply for asylum.

Covering enough freshly baked bread with embroidered *servilletas* for residents to make it through a week at the shelter.

*La Bordadora at la Casa de la Misericordia y Todas las Naciones* Shelter in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico

And in case you missed it – A beautiful inspirational Story from the shelter (in English and in Spanish):

Welcome the Weavers – las tejedoras at the U.S. – Mexico Border

Artisans Beyond Borders Fall/Winter 2020 Newsletter

Small but mighty hummingbird of the south, aztec symbol of strength in life’s struggle.

Our wonderful new Logo created by student Aurora Nicole Ambrose from the University of Arizona School of Art class in Designing for Community & social good.

Threading Hope

Now that we are heading into the Winter of the Pandemic, asylum-seekers and their families waiting in México are hanging on by the slimmest thread. Yet, artisans beyond borders are undeterred. Each is creating a future of her own composition in life-affirming color and resilient faith. Together, they ply that slim thread into a braid of hope as strong as Spider Silk. The chance to apply for Asylum in the U.S., could be just around the corner. They will wait as long as it takes.

Profiles in Courage and Creativity

“For me, all the memories are beautiful,” says Patricia, a 32-year-old single mother of three whose favorite things to embroider are flowers and fruit. Her family has always embroidered the natural manta cloth they use as satchels for wrapping warm tortillas in. In addition to the recuerdos tranquilos –tranquil memories of home that she fondly recalls when embroidering, Patricia now has a measure of personal agency.

Patricia’s garden in Guerrero, México was a field of flowers and fruit trees, they tended until organized crime came to their beloved part of the world, killed male members of her family, and threatened to kidnap the children. Patricia and her kids and a now fatherless nephew fled through the forest to Nogales, México, to seek asylum at the U.S. Port of entry.

“It was very difficult for me to leave everything and be able to get here (to the border) because I come with very low resources and with my three children that are minors which makes it difficult to work. The support that the Artisans’ group gives us for our labor embroidering the mantas is for me a great help to feed my children,” Patricia says.

*“Jesus and the Roses” by Patricia. Churches and Universities, Humanitarian and Cultural groups can arrange a Zoom viewing of the Artisans’ new faith-filled group exhibition:* Bordando Esperanza: Devotional Retablos of Asylum

Spotlighting the artisanal embroidery of Patricia, also shines a light on one of ABB’s key partners: Border Outreach Coordinator Kat Smith, featured in “Embroidering Hope” We would not be able to receive artisans’ wares across the closed border without Kat’s on-going commitment to outreach.

ArtisanS Beyond Borders new shop

For now, they have this bit of work. It is not near enough to meet their family’s needs but it is something and people in the U.S. are beginning to discover the artisan’s Etsy shop. Zoom presentations by Artisans Beyond Borders Zoom also help bring people to the border to accompany, witness and support them.

With the Etsy shop, they can get their work out there and buyers can choose their favorites. The makers are excited about designing and making new work – Market bags, mantas, and decorative guest towels. They watch the shop’s sales faithfully, and are lifted up each time someone makes a purchase.

Collector’s Corner

Embroidered Manta in the collection of Anita Tokos, Ohio

We extend our deep gratitude to Anita Tokos from Ohio, an ardent supporter of Artisans Beyond Borders from the start, who recently placed an order for 12 mantas for the holidays, our largest single order to date. Anita was raised in an immigrant family herself, and her words and the heart behind them, confer great respect for the other.

“They arrived! … It was special to savor each manta, picturing who should have a particular one. True to my nature, I was a bit emotional by the time I got to the last one. Have always been moved to tears easily. I knew immediately the one for each of my daughters – fruit for Anne who loves to try new foods and cooking, a quiet floral for Andrea who is calming and gentle, and the Calla Lily for Amelia who loves that flower. Looking forward to giving them to my daughters, sister and friends…and keeping another for myself…”

“The purse is wonderful and so appreciated. I did not even see the other side with “Dios es Amor” until this evening. Thank you! …All are vibrant and beautiful. As with the first one I received and framed, all are as the holy cards of my childhood, calling me to prayer for each person who did the stitching… and those who make it possible for them to stitch.“

“Hope my Spanish is spelled correctly – almost typed “ricamo di speranza” – the Italian version (of Bordando Esperanza)! I knew my prayers in Italian before I knew them in English. Love how that stuff pops into my head. So on that note, be blessed in all the beautiful languages of the world…”

Anita welcomes an embroidered tapestry by an Artisan Beyond Borders into her home.

*Fans of Artisans Beyond Borders ~ We are just beginning to establish social media platforms. Please take a minute to open and like, favorite and follow: Etsy, FB, INSTA, Pinterest, Youtube. It is very much appreciated by the makers.

“Hope hallows the heartache and activates a sacred imagination.” Sr. Julia Walsh writes in the Global Sisters Report. We’re here and it is hard but it is holy, and we are heading somewhere mysterious, and it is holy too…”

Artisans Beyond Borders missing family today and every day on Father’s Day, 2020

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Artisans Beyond Borders asylum seekers missing family, embroider together in a shelter in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico.

98825fa6-8699-4968-9e33-0164df466d2c — Honoring our male Artisans ~ Asylum seeker David’s beautiful embroidery.

1513e398-576b-4edb-afac-5b76b5637e67 — Artisan Beyond Borders Asylum seeker David on the floor of the shelter in Nogales, Sonora, Mexico designing a manta to embroider.

524e5a4c-bd00-40c1-9ca8-d419e717dcf2 — “Little Virgin Guide my Steps” original embroidery by Asylum seeker Israel at the U.S.- Mexico border in the middle of the pandemic.

3c73fef7-4761-48ed-b6a6-e5950ba0fbae — *Gentleman* Embroiderer Israel on the U.S. – Mexico border, Father’s Day 2020

Friends of Artisans Beyond Borders

Last Summer, I answered the call in this article: Migrant Women fleeing violence find Beauty and Healing in Embroidery

Over the next few months, that call flowered into Artisans Beyond Borders, a primary driver for creativity and grace, dignity, and economic empowerment for vulnerable asylum seekers in Nogales, Mexico.