DIGITAL NARRATIVES

The axis of expression through Digital Narratives consists of the production of short videos of 5 to 7 minutes by a production team made by students from the universities that collaborated with the project, directed by each defender who revealed their soul and their story. The students of the Universidad Iberoamericana Campus Tijuana in 2020 and of the University of San Diego in 2020 and 2021, accompanied them in this creative process of self-representation.

The Humanizing Deportation Project at UC Davis University, led by Robert Irwin, provided training to students on the development of Digital Narratives as a technique for telling stories. The story selection process was guided by Ricardo Camarena and Cynthia Ramírez from Cultiva Ya!, through community workshops in which the defenders who produced their stories participated.

It is the product of collaborative work by a binational community, which will temporarily be available on the Alma Migrante page and will later be transferred to an exclusive domain of the project developed by defenders of the rights of the migrant population in Baja California, the which has resulted in collaboration between those who did not know each other before and a space to look at themselves and each other.

They are stories that show their visions of the world, the values that inspire them and the work they do from an anonymous community of service that deserves solidarity in a way appropriate to their circumstances.

2020

Lourdes Lizaldi

“To help and love others there are no borders”

Lourdes is an independent defender and cultural promoter, with 26 years of experience assisting migrants in vulnerable situations in Mexicali, Rosarito, Tecate and Tijuana.

Anonymous Defender

Volunteer for Al Otro Lado (www.alotrolado.org), an organization with a presence in Tijuana, dedicated to legal assistance for the asylum-seeking population in the United States.

Judith Galindo

“I want the legacy that Pastor Altamirano built to last”

https://www.facebook.com/IgleciaCs), colloquially called the Pípila shelter, by the name of the neighborhood where it is located in our city.

Judith dedicates the creation of her digital narrative to the memory of Pastor José Antonio Altamirano, who died this year due to the COVID 19 pandemic, in response to the migrant cause. This has been a very sensitive loss for our entire community and it is also an occasion to honor his memory.

Elizabeth Sánchez

“I sympathize with your struggle to seek a better life”

Elizabeth is a volunteer interpreter for the organizations Refugee Health Alliance and Al Otro Lado (https://www.refugeehealthalliance.org/ and (https://alotrolado.org/).

She dedicates this volunteer work to building bridges between the migrant population and health and legal professionals who provide her services in her native language, English, to the Spanish-speaking population in a situation of mobility.

Daniel Roberto García

“You have to applaud yourself, because there are sacrifices that many do not understand”

Litigation lawyer, graduated from the Autonomous University of Baja California, working for migrant women and children at the Madre Asunta Institute in Tijuana (http://institutomadreasunta.com.mx/).

Julia Gómez

“Words convince, example drags!”

Julia is the general director and founder of the non-profit organization Vihctoria BC (https://www.facebook.com/Vihctoria-AC-107338118257983/), dedicated to providing information on HIV and sexually transmitted infections, links and accompaniment to 24-hour health and psychosocial support services, aimed at the general population, through a 24-7 Comprehensive service line. She is an advocate for the LGBTTTIQ+ migrant community.

Robert Vibar

“When you defend the human rights of others, God will defend yours”

Robert Vivar is an advocate for deported veterans in Tijuana (https://www.facebook.com/VeteransWithoutBorders) and (https://www.uusdepvets.org/)

He has been a co-founder of various local organizations and collaborates in defense of various rights of the population in a context of mobility.

2021

Claudia Portela

“I take on the challenge of living each day with intensity, trying to provide support to those who come close, doing my bit to make the world a kinder, more humane place.”

Claudia Portela is the coordinator of the six works of the Tijuana Salesian Project, directly in charge of the Padre Chava Salesian shelter for migrants and breakfast area, as well as the Shelter for women and children.

The Salesian Project in Tijuana (https://www.salesianostijuanapst.org/) seeks the comprehensive promotion of children and adolescents and people in vulnerable situations through dignity, equity and defense of their rights for the simple sense of being human beings.

Andrea Rincón

“Education has no borders”

Andrea Rincón is the director and founder of Border Youth (https://www.facebook.com/search/top?q=border%20youth%20collective), a non-profit organization from Tijuana that is dedicated to the implementation and coordination of projects and educational programs in other organizations that provide humanitarian aid for the protection of migrant-refugee children and youth.

Nicolette Ibarra

“Without the participation of the excluded, the vulnerable and the poor, we cannot speak of a true democracy”

Nicolette Ibarra is the director and founder of the Familia Trans Queer Sin Fronteras project (https://www.facebook.com/Familia-Trans-Queer-Sin-Fronteras-101540358994579), dedicated to the deployment of various activities for the benefit and care of the community LGBTTTIQ+, among whom it also serves people in a context of mobility.

The event

The soul and story of migrant defenders: Digital Narratives 2021

was an intrinsic celebration of the existence of people who make up our community.

On December 11, 2021, within the framework of International Human Rights Day, the first public screening of the digital narratives produced during the two years of the 2020 and 2021 pandemic was held in the Federico Campbell Room of the Tijuana Cultural Center, with the participation of the Tijuana Opera.

The event “The Soul and Story of Migrant Defenders: Digital Narratives 2021” was an intrinsic celebration of the existence of people who make up our community.

“We want to help strengthen the community of human rights defenders in immigration matters, which is already very powerful, with our experience”

Influence the strategic, multidisciplinary and community defense of the human rights of people in the context of human mobility on the northern border through adequate training in access to justice for human capital that defends this population in the state of Baja California.

The regional community of defenders of the rights of persons in the context of human mobility has extensive first-hand experience in caring for this population, which is why Alma Migrante, A.C. puts at your service the transmission of experience in matters of access to justice so that community initiatives in this area have long-term autonomy.