A Weekend to Remember:
Marymount’s Social Justice Volunteer Retreat in Tijuana

by Nassef Girgis, Director of Campus Ministry

For the past four years, Marymount College’s Campus Ministry has organized a fall weekend social justice retreat in Tijuana, Mexico.

This fall, close to 25 Marymount students, accompanied by the director of Campus Ministry and a faculty member, drove from campus to the La Morita community on the southeastern outskirts of Tijuana. During the weekend, our group worked hand in hand on construction projects with the youth group of Saint Eugenio Mission, our hosts. The evenings were dedicated to group reflection, sharing, visitations to the local homes, social activities, and a fiesta with the Mexican youth. On Sunday morning, we attended mass at the local church and actively participated in the prayers of the community.

The experience has been very rewarding and life-changing for our students, who saw it as an eye-opener that allowed them to gain a different perspective. By placing roofs on homes and digging ditches, they were able to make a difference in the lives of Mexican families. As one student put it, “It is the most significant experience of my life.”

For Marymount faculty and administrators, it was a chance to foster our commitment to global solidarity and to share in the common bond of our humanity.

The reflections of Marymount College student Jennifer George, who participated in the Tijuana retreat in the fall of 2006.

“A PLACE…..”
La Morita Tijuana, Mexico

La Morita is more than a poor town in Mexico. It’s a place where hope, love and faith live. It’s a place full of laughter, friendship and compassion. It’s a place where children play and adults worry about what tomorrow will bring. A place where a child who has nothing would give you one of the few toys he or she has. It’s a place where adults would offer you a meal, even when they may not have enough for themselves, a place where the walls of homes are made of garage doors and doors of shower curtains. It’s a place where floors are made of dirt, and a warm shower is hard to come by. A place where medical attention is not really an option and school is not for every child. La Morita is a place that needs our help. But when you go there, you, too, would realize that we might need their help even more than they need ours. La Morita is a place to learn about who we are as people. It’s a place that teaches one to be humble. A place that will show you what true love for humankind is. A place that will show you what the human race is all about, a place that changes all who come in contact with it, a place that encompasses the word LOVE, a place that I was honored to be a guest, a place I hope to come back to. I hope together we can make a difference in this place.