Yesterday was a long but very good day with the staff of the Norte del Paso Human Rights Centre in Ciudad Juarez. It finished with a 5 hour bus ride to Chihuahua City, where we will be spending most of the next two days.
But more about today’s work in the next entry. For now, I wanted to tell the story of the Neutral Tree.
At the end of our time wth the Centre, they drove us to visit a couple of Colonias (neighborhoods) in Juarez where they run programs for women and children to help teach human rights and to build community. As you might imagine, this work can be very challenging and slow to build in a city that has been caught in the grips of drug cartel violence for years. But they persevere!
The second colonia we visited is called Granjas de Chapultec. As we drove in and parked next to a large open field with a couple of soccer goals in the middle of it, we saw a bare tree at one end of the field. The other end was a large earthen embankment behind which are a couple of maquilas (factories).
But the tree- the only one in sight- was our destination. The tree was used as the meeting point for the children’s and women’s programs in the colonia.
Sylvia, the Centre’s staff person who runs the programs in Granjas de Capultec, explained that relationships between the indigenous people- the Mazahuas- and the other residents in the area were strained. There was little trust between families, so they couldn’t hold meetings in anyone’s house. Instead, they meet under the tree.
“The tree is neutral. It gives its shade to everyone,” she explained. We laughed. But that comment stayed with me.
I think that the idea of being a neutral tree- of giving to all what you have to offer regardless of their background, race, nationality, or creed- is a good one.
The Paso del Norte Human Rights Centre does the same thing. When a family comes to them to get help in denouncing the disappearance or torture of a loved one, Padre Oscar doesn’t ask about their background, he finds out their story and refers them to the appropriate Centre staff to help.
In Ciudad Juarez, the Paso del Norte Centre *is* a neutral tree. Of course, they’re one that also meets under the Neutral Tree.