[ad_1]
Sonia García, president of the Latina Muslim Basis, performs with a cat on the Assabil shelter for Muslim migrants in Tijuana.
Toya Sarno Jordan
disguise caption
toggle caption
Toya Sarno Jordan
Sonia García, president of the Latina Muslim Basis, performs with a cat on the Assabil shelter for Muslim migrants in Tijuana.
Toya Sarno Jordan
TIJUANA, Mexico — Six miles from the U.S.-Mexico border, Muslims collect to hope in an-oud scented musalla. The prayer room sits inside a two-story, 8,000 sq. foot refugee shelter, full with a minaret and a blue dome.
It is a beacon for Muslims arriving to the town from everywhere in the world in search of a brand new life elsewhere.
“After they come right here … they really feel comfy,” mentioned Sonia García, president of the Latina Muslim Basis, the group that runs the shelter.
The shelter supplies quite a lot of companies: authorized help, medical care, language and Quran lessons. There are separate quarters for women and men lined with bunk beds. There’s additionally one other room to quarantine individuals once they get sick.
The constructing was transformed from an occasion house that was as soon as used for quinceañeras and birthday events. It has a industrial kitchen and a eating space. The musalla the place native Muslims and shelter residents worship was as soon as a bar.
A migrant from Guinea, who’s presently ready for his household to reach in Tijuana, walks up the steps on the shelter.
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
disguise caption
toggle caption
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
A migrant from Guinea, who’s presently ready for his household to reach in Tijuana, walks up the steps on the shelter.
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
García greets a girl earlier than Friday prayer.
Toya Sarno Jordan
disguise caption
toggle caption
Toya Sarno Jordan
García greets a girl earlier than Friday prayer.
Toya Sarno Jordan
“It was a consuming place … We are saying from haram to halal,” García jokes.
A number of years in the past, when García was volunteering at one other migrant shelter, she observed girls in hijab. That bought her fascinated about creating an area the place Muslims can really feel extra comfy. One the place they might pray 5 occasions a day and be served halal meals.
The ladies she noticed that day have been from Somalia. However because the shelter opened in June, García has welcomed individuals from Yemen, Afghanistan, and Russia.
García says there aren’t loads of Muslims in Mexico. She estimates there are round 100 in Tijuana and neighboring Rosarito. “It is sufficient to know that we’re rising,” she mentioned. García herself transformed to Islam from Catholicism.
Mexico is a Christian majority nation. In line with the 2020 Mexican authorities census, about 78% of the inhabitants identifies as Catholic and 11% as Protestant/Christian Evangelical. Solely 0.2% determine with different religions, together with Islam.
Fátima Zagada, accountable for the kitchen and cleansing duties, cleans the ground earlier than Friday prayer.
Toya Sarno Jordan
disguise caption
toggle caption
Toya Sarno Jordan
Fátima Zagada, accountable for the kitchen and cleansing duties, cleans the ground earlier than Friday prayer.
Toya Sarno Jordan
García, left, attends Friday prayer on the mosque.
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
disguise caption
toggle caption
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
García, left, attends Friday prayer on the mosque.
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
Whereas Mexico is predominately Catholic, García says the area people has been receptive to the Muslim shelter. “They respect that we have now sure guidelines – the best way we pray, the best way we eat, the best way we stay,” she mentioned.
Most of the individuals on the shelter left their house international locations due to political persecution and struggle. “They do not wish to go away,” García mentioned. “But when there’s something harmful … they do not have a selection. They’ve to depart.”
A few of those that arrive on the shelter are traumatized by what they skilled of their house international locations. “Particularly the children,” García mentioned. “After they come right here to Mexico, they’re so scared they do not wish to go away the room.”
It may possibly take months to construct belief with kids. She says a few of them refuse to speak and others have anger points. However she sympathizes with them.
“Think about listening to bombs, weapons each day,” García mentioned.
The shelter supplies artwork lessons and psychologists to attempt to assist them cope. Refugees largely study concerning the shelter by means of phrase of mouth and social media.
García additionally talks with the administrators of different shelters in Mexico to ask Muslims to return to hers. She tells them, “Should you see somebody praying on the ground, [who] doesn’t eat pork, who has hijab … ship them to us.”
For García, the hope is to make individuals really feel protected and safe throughout a few of the most daunting occasions of their life.
Individuals attend Friday prayer on the mosque within the Assabil shelter.
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
disguise caption
toggle caption
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
Individuals attend Friday prayer on the mosque within the Assabil shelter.
Toya Sarno Jordan/NPR
[ad_2]
