Spring Break Service Trip to Mexicali

During spring break, undergrad and grad students are invited to participate in a trip to Mexicali, Mexico that is part service work and part educational. For more information, contact Andrew Barba (650/725-0080, abarba@stanford.edu) or Estella Cisneros (650/725-0080, cestella@stanford.edu).

Most mornings we will learn about social justice issues in Mexicali and most afternoons we will do service work, especially teaching kids. Here's a list of likely activities:

• buying food subsidies in local markets and delivering them to needy families
• touring a local factory to learn about working conditions
• leading afternoon Bible classes for 6 to 12 year old kids
• painting walls with murals to cover up graffiti
• teaching junior high and high school youth groups at the local parish
• visiting unincorporated townships/permanent campgrounds to learn about living conditions for the poor of the area
• theological reflections and discussions
• visiting an orphanage run by sisters and spending time with the orphans
• participating in the Sunday Masses at the local parish

Our hosts will be the parishioners and the Dominican padres of the Parroquia de Santa Maria de Guadalupe in Mexicali, Mexico. Students stay with host families in groups of 2-3 Stanford students per host family. About 2/3 of the meals are taken with the host family and 1/3 with the whole group. On evenings, students go out into town for various leisure activities.

The trip will be heavily subsidized by the Catholic Community, but each participant must pay a non-refundable deposit of $75, which will go towards our van, gas, food, and other expenses for the whole week. Need-based scholarships are available.

Application Questions
Only 12-15 undergraduate and graduate students can participate, so the Catholic Community Staff will choose team members based on their answers to the following three questions:

1. Why do you personally want to come on this trip?

2. What do you have to contribute to the team? (Previous service work experience, the ability to work well with kids, Spanish language skills, etc. can all be mentioned here, although none of these skills is required.)

3. What kind of activities would make this trip the best for you? (You can mention from the activities above or others that are not listed that you would enjoy as part of the service trip. This question is more for the Staff to know what interests you and make sure to include such things in our trip.)

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