Build a play structure in Juarez, Mexico

Build a play structure in Juarez, Mexico

The project

The goal of this team is to raise enough money to build a small climber in a migrant shelter in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, right across the border from El Paso, Texas. This shelter is specifically for single mothers and their children. It is small, with an environment that is supportive, and that helps prepare the migrants for a chance at a new life. In Juarez it is very dangerous for children to go beyond the walls of the shelter, and so they spend all of their time in this small space. Building this structure will help create a space for the children that is nurturing and that gives them agency to play and learn on their own terms. It is well proven that physical play, imaginative play and social play are essential components of healthy developmental growth, yet typically there is no infrastructure for this in refugee camps or shelters. This is in spite of the fact that children often comprise more than half of these populations, and in many cases, are living there for extended periods of time.

Who we are

This trip is an outgrowth of a relationship between two groups based in the Boston area, Voces Arts and Healing and Global Design Initiative for Refugee Children (GDIRC).

Voces (https://vocesartsandhealing.org/) is a group of artists and expressive arts therapists that has made several trips to Juarez to work in the shelters. Using music and visual arts, they reach out to children, as well as to their caregivers, to support them emotionally and help them process the trauma and loss they have experienced. Over the time they have been doing this work, they have made invaluable contacts with local community members and caregivers, many of whom have devoted years of work to caring for the migrants in their midst.

GDIRC (https://www.gdirc.org/) is a group of volunteer architects, designers and builders that has been planning playgrounds for refugee camps since the Syrian crisis began in 2016. Six playgrounds around the world have been built that they designed, and there are several projects currently in the works. GDIRC has collaborated with Voces on several outreach efforts in the Boston area, as well as in teaching and learning about the effects of trauma on migrant children.

Mitch Ryerson and Henry Stone are the volunteers who have designed this new play structure and who will be traveling to Juarez in late January to build it. Last year they were both in Reynosa, Mexico representing GDIRC and working with another group, Solidarity Engineering (https://www.solidarityengineering.org/) on a large playground that GDIRC had designed. This time they will be traveling to Juarez as volunteers with the Voces team.

Estimated Budget and Timeline

The small climber we will be building will not be that costly. Materials will be purchased locally and delivered to the site prior to our visit. Mitch and Henry have scheduled seven days for this trip, arriving in Juarez on January 12th and departing on January 18th. They will be staying in an AirBNB in Juarez for six nights.

Materials $2,250

Delivery $250

Accommodations ($180/night) $1,080

Total cost $3,580

Reporting

Due to the short timeline for implementing this project, contributions should be sent directly to Mitch Ryerson. At the completion of the trip, a follow up report showing total costs and results will be sent to all contributors. If we manage to raise more funds than this structure requires, the excess will be used on more playgrounds along the US/Mexican border. Please note: donations are not tax exempt.