Dear friends,

Many of you contributed to my GoFundMe in 2023 to help bring a young Nicaraguan mother and nonprofit leader to the US, after her agency was shut down. Our financial and practical assistance helped her get here, establish a home near her cousin in the Houston area, find work so she could cover her expenses and send money home to her mother and daughter.

But now, with the fear of deportation growing, and her daughter being denied entry into the US, Alba has (sensibly) decided she needs to return home. In spite of growing authoritarianism and violence in her country, she believes she won't face imminent danger when she arrives in Nicaragua.

So, once again, I'm asking if you could contribute to funds to help Alba: to purchase her plane ticket home and to bring some money home to help fix up her house and her mother's house.

I know that the demands for contributions are huge these days. So if you are unable to donate, I understand. But if you could donate, I'm hopeful that we can send Alba home with a little extra money to make her situation there a little easier. I wish her time here had been more fruitful and hadn't ended up with such a real threat of deportation or capture by ICE (she has seen multiple people get taken from the Houston area). She did everything (legally) as she was supposed to.

During the two years, Amy Ellentuck and I had regular calls with Alba and came to love and respect her (I'm so appreciative of Amy's support and good Spanish!). If you'd like to hear from her and learn a little more about her story, see this short piece from her (thank you, Google Translate!).

Sending abrazos and hope to all of you,

Anne