This fundraiser is to support Miguel and Luz Helena as they prepare to return to Colombia.
This choice to return has been so hard for them to make. The funds raised here will support their move and initial time as they sort out their living and working situation upon their return to Colombia.
Miguel is an artist, coach, friend, father, grandfather, brother and son. He has accepted that his role as son means that he must return to his native Colombia to care for his mother.
Please consider what gift you can make to support their resettlement.
In Miguel's own words:
I am Colombian
The violence during the 80s in Colombia was cruel and
out of control.
Violence terrorized my people and affected our family
directly: our own brothers and sisters were victims of it.
We flew away from it.
We came to America mainly in search of peace, freedom,
and of course opportunities to work
We always worked simple jobs:
cleaning services
cooking at a restaurant
grooming horses
coaching soccer
and throughout creating art - painting and writing poetry
I became an immigrant of color
I have an accent when speaking English and a Paisa
accent when speaking Spanish
My words carry the gravity and the weight of the history
that is made daily everywhere by all of us.
My accent being so heavy leaves marks on my own path
and the paths of others
My accent opens doors and is capable of building for
others as well.
The sound of my voice has the vocabulary that I learned
from the time when I drank milk from the breasts of my
tender mother
My accent is not only vocalization
My accent is cultural
My accent is movement
My accent is passion intensity and hope
My accent is felt in my art with bold compositions full of
color.
The short and repetitive brushstrokes have the rhythm of
intensity/ passion and the consistency of the way I always
work
My accent exclaims gratitude to America, to all my
neighbors and friends, I demonstrates with perseverance,
commitment, and loyalty.
The same as my poems and verses, my graffiti art
protests because my accent is freedom
My written word is the liberation of my love for life
My paintings can fill us with peace because I painted them
with joy and imagine them with love
My accent is transparent and allows my soul to be seen
You can envision and hear my accent when I am coaching
soccer.
I teach my players to have skills and a tactical culture,
while at the same time giving them life lessons.
My teams play with the joy and rhythm of my music!
I coach my players to think and make decisions by finding
their own way.
I love joga bonito futbol , i teach creativity cause that is the
foundation of the beauty of realm.
That is the legacy I wanted to leave for the clubs where I
have worked:
Saratoga Soccer Club (NY)
Allegheny Force Futbol Club
BVB International Academy of Pittsburgh
and my beloved, Dynamo United, and of course my
Pittsburgh Independence Futbol Club
At the Latino Soccer League, where I coached their Select
team.
I have a family and they are also fundamental part of the
legacy I have been creating in my life here in USA
My Wife, two daughters and their husbands, and 4
grandkids.
We raised our daughters to be good people, kind people,
to go to school and graduate from college and beyond.
They did it: one is a pediatrician and one is a teacher.
I could not be more proud of them.
My legacy also includes. Soccer manuals to coach and
train.
My motivational speeches at the High School and
Universities
My art that is joy was shared at exhibitions and are
hanged in many homes across the country .
My presence and words, my example of living life with love
and intensity have touched many lives and this is probably
my mos important and big legacy I will created
I have had a wonderful life in America:here we found the
peace, the freedom and the opportunities to work and live
and honest and decent life.
We also paid our duties and taxes as any other citizens:
we volunteer in causes we believe :helping homeless and
families in need, we translated in the hospital and in
courts,
In our church and with our Spanish community, I volunteer
to speak at the high school about history, art and Spanish
classes. I speak at Universities about immigrants
contributions to enrich the Cultural and art conversations
in society
We have a lot of friends who we love and respect, we feel
feel their love as well.
We became like family with many of them.
The time passed and we have friends from the time we
live here, some of the players I coached and their families
still are our close friends after these many years that have
past .
We lived in New York, Saratoga springs and Now in
Pensilvania Pittsburgh.
I came to Pittsburgh to be the Abuelo, the grandpa and the
accomplice of my grandkids.
In Pittsburgh, I became the Abuelo figure for the kids on
our street.
In Pittsburgh, I came to be Papa Miguel to my players and
their families, the same way happened in Saratoga where
I was the soccer grand pa of many who we love each
other
We all are a loving family. And that is beautiful.
In Pittsburgh, I found a niche for my art at Undercroft
Gallery in Shadyside and at other galleries
I live in Pittsburgh
I love Pittsburgh
In Pittsburgh we fully understand “Mi casa es tu casa”
“your city is my city”
At home or in the city we all have everyone’s accent the
one we carry inside of us
and
in Pittsburgh nobody cares about the color of your skin
simply because
love is stronger than hate
That is my credo: love is power, love always creates more
love!
However and despite all we did, I am part of one of the
minorities that are being targeted by this Federal
Administration.
They consider the fact of being an immigrant equal to
being criminals, or rapist or coming from mental
institutions or prisons in our native countries.
It doesn’t matter much who you are, or what you do or did
in order to potentially be treated as a bad individual.
No matter who you are or how mentally strong you are,
you feel the pressure and the terrifying reality that Spanish
immigrants are facing and suffering every day and every
where
One threat is potentially being arrested and put in a
detention center for an indefinite time at the mercy of
people who have no compassion, who are incapable of
understanding or respecting human and constitutional
rights.
I am in permanent panic and distress, so is my wife, and
my family here and in Colombia.
It is not easy or healthy to continue living like you don’t
belong in the United States any longer.
It is very sad. This agony and anxiety weakened my
mental health and worsened Luz Helena's panic disorder.
She already was suffering since the cartels made her a
target.
I was recently diagnosed with acute depression and the
doctor put me on two medications.
This environment created the dilemma of choosing
between staying in the United States risking peace and
freedom, or going back to Colombia and starting all over
again at 76 years old!
I have a huge responsibility with life to honor the gift and
the mission I have to coach, paint and write, to help others
in need and I think I will be doing the same when in
Colombia.
It is freaking sad.
I’m in tears and have a broken heart: with regret I need to
leave all I found in the United States: freedom,
opportunities, friends, and our beautiful social and cultural
environments.
I love all of it.
I am grateful for all we received.
But I also love life, love my wife, and my mother who is 99
years old and ask me to be with her! Who can not say yes
to a mother that is all love.
I was not prepared to relocate, much less at my age. My
jobs never leave room to save any money and all we
made we used to provide for ourselves and give the
opportunity to Santiago the kid we brought from Colombia
to study and play soccer here (he is playing D1 and trying
hard academically, we are so proud off him).
I am in need to fundraise means to go back and establish
ourselves in Colombia.
We need plane tickets, shipping our belongings, and to
find a safe and clean house to rent and furnish from
scratch; money to provide food, find health insurance,
transportation and be able to help at “ Semillas de Paz y
Esperanza” a soccer club where I will volunteer as a
coach.
I also plan to teach art at a cultural center in the vulnerable
neighborhood of Communa 13 in my native city of
Medellin.
With all the respect I am asking you to help me to relocate
to my old country.
Anything that you can contribute will be towards
everything Luz and I will need to survive and have a new
and decent life there
Much love to all
And MUCHAS GRACIAS for your understanding and
support
Yours in life
Papa Miguel