U.N. Thanks the Salesians of Tijuana

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Thanks the Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana

(ANS – Tijuana, Mexico – April 7, 2023) - The Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana (PST, Tijuana Salesian Program), the entity that coordinates the social activities of the Salesian presence in the city, has always been committed to the most vulnerable people in the city of Tijuana, especially migrants and refugees. Safeguarding human rights and welcoming, protecting, promoting, and integrating people in the context of mobility has been a great challenge for its workers, especially in recent times, which has led PST members to strengthen ties of friendship and collaboration with other government organizations and United Nations agencies.

By virtue of all this, on Thursday, April 5, the PST team received an official thank you from Giovanni Lepri, representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Mexico.

The message of recognition reads, among other things, “The team of Proyecto Salesiano Tijuana has always shown a great spirit of cooperation toward refugee persons and the actions carried out by UNHCR for their protection: in their assistance in the reception centers, in the defense of their rights, and in the coordination of integration and coexistence activities.... Proyecto Salesiano has played a key role in the care and support of refugee persons in the Mexican Commission of Aid to Refugees (COMAR) as well as in the work and operations of UNHCR in Tijuana.”

On this recognition, PST director general Fr. Agustin Novoa Leyy said, “Our work on this frontier, guided by Pope Francis’s encyclical Fratelli Tutti, has been to welcome on a daily basis women, children, and men arriving in Tijuana from the south of our country or in repatriated status under Title 42, and it entails a great humanitarian responsibility, which goes beyond providing shelter or a plate of food. It means welcoming them emotionally, guiding and supporting them in the situation that prompted them to leave their country of origin and come here; it means listening to them, soothing their grieving and broken hearts because of what they experienced in their country, but also because of the harshness of the journey, along with the xenophobic manifestations that we, unfortunately, encounter more and more often.”

Finally, the Salesian concludes, “The fact that this task that we carry out with passion is perceived and appreciated by an agency of the United Nations encourages us to go forward, to continue to raise our voices and open our arms to welcome, to embrace with our souls our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters.”