By Danielle Desnoyers | Founder + Director
Hello to our friends and supporters. This report comes at a time when the border crisis between Mexico and the United States is at an all time high.
We give free portraits and keepsakes to families who are starting over, who have left their belongings behind, who have escaped conflict, or who have survived disasters. We want them to have framed photographs to hang on their new walls.
We went to the border cities of El Paso, Texas and Juarez, Mexico in October 2022. Our partner organization on the ground is Abara. They are doing wonderful work helping families on both sides of the border and trying to navigate the convoluted system. We visited shelters on both sides of the border and met with families to hear their stories. We gave instant polaroid photos to the families, in particular the children. It was so well received that we started planning and fundraising for a more in-depth trip.
In March 2023, we went back to the border to work again with Abara. This time, we only went to shelters on the Mexico side of the border wall and had our more traditional photoshoots. Afterwards, our team professionally edited and printed the photographs for the families at the shelters in a fast-turn around time to ensure we could give them their new keepsakes while they were still housed at the shelters.
In total, we photographed 120 people from 32 families. They originated from Venezuela, Guatemala, Colombia, Honduras, and other regions of Mexico. Most were escaping gang violence and cartel threats or poor, economic situations.
As more and more families make the extremely difficult decision to leave their relatives and home countries behind in order to provide better lives for themselves and their children, the numbers of asylum seekers at the borders will continue to increase. It takes a very long time to start that process, and they have no choice but to stay at shelters in churches, nonprofits, and community organizations. They are in a continued limbo.
Our aim is to get back out to El Paso and Juarez again in the coming months, and we'll need to continue to raise funds through this project in order to make that happen. There are so many more families we can help and give a little bit of joy to.
If you are able, please give and share this fundraiser with your own networks.
Thank you for your help and support,
The Team at Retake
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