Marina Patricia, our DePaul Chiapas Program coordinator invites participants not be indifferent to the personal testimonies, courageous examples of people's resistance and to the many layers of personal and collective suffering of the indigenous people of Chiapas. She says: "look around you, observe, smell, understand through your readings and by listening to our speakers... but also reflect on your own and open your heart!"
The SustainAbleChiapas is a unique program and opportunity to open our eyes to the lives and stories of marginalized people of Chiapas. It is the occasion to understand that there is something intrinsically wrong, unjust and unsustainable in an economic systems that seeks exploitation of the poor and of mother earth just to maximize the profit of a few. Chiapas opens your eyes, mind and heart. For many students that went through this program, Chiapas has represented the opportunity to open their hands in solidarity.
SustainAbleChiapas alumni have organized fundraisers for promoting indigenous schools, fair trade cooperatives and civil society organizations in resistance. They have gone through Chiapas, some have come back or stayed, but all they have embedded the many lessons of Chiapas in their personal values and professional leadership. In the name of our sisters of brothers of Chiapas, thank you for keeping your eyes, mind, hearts and hands open to the many Chiapas of the world. Kolabalik!
