Local Tours Available Before General Assembly
2012 Tours
Two-day Borderlands Tour for GA Attendees
The Unitarian Universalist Church of Tucson, AZ (UUCT), is offering a rare, two-day Unitarian Universalist (UU) Borderlands Tour on June 18-19, just before the Justice GA in Phoenix. Experienced volunteer guides and Spanish-English translators will take up to 20 Unitarian Universalists (UUs) who have valid, current U.S. Passports across the border to tour the (im)migrant aid sites in Nogales, Sonora (Mexico), where the award-winning humanitarian aid group, No More Deaths (a UUCT social justice ministry), works with its Mexican partner agencies to give humanitarian aid and services to just-deported immigrants who have been separated from their children and families in the U.S. We will also witness undocumented immigrants at the "Operation Streamline" immigration hearings at the Federal Court House in Tucson, and talk to Federal Public Defenders about the lack of due process in these proceedings, where 70 immigrants a day are sent to jail, prison or deported to Mexico. Choose a motel in Tucson or home hospitality in the homes of UUCT congregation members. Return to Phoenix in time for GA opening ceremonies.
Cost of trip: $75 plus $80 for round trip transportation between Phoenix and Tucson, plus any motel and restaurant costs during the two days.
For application and registration form, contact Leila Piine at sabinosanctuary@gmail.com or at (520) 299-6281. Limit of 20 people, accepted on a first-come, first-served basis.
Borderlinks Trips Before and After General Assembly
The Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Chandler, AZ (VUUC) is very pleased to announce the following opportunities to deepen your Justice GA experience by including a trip to the U.S./Mexico Border! Trips to the border will be offered directly before and after General Assembly, on June 17-20th and 25-28th, so you can immerse yourself in the people, the culture, and the issues of this unique area. Both trips are being arranged through Borderlinks, a non-profit bi-national organization that has been providing unique experiential learning opportunities along the border for the last 25 years. Along with their network of partners on both sides of the border, Borderlinks will help create a space for you to experience the border in a very personal and meaningful way through meeting, eating, talking, sleeping and learning with some of the people whose lives are most impacted by what from afar can seem like very abstract policy issues. In recent years, UUs traveling with Borderlinks have described the experience as anything from "deeply informative," to "life altering."
Trip cost is $390 per person, and is inclusive of all food, lodging, and transportation to/from the Phoenix area. The trip is open to individuals 16 and older, and will require a valid passport and/or visas as we will be crossing into Mexico.
For more information on the trips, or to register please visit the VUUC website, or contact Rob Smith at miscrms@gmail.com or (602) 405-3740.
For more information contact generalassembly@uua.org.
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Last updated on Thursday, March 1, 2012.
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