Enrique’s Journey
Dominican School Hosts Mexican Human Rights
Winner
San Anselmo, CA —May 1, 2009-- On April
27, the Social Justice class at San Domenico School opened the
doors of its
new Hall of the Arts and welcome their fellow classmates as well
as students from nearby Drake High School and John O’Connell
High School in San Francisco’s Mission District for a discussion
of their latest read, Enrique’s Journey.
This exclusive event
includes an appearance by Olga Sanchez Martinez, who will be in
San Francisco to receive an Unsung Heroes of Compassion award and
blessing from the Dalai Llama. Dona Olga operates the Shelter
of Jesus the Good Shepherd in Mexico, which treats migrants who
are injured during their journey to the U.S. Every day undocumented
migrants risk their lives – and literally, their limbs -
to hop trains headed north. Many are horribly injured and find
their way to the Shelter of Jesus the Good Shepherd. The shelter
director, Olga Sanchez Martinez tries to heal migrants left deeply
wounded emotionally, spiritually, physically. Her clinic
is now famous in the pages of the critically acclaimed book, Enrique’s
Journey, by Sonia Nazario.
Junior Andrea Frias is thrilled to meet Dona
Olga. “I think
what Olga is doing is amazing and I'm really excited to have the
opportunity to tell her myself. You don’t often get to meet
the characters you read about and admire.” Frias’ grandmother,
author Isabel Allende, will be translating for Olga Sanchez during
the student assembly.
The current wave of immigrants coming from
Latin America is different from the past, when men left their
families behind to seek job opportunities in the north. In recent
decades, more and more mothers are leaving their children in
Mexico, or Central American countries, to come north. Their children
are left behind – and eventually
they decide to migrate north, alone, to reunite with their mothers.
Enrique’s Journey depicts one young man’s attempt to
find his mother, and explores the social and economic issues surrounding
undocumented migrants.
“This is a twenty-first-century Odyssey,” says Allende. “Nazario’s
powerful writing illuminates one of the darkest stories in our
country. This is outstanding journalism. If you are going to read
only one non-fiction book this year, it has to be this one, because
you know these young heroes. They live next door.”
Enrique’s Journey is currently being
developed for an HBO series. |
San Damenico School is
a sponsored ministry of the Dominican Sisters of San Rafael
|