La Posada Providencia located in San Benito serves migrants from throughout the world

On Thursday, Aug. 21, I had the privilege of visiting La Posada Providencia located in San Benito, Texas near the Brownsville. There I met Sister Zeta Telkamp, a Sister of Divine Providence from St. Louis, Missouri, who is the director of the 25-year-old house of hospitality. She is in ministry with Sister Margaret Mertens, also a Sister of Divine Providence from St. Louis, and Sister Therese Cunningham, a Holy Spirit Sister from San Antonio, and volunteers. They were awarded the Citizens of the Year distinction of the San Benito News in July 2014.

La Posada was established in 1989 as a sponsored ministry of the Sisters of Divine Providence. Since then it has provided basic living assistance and life-skills education to indigent immigrants and persons seeking political or religious asylum as they progress through the Immigration Court process and prepare for resettlement in the US. Basic assistance and intense case management are provided.

Men, women and children come from around the world and from the poorest countries in Central America, Eastern Europe, Asia and Africa all seek safety, freedom and the opportunity to create better lives for themselves and their families.

During the months of April and May, 60 persons made their home at one time or another at La Posada. Currently, 11 persons are in residence: four Cubans, two Hondurans and five from Eritrea in Eastern Africa. The five from Eritrea are two mothers and three three children. One of the women is very pregnant. She escaped her country with her husband, who was put in detention in Utah because there is no room for him near Brownsville.

There is a pro-bono group of 30 plus lawyers or lawyers-to-be who work with ProBar to assist the persons through the legal process of asylum. This group visits the detention centers weekly to find those whom they might assist. To give you an example of timeframes, the very pregnant woman had a court date on Aug. 4 and her next date is Oct. 31 with who knows how many more to come. It is not a simple process.

La Posada can house six to eight women and 12 men though cots and couches have been used when more room is needed. Persons share rooms and use bunk beds. The sisters share a house with the women and children (who live in one room) and have three small bedrooms, an office and a main room that serves as living room, chapel and sink area for them. There is a separate building for the men’s dorms and a small education building.

Each day, English lessons are held for two hours in the morning and two hours in the afternoon. In addition, the men work in the large garden and assist with repairs and upgrades around the house. One guest recently put in a sidewalk so that persons would not have to walk through the dirt. Another built a wall of shelving to hold the possessions in one of the men’s dorms. Another created an irrigation system that brings in water from the river running at the back of the property. Mostly, they are just waiting and trying to do so patiently.

Guests or volunteers prepare and take meals together. The theme on the wall in the dining room is “Many Cultures, One Family in God”. That is exactly what I experienced as I shared lunch with the sisters and those gathered. Though persons are from various countries, the sisters say that the group gets by with speaking English and Spanish.

La Posada runs because of the financial support of the Sisters of Divine Providence and funding from other religious institutions and donors. They plan to be financially independent by 2017.

It was a joy and a blessing to visit. La Posada receives many phone calls regarding missing persons. It is our hope that La Posada and the South Texas Human Rights Center can partner in providing assistance to locating lost and missing family members. Please pray for these efforts and all involved. For further information call (956) 399-3826.