Today is our last day working with Casa de Luz, a cozy collective house for LGBT migrants near the beach in Tijuana. While we’re sad to say goodbye, we’re excited that our last evening together as a group will be in celebration!
When speaking with house members about what they wanted to do to celebrate our time together, Irving mentioned the idea of going to a movie. Many of the house members were waiting to cross the border and seek asylum, and the waiting process can feel incredibly long, like being in limbo with nowhere to go, nothing to do.
For one house member, the day to cross was in sight – his number was going to be called in the next couple of days. But he was starting to feel anxious about crossing and going through the process. Irving said that something like a movie would be a fun way to ease the tension for both him and the rest of the house – even for just a couple of hours.
So we stopped by the grocery store to pick up a cake – an Oreo cake to be specific – since that seemed to be a house favorite. Then, we piled into cars and headed to the nearest movie theater to watch The Joker dubbed in Spanish.
We got the tickets, a bunch of sodas, and a plethora of popcorn. Not just any old butter and salt popcorn, but also caramel, cheese, and spicy popcorn. The kids got their own special sodas, what some might refer to as “swamp water,” or the drink that results from mixing a little bit of every drink in the soda machine together.
They were pretty excited to say the least, and people spent the car ride home and late into the evening chattering about how much they enjoyed the movie.
Going to a movie may seem like such a small thing to do when there’s so much need and worry. But for us and the residents at Casa de Luz, on this one night it was exactly what was needed.
Meet Steve! Steve is the Executive Director for ORAM, the Organization for Refuge, Asylum and Migration, and member of the Alight family of organizations. Before joining ORAM, Steve served as the Senior Director of Global Initiatives at Out & Equal, the biggest LGBT workplace inclusion non-profit. Steve also launched a non-profit, Alturi, which increases engagement by American donors to organizations improving the lives of LGBT people globally.
