SAN BENITO — A voice is heard through speakers around the complex featuring a handful of house-like buildings.
The female voice announces that dinner is ready in a handful of different languages as mostly women and children make their way toward a small blue house in the middle of the complex.
In the kitchen, people begin setting out food for others to serve themselves.
The complex is known as La Posada Providencia, a ministry dedicated to providing shelter and programming for refugees from more than 80 countries.
For the past week the ministry has had a little help from some friends from up north.
Traveling hundreds of miles, a class from Governors State University in Chicago has been putting what they have learned in their social inequalities class to use.
From painting the exterior of some of the buildings to teaching English to the younger clients, the student volunteers are trying to get the most out of their immersion experience.
Sister Zita Telkamp said the students have been engaging with the clients about their past experiences from their home country and are learning more about what brings her clients to the country.
“Hopefully, they’ll go away with a better understanding of why people come to our country,” Telkamp said. “They should know how fortunate they are to be citizens in the United States and have their freedom.”
The majority of Telkamp’s clients are fleeing violence in their home countries and have been separated from their loved ones.
Here at La Posada, those people are able to receive shelter, legal help and learn basic skills needed in the United States.
Professor Daniel Cortese first heard about La Posada Providencia through another ministry he worked with and had been making frequent visits to the Valley since August.
Cortese was able to secure funding through his university for five undergraduate students to travel to the Valley for their required service learning project.
“I wanted them to experience doing good in the world,” Cortese said.
Students work during the day and debrief afterward to discuss their experiences and ask Cortese questions about what confuses them.
“Teaching them about immigration from a textbook doesn’t do it much justice,” Cortese said. “Most of their learning happens in the context of conversations outside.”
Mike Beatty is a student in Cortese’s class and said the experience has taken him out of his Chicago bubble.
“I thought coming here, there would be a lot more separation between us and them,” Beatty said.
He assumed most of the immigrants he would work with would have come from poorer backgrounds but was surprised to see some who had fled religious persecution came from wealth such as one man he spoke with who played on a professional soccer team.
Cortese said the experience overall has been received well by his students.
“The most surprising thing I’ve seen is watching them grow in these five days,” Cortese said.
Since July 2017,
La Posada Providencia has
• Served 694 clients
• 30 different countries represented
• Served 18,054 meals
• Taught 4,845 ESL and Life Skills hours
