Dancing with Refugees

As a Musical Ambassador of Peace, Ari Honarvar facilitates drum and dance sessions for refugees and asylum seekers in California and Mexico. For the past year, she has been holding dance sessions via Zoom to keep her connection with asylum seekers stuck in Mexico during the pandemic. Gente Unida and Musical Ambassadors of Peace have united to bring more dancing to families at Mexico shelters and unaccompanied migrant children at the San Diego Convention Center. Besides wellbeing support through music, Musical Ambassadors of Peace, donates money, hygiene products, clothes, and food to shelters hosting asylum seekers. Gente Unida with a matching fund through Healing Hands has raised over $10,000 this year. Because of this donor support, we have overseen projects that foster a healing environment for migrant children and their families in several shelters in Mexico. For the latest videos and news of the Central America sessions, please follow Ari on Instagram.

Buen Hombre / Magnificent Mujer Podcast Series

An ongoing series of podcasts,  between Enrique Morones and courageous men and women about spirituality, creativity, service and activism. Websites for these sites are www.BuenHombre.org and www.MagnificentMujer.org 

SOS Migrante Partnership with Baja California Shelters

Long standing outreach programs to migrant/refugee shelters, predominately in Baja California, Mexico. Human Rights Activist Hugo Castro is the conduit on the Baja programs, as we send donations and much needed supplies to these shelters.

HE(ARTS) ONLINE: Virtual Spanish/English Art Classes

Hearts Online is an initiative that provides Spanish speaking children and youth in shelters and detention facilities in Tijuana, Mexico with quality arts programming, including painting, hand-crafts, music, and creative movement instruction in an online format, produced by the GenteUnida creative team of artists, and technical producers delivered weekly online over the internet and facilitated by shelter staff and volunteers in the shelters using donated and purchased arts and crafts materials and tools.  

Studies across the United States and internationally in healthcare, community and afterschool settings have demonstrated that the arts have a unique ability to engage youth who have undergone substantial emotional, physical, and mental trauma and that are experiencing the effects of isolation due to hospitalization, incarceration, quarantine or other reasons. The expectation of this instruction is to allow each participant to be seen and heard and engaged in a safe way on their own terms.  All curriculums will be developed specifically with this unique population in mind with “layers of engagement” that need each child at the place that is most comfortable for them.