A Letter from Sami DiPasquale, Executive Director

Dear friend,

My name is Sami DiPasquale, and I serve as the Executive Director of Abara. I am grateful to share that our organization had it’s 5th birthday this fall. 🎂 If you would like to give in honor of Abara’s 5 years, you can do that here.

It’s been a heavy year. In many ways it’s been an unbearably heavy year – in the world, in the Middle East where I grew up, and on the US-Mexico border where I have lived for the past 20 years.

There are so many questions and unknowns in our work at Abara, but there are also some things that we can believe and say with certainty:

• We are inspired by the depth of faith of so many we encounter.
• We are delighted by the prophetic witness of creatives imagining a different path forward.
• We condemn violence and collective punishment.
• We affirm the dignity of every human being.
• We strive for a world where our neighbors can flourish.
• We look for the heroes who are doing what they can to interrupt cycles of violence and trauma.
• We celebrate those who are leveraging their privilege and access to defend the vulnerable rather than simply protect themselves and ensure their personal comfort.
• We stand in awe of those who choose to sit in solidarity with those in pain.
• We are inspired by those who push past the bounds of their empathy to understand the history and enter into the pain of those they once did not see.

And we want to be these same people.

We want to be a people of peace, a people of love, a people of faith, a people of justice. We want to create space for communal healing and transformation. We want to bear witness to the suffering in the world, not to bear false witness. In the midst of violence, pain, and despair we want to plant sunflowers to celebrate the myriad acts of kindness, love and sacrifice. In a world that often seems dark we want to search for the slivers of light, until we have found so many bright spots that the world doesn’t seem so dark anymore, and hope abounds.

We want to be the change we hope to see in the world. And we want to hold space for others to do the same – on the border and beyond.

And these certainties give us a solid place to stand, to find our footing, to have grounding.  In a world often characterized by polarization and vitriol, we aspire to embody a sacred message, one of love and of beloved community. The work continues.

Sincerely,

Sami DiPasquale

Executive Director, Abara