Read What OneEarth Jubilee Is Up To; It’s Rich
A comment from a reader in Tennessee tells you why to read this newsletter.
Love what ya’ll are up to! Love & Peace. —Lina Carpenter
The Strongly Needed Ministry Of Health In San Mateo, Puebla, MX
—Physician Angelica Juarez, San Mateo Jubilee Circle Reporting—
Angelica
I infinitely appreciate the support received during the year 2023 from JEM. Here are four achievements and ongoing needs.
1. During the Covid pandemic, those who greatly benefited were the pharmaceutical industry and medical laboratories, but the middle and lower social class was very affected by the high expenses which were involved when they went to a clinic or hospital. Since then, the population in general has experienced a growing inflation in the area of health. Seeing it from this perspective you can imagine that having the support of receiving a free medical consultation with or without medications has been a great blessing for some low resource families. This is the first 2023 achievement.
2. The medications that I usually buy are generic from Mexican laboratories since the patent medications whose laboratories are foreign are entirely out of the budget of the majority of the people of this town. The resource that JEM sends cannot cover the cost of the monthly supply for my office, but it is invaluable support. So, some of my patients can cover the cost of some medicines that I usually give them at the same price they cost me.
3. Another achievement has been health education. At the monthly breakfasts with elderly adults I have invited physiotherapists and a nutritionist to advise them in their area; and for my part I have advised on how to control chronic diseases. I have also done this with the children who come to the breakfast every Saturday. Recently a dentist that I invited gave a class to the little guys on dental care.
4. Another achievement is that I have become popular with children since I very rarely inject them. So they choose me and don’t want to go with other doctors. Also i give them honey candy when they have a cough.
The insecurity in this town prevents me from taking care of patients during the night but I have had to go out to see some very serious patients who have not been able to move. I have witnessed amazing miracles when I have prayed for them.
My goal for 2024 is to be able to re-equip my office. My diagnostic equipment (otoscope and ophthalmoscope) is no longer working and the examination table is too old and patients struggle to fit.
Will There Be a Trip to Mexico in 2024?
—It All Depends on Registrations—
I would encourage each of you to join the 2024 delegation traveling to San Cristobal and beyond, if you are able. The experience will be enlightening, if not life changing. — Sue Shamblin, Lincoln, Nebraska, who went on the 2023 trip.
Not only for Sue, but for everyone on the 2023 trip, the experiences were rich and rewarding. We’ll be hosted by the Jubilee Circles in San Cristobal and San Mateo. That means local expertise and lived experience. We’ve set the date for April 7-14. If that date doesn’t work for you, but you are considering going sometime this year, let us know. We’ll see what we can work out all around, including with the weather.
You’ll experience lots of connection with ordinary people and where they live as they do inspiring, life-giving work together. And you’ll experience how faith is integral as people struggle together for well-being amid many systems of government and finance that ignore them. Going is so uplifting.
The cost of around $1800 includes all airfares (round trip from San Diego), buses, taxis, lodging, and most meals. We’re still working on a final figure. When more people express interest the price comes down a bit.
Let us know your interest. We’ll send you a brief registration form. If the above dates work for you, then registration with $1000 is due as soon as you can send it. Fully refundable until March 15.
Wisdom from the Margins
—Examples from the Jubilee Circle in Chiapas, MX—
Gloria Gonzalez from the Jubilee Circle in San Cristobal, Chiapas, Mexico, was a guest at the February 3 Jubilee Forum. Gloria lives on the margins herself and brings boundless energies to accompany women in the social and economic margins of that region. She described how their activities show that the wisdom of these women can be organized to improve their lives significantly even though the systems of government and capitalism ignore them, even oppress them. Their community savings boxes, women of corn project, along with water and environmental stewardship bring transformations from victimhood to empowerment for poor and Indigenous people.
A surprise happened when Wanda Quitinilla joined us and translated. She is working with Gloria for four months as part of her research on immigration in Chiapas for her doctoral dissertation from UCLA. [More about Gloria’s work in the next newsletter.]
Praying the Lord’s Prayer with Understanding
—A Counterpoint to Christian Nationalist Prayers—
Many GOP campaign events include an opening prayer from pastors and others who support Donald Trump. The Des Moines Register, Iowa’s primary newspaper, reported on these prayers as did NBC and others. The Lord’s Prayer counters these prayers. And that will be the topic at the March 2, 9 am PST, Jubilee Forum. Though widely used, the “Lord’s Prayer,” or “Our Father” as it is also known, its political-economic nature is seldom recognized. Join the March 2 Forum, 9 am PST, and see Lee Van Ham’s Substack postings which delve deeply into this topic.
Did You Know?
—Jubilee Redistributions to Mexico Are Losing Value—
Over the past couple years the Mexican peso has gained strength against the U. S. dollar. Every dollar sent to Mexico now equals 85 cents. So a $1000 donation becomes $850 in Mexico and $100 becomes $85. That’s 15% less and quite a hit for the ministries of the Jubilee Circles in Mexico. They feel it. Very much. Annual redistributions to the Jubilee Circles of over $50,000 have become something over $42,500. You get the picture. If any of you can increase your donation by 15% it will keep you even with past years and mean so much to everyone in OneEarth Jubilee—especially to colleagues in Mexico. Thank you.
On January 26, 2024, we received a message from Angelica in San Mateo reminding us of the challenge of dollar vs peso.
Dear Lee and John,
In these last two months we have been struggling with finances due to, as you know, the low dollar price. …There have been several maintenance expenses for the center, repair of some things and water and electricity bills. This month we had to postpone the elders meeting because there was not enough money.
Blessings! —Angelica
How Jesus Prepared for His Jubilee Ministry
Click below and benefit from the teaching of Wes Howard-Brook on Jesus’ baptism. By going to his cousin, John the Baptist, to be baptized in the Jordan River, Jesus was clear it was necessary for him to be part of John’s baptism of repentance, meaning, washing away empire-think and committing to the “new mind” of the Jubilee worldview.
Substack Posts to Support OneEarth Jubilee
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Lee Van Ham has started using the Substack platform to make new posts on the topic of the upcoming Jubilee Forum each month. Expect his writings to emphasize (1) ecological practices for us all, (2) alternative economics that serve people left out of the primary capital economy, and (3) spiritual perspective that addresses today’s unknowns and spiritual malpractice. You can subscribe for free. If you choose a paid subscription, the money will go to OneEarth Jubilee (www.oneearthjubilee.com). Either way, I hope you’ll subscribe to these posts—a few each month.
