Doxa creates opportunities for people to serve Tijuana through
house building, education, and long-term community.
Doxa creates opportunities for people to serve Tijuana through
house building, education, and long-term community.
In the early days, collaboration was a necessity for Doxa. House building groups needed a safe place to stay while in Tijuana, hold nightly program and worship, and a secure location to stage building materials. Doxa, by itself, was not in a position to provide those things. So, Casa Hogar de los Niños helped solve those needs. In return, house building groups helped to support them financially so they could keep the doors open year around. This relationship also led to many other projects and initiatives that benefitted all involved.
What started as collaboration out of necessity has become a central value to Doxa’s operational success. Doxa has learned that collaborating with other organizations, whether in Tijuana or the United States, is done best while following some best practices. First, is not recreating the wheel. By understanding the work that is already being done by others, Doxa can be a compliment instead of a duplication. Working together, everyone according to their gifts and strengths. This also means appropriately acknowledging the work and callings of others.
Second, is recognizing that Doxa is just a part of the final solution. Too often, organizations enter into situations where they end up trying to solve everything, becoming the end-all and be-all. Doxa strives to enter with a humble and teachable spirit, one that recognizes how our work fits into God’s much larger plan. We know that God is doing a much larger work throughout Tijuana, to reconcile each and every person, and pray that He would continue to use Doxa as a meaningful part of that larger work.
Third, is diligently following the Holy Spirit’s lead to greater things. We don’t know where each partnership will lead or the end of the story. Doxa takes one step at a time, doing the best we can in that moment in time. This mentality frees us up to relinquish all control to the Lord, to let Him lead. We focus instead on stewarding relationships and connecting with like-minded organizations. Wherever and with whomever the Holy Spirit puts in our path.
Alex Knopes, Doxa’s Executive Director, sees collaboration as a two-way street. He says “it’s built into everything Doxa does, from partners on the ground in Tijuana to the youth groups that come to build houses to the students that are in the education scholarship program. Each of those touchpoints has some element of a two-way street.” Doxa is like the connective tissue that gets all the bones moving in the same coordinated fashion, resulting in an exponentially bigger impact than they would have alone.
Alex also points out that “from a birds’ eye view, collaboration can look like pipelines between Tijuana and the United States.” Most people immediately think about the pipeline to Tijuana; a source of volunteers, financial support, and labor to build houses. However, the return pipeline is just as important. One that includes faithful relationships with people in Tijuana, horizon-broadening and spiritual-deepening experiences, and being part of radical generosity. One of Doxa’s most important jobs is to make sure that both of these pipelines remain open and flowing.
Doxa has enjoyed the privilege of collaborating with many Tijuana and United States based organizations over the past 30+ years. Some of the organizations include the Tijuana Cultural Center, Trompo Science Museum, Police Department, DIF (child protective services), Tijuana Government, World Vision, Comité Binacional, and many churches on both sides of the border.
One of Doxa’s newest partnerships is with Dunamis, a Tijuana organization that brings kids club once a month to Doxa’s community center. A Saturday of fun and games, with a meaningful message about Christ for everyone. In addition, Dunamis brings trained counselors to work with parents and conduct workshops. Doxa’s role is to offer an established way to meet new people and a place to gather, while Dunamis can deliver impactful programing and resources. Other organizations, such as World Vision, have also used Doxa as a conduit to deliver their programming.
Some of Doxa’s closest partnerships are with Casa Hogar de los Niños, Unidos por Siempre, and Rancho. These are all locations where house building groups stay while they are in Tijuana. They provide an excellent home base for house building operations and logistics. Naturally, their staff get integrated into Doxa’s ecosystem and there’s an aspect of commitment, consistency, and intentionality that goes beyond what one would usually expect. For example, Doxa’s relationship with Casa Hogar de los Niños and Unidos por Siempre has evolved to include the provision of scholarships for all of their children.
It’s impossible to talk about Doxa and not bring up these collaborators. We are continuously humbled by the way that the Holy Spirit has led and evolved these long-term partnerships. So thankful for all of them – past, present, and future!
Since 2007, Doxa’s education program has provided hundreds of students the resources, mentorship, and knowledge to succeed in school. A Doxa scholarship means meeting children on a holistic level, taking an individualized approach to the success of each student. Entering into relationship with their family, journeying along with them, and sharing in the successes and failures along the way. This intimate knowledge helps guide exactly what resources and assistance the student needs to be successful. In the long-run, education empowers youth to break the cycle and mindset of poverty.
On a basic level, a Doxa scholarship materially equips students to succeed. This entails the required school tuition fees, uniforms, shoes, backpack, school supplies, transportation, access to computers and Internet, medical/dental checkups, and glasses (you’d be surprised by how many kids don’t know they need them). Having the basic necessities affords students greater opportunity to succeed.
While the materials and school fees are necessary, Doxa has found that relationally equipping students to succeed is where the real impact happens. This entails surrounding students with competent tutors and coaching their parents to be a positive voice when it comes to education. In Mexico, school is only half-day so there can oftentimes be a lack of discipline, mentorship, and priorities around homework time.
The main way that Doxa relationally equips students to succeed is through the after-school program. Children come in the afternoon to complete their homework, learn additional lessons, or participate in a workshop or seminar. The after-school program is a constant touch-point with each student throughout the entire school year. This becomes even more important as students progress in school and their parents can no longer help them with their homework. The vast majority of parents only finished middle school, with some not even completing elementary school.
Additionally, Doxa’s after-school program has a good reputation among local school teachers. Elementary and middle school teachers have even sent their students to Doxa’s after-school program when they get behind or need additional help.
The backbone of Doxa’s after-school program are its tutors. Employing skilled tutors who are motivated and invested in each student’s life is essential to success. With Doxa now sponsoring about 140 children, it is time to bring more tutors on staff. This allows for more individualized attention and lays the groundwork for additional expansion in the future. This school year, Doxa added four new tutors. Here is a little about each one:
Ailin and her family have known about Doxa for many years. Her family received a Doxa house and Ailin and her brother had previously received scholarships for education. Ailin finished college this year with a degree in Education Sciences. A degree that allows her to teach in the classroom, conduct research, work in school administration, or human resources. She has always liked working with children and after going through online school during the pandemic, realized how important in-person education is to a child’s development and learning. She understands that a student is learning much more than just the school curriculum in the classroom. They learn from the way the teacher conducts themselves, classroom rules, having to interact with fellow students, and completing work in teams. These are things that are difficult or don’t happen with online school, but are necessary and applicable to a student’s development as a person.
Sergio also recently finished college with a degree in Education Sciences. He brings a level of expertise and command to the 4th through 6th grade students, who can sometimes be a handful. Even though he regularly works with 20+ students in Doxa’s after-school program, Sergio says that’s nothing compared to what school classrooms look like. Normally, the student-teacher ratio is 1 to 40. The school where Sergio did his teaching observations, the ratio was 1 teacher to 43 students. Instead of observing and learning from that teacher, Sergio says that he spent most of his time actually helping and teaching alongside. Sergio was drawn to Doxa as a way to get practical teaching experience in an environment that better sets teachers up for success.
Lili is Doxa’s tutoring specialist for 1st and 2nd graders. She believes that learning starts early, with establishing the basic building blocks. This means knowing numbers and letters, being able to write them well, and gaining confidence in reading. She is patient and kind in all she does. In just the first half of this school year, she has started with kids who couldn’t write their numbers or know the sounds of the letters, and who are now accomplishing both of those tasks. Her tutoring work is often very individualized, so she only works with several students at a time.
Giovana is excellent at adapting to a variety of situations because she handles students from elementary and middle school. She helps students complete their homework, extracurricular exercises, language development, and writing. She also keeps the after-school classroom neat and organized. Giovana believes that a good education can facilitate any future goal that her kids have.
Employing competent and qualified tutors is extremely important. It elevates the quality, consistency, and impact of Doxa’s education program. A differentiator among the other education-focused after-school programs in Doxa’s area. Doxa is blessed with these tutors who can provide the individual attention and mentorship needed to see students succeed in school, always completing a higher level of education than their parents did.
Nora and her husband, Josue, are originally from Puebla. They’ve been living in Tijuana for over a decade. They have three children, Edwin (16), Daniela (14), and Josue (10). For the first five or so years in Tijuana, they paid rent and lived off of Josue’s modest salary from collecting and recycling large appliances. The $75 per week got them by, most of the time, but it didn’t allow for any growth of their family or increase in their quality of life.
Nora’s vision was for more. Nora says that she longs for her kids “to grow up with values, finish college, and know the world.” That’s some big vision from Nora, who just finished middle school, and Josue, who just finished elementary school.
In 2018, Nora applied for a Doxa house and the following year it was built. When the group from Merced, CA turned over the keys of the finished house, Nora remembers thinking “it’s a blessing to receive this type of help and that there are people in this world who are willing to lend you a hand.” Immediately, Nora and Josue stopped paying rent and focused on paying off their piece of land. Nora explains that while “our economic situation was still a little tough, we were investing in something that is ours and not just paying rent.”
Nora and Josue were diligent and disciplined with their family’s finances. Taking the money that they would’ve spent on rent and using it for a better quality of life and more nutritious food to feed their growing children. Nora smiles proudly as she says that “recently, we finished paying off our piece of land, and can continue to increase our quality of life.”
Part of the qualification process for a Doxa house is the family completing 250 hours of volunteer service in their community. In Nora’s case, she volunteered at Unidos por Siempre. Since she has previous experience taking care of children from 5 months old to 10 years old, she was a natural fit. She would get the kids ready for school, do some cleaning, laundry, and be there to receive them upon their return. Nora would even help in the kitchen from time to time. She’s patient with kids, her calm demeanor and peaceful presence put them at ease. Nora is slow to talk, but quick to listen. She says “you can learn so much by just listening to these kids.” Nora sees the beauty in working with children, seeing them process the world around them, and grow through their experiences.
Even after Nora was done with the volunteer hours, she continued being a part of Unidos por Siempre. She found her niche there, and since her house was just a couple blocks away the logistics were easy. That is also how she found out about Doxa’s education scholarship program. After successfully applying for her three kids, they started to receive full scholarships to attend school. The tuition fees, uniforms, and school supplies were now less of a burden on the family’s finances. Josue also switched jobs to do basic construction, which came with a little pay raise. Now with growing children, Nora and Josue took that money and built a little addition onto their house. Edwin and Daniela were getting to the age where they needed their own spaces. They also were able to do some interior finishes, get cabinets, chest of drawers, and other furniture for the bedrooms.
Nora sees the values of “equality, empathy, respect, and companionship” lived out on a daily basis at Unidos por Siempre. What started out as volunteer hours and education scholarships for her kids has turned into her community. Nora explains that she doesn’t have any family in Tijuana, except for Josue and their kids. All of her relatives still live in Puebla. She made a conscious choice to raise her family here, where they can also participate in summer camp, eat meals from the soup kitchen, and attend community events. In addition, Nora shares about experiences when her kids got to meet volunteer groups from all over the United States who’ve come to serve in Tijuana. We get the privilege to journey alongside Nora and her family for these important and formative years.
Nora truly sees everything as an opportunity to accomplish her outsized vision. She’s found a community to raise her kids in that has values. She’s found a place where education is prioritized and there’s resources to succeed. She’s found a creative way to have her kids experience the world through meeting the wide variety of volunteers who come to serve. Nora sees her vision coming to life in real time! Not too bad for a young girl from Puebla, who just finished middle school. When asked how she feels about all this, Nora simply replies “blessed, but it’s also a lot of work!”
Join The Doxa Download! A concise collection of stories that are curated about Doxa and Tijuana,
delivered to your inbox every other month. We'd love to have you join us!
Doxa respects your right to privacy, treats all your information confidentially, and never shares information with any 3rd parties.