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.
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!”
Today is Giving Tuesday and also the launch of Doxa’s 4th Annual December Matching Campaign. If we haven’t met before, I’m Alex Knopes and I have the privilege of serving as Doxa’s executive director. Part of Doxa’s vision is to see people in Tijuana flourish relationally and economically. We’ve found house building, education, and long-term community as rather effective tools in achieving this vision.
A new house for a family can be life-changing, allowing the parents to focus on providing for their kids instead of worrying about tomorrow’s rain forecast and a leaky roof. A new house allows the children in the family to focus on school and just being a kid, instead of repeated illness from living on a dirt floor.
A Doxa education scholarship can be the cornerstone to breaking the cycle of poverty, allowing children to have a better life than their parents have had. While the material items (like school supplies, uniforms, shoes, and backpacks) are essential to success in the classroom, mentoring and tutoring these students on a daily basis is where real impact happens. Over the course of this year, Doxa has expanded its number of tutors to allow for more individualized attention.
Building long-term community does not happen overnight; and Doxa’s 33-year existence is a testament to that. Doxa’s community center provides a place where everyone is welcome and can grow in relationship with each other and with Christ. Dance classes, summer camps, sports, exercise classes, field trips, community events, parenting workshops, and access to counseling are some of the offerings. Over the past year, we’ve taken a renewed focus to partnering with more specialized organizations. For example, Dunamis is a local organization that brings Kids Club once a month. A Saturday of fun and games, with a meaningful message about Christ for everyone.
Doxa’s board of directors has generously pledged $42,500 in matching funds, so all donations up to that amount will be doubled through the end of this year.
Over the next few weeks, we invite you to follow along as we take a deeper dive into Doxa’s impact throughout Tijuana, focusing on a new story each week. You can help by sharing Doxa’s message with others during this season and also prayerfully consider donating before years’ end to double your financial impact.
Donations can be made online through Doxa’s website. We also accept various other types of donations.
Muchas gracias!
Greetings on behalf of the Doxa Board of Directors. We come to you with gratitude for your partnership and support and with humble eyes to see what God is doing in this chapter of our organization’s history.
In February, the Board completed its annual retreat and first quarter board meeting in Tijuana. The board members cover their own travel expenses to San Diego where we cross the border to Tijuana each January or February. The remaining three quarterly board meetings are now conducted virtually as the board is becoming geographically dispersed. Many board members travel to Tijuana at other parts of the year to participate in housebuilding trips, educational programs or community events like summer camp.
While in Tijuana this year, we had rich discussions with our Doxa staff, our partners at Unidos por Siempre, Rancho, and Hogar de Los Niños. We attended the first church service in ten years on the campus of Rancho and were blessed by the pastors of Grupo Unidad, the church that owns and operates Rancho. Pastor Marco spent time with us and credited Doxa with breathing life back into Rancho with our investments and the church has a renewed energy for its programs there.
Breaking bread or tortillas together has the ability to bring people together to build relationships and this year we were shown hospitality with tostadas at Unidos por Siempre, a wonderful taco dinner we shared with Doxa’s staff, partners and their families at the Doxa Community Center and breakfast provided for us by the staff at Hogar de Los Niños. Each of these encounters nourished our spirit and were rich in conversations along with good food. We cherish our time with our friends in TJ and they make us feel at home.
We have diversified our board with many members joining from outside the Seattle area. Over the last couple of years, we have enabled long time board members, Andrew, James B., Sharon and Ben to roll off the board and have made room for new board members to implement the strategic plan they developed and complement the work with their own innovative ideas to grow the mission of Doxa. We now have members on the board from Seattle and Spokane, Washington; Chicago, Illinois; Los Angeles, Ojai and Oakland, California. Each of our board members brings a unique perspective and a unique connection with the people of Tijuana. We have members in ministry, banking, education, investments, nursing and business. We’re here to learn from our team in Mexico and from each other while using our gifts to help others. Get to know our board (and Doxa’s entire team) by following this link to their profiles.
We are excited for 2024 as we continue to see housebuilding teams coming back and increasing in numbers. We are excited for our community programs and the growth of programs like the dance team and summer camp. We’re excited to provide meals and educational support to young students on both the East and West sides of Tijuana. We are also looking forward to making progress on the Community Center plans and to accelerate our fundraising efforts to bring that vision to life.
God has been at work in Tijuana long before we got here and He will be here long after each of us is gone. Let us be faithful to the part He has designed for each of us and let us work well together with humility and praise for His good work.
With gratitude,
Patrick McCallister
Doxa Board Chair
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