Faith, family and public works keep Mexican migrants' ties strong

Published: 2007-08-30

PONCITLAN, Mexico (CNS) -- Francisco Jacobo left his hometown in 1975, two years after a mudslide buried dozens of inhabitants as they slept. With the local economy in shambles, he headed north for Tijuana and eventually Los Angeles, where he found work in a water-bed factory and later a bakery. But Jacobo never forgot about Mezcala de la Asuncion, a village of fishermen and gourd farmers on western Mexico's Lake Chapala in Jalisco state, because his parents and several siblings stayed behind. Economically, he now supports his retired father, sending a $100 monthly remittance. He also participates in fundraising and social activities organized by Club Mezcala, a five-year-old group of people living in the Los Angeles area that has ties with the town of 9,000 and works to fund infrastructure projects south of the border. Like hundreds of other "hijos ausentes," or absent sons, he journeys back to his birthplace every August for the nine-day festival around the feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. The mid-August festival provides an opportunity for former Mezcala residents living in the United States to see how their remittances are being used.

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