By Cece Aguilar Ortiz (’98 Thailand)
Cecilia Aguilar Ortiz, who serves as program coordinator for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Arizona and New Mexico, uses her reflection on Our Lady of Guadalupe to share valuable insights about the “insider-outsider” nature of border culture!
Cece joined MKLM with her husband Dan in 1999. Cece and Dan lived and worked in Thailand throughout their entire MKLM experience. She collaborated with AMAN—the Asian Muslim Action Network. AMAN was one of the few organizations that worked directly with grassroots communities to address these issues from a community-based perspective. In particular this initiative of AMAN focused on involving youth directly in responding to issues of violence, human rights abuses, as well at religious, cultural and economic marginalization.
Cece was directly involved in developing the youth for peace network. Her peace and justice experience, combined with her organizational skills contributed greatly to the project.
Cece and Dan left Maryknoll Lay Missioners in 2009 to continue their mission work in Tucson, Arizona.
Please click here to read the article she recently wrote for the Igniting Our Values, a Jesuit Program.
