SOUTHEAST STUDENTS TO SPEND SPRING BREAK MINISTERING

A Southeast Missouri State University group plans to spend spring break next week ministering to the needs of refugees in southwest Texas.

Neal Kluba of Catholic Campus Ministry said about 10 people will take part in the trip. Similar trips have been held the previous two years.

Besides Kluba, the Rev. J. Friedel, chaplain of Catholic Campus Ministry, and Southeast students in a variety of majors, including social work, pre-medicine, nursing, biology and pre-law, will take part in what is known as an "alternative spring break."

The group will minister to the needs of refugees who have been released from an Immigration and Naturalization Service Detention Center and taken in at the La Posada Providence, a shelter run by the St. Louis-based Catholic Sisters of Divine Providence. The shelter is set up to provide room and board for refugees awaiting their hearings in the immigration courts of the southeastern section of the Rio Grande Valley.

Traditionally, these refugees are clients of local non-profit organizations, which provide legal services to indigent people seeking political asylum.

The Sisters of the Divine Providence provide shelter and food for those seeking legal entry into the United States through political asylum.

Kluba said the refugees perform maintenance jobs or some other form of work at the shelter as a payment for the help they receive.

Southeast students will spend most of their time doing manual labor to assist the refugees as well as educating and socializing with them. A few members of the group will work at the Holy Family Birth Center in Weslaco, Texas. At this center, maternity care is provided to those who are in need. The care is not free, but those who are helped are expected to join with other family members to do some type of work around the center in return.

The group will take a side trip into the Matamoros, Mexico, area, again to provide manual labor for refugees. A number of U.S. companies have opened plants in the area and employ Mexican workers. However, adequate housing is not available, Kluba said, and conditions often are undesirable. In addition, the group will visit an agricultural community in the area.

The purpose of the trip, said Kluba, "is to open students' minds to the plight of the refugees."

Funding for the trip is being provided by sponsors, including families of the students, local organizations and churches.

Kluba said the experience is an opportunity to learn about other cultures and religions.