The first Migrant Fair in the delegation of Gustavo A. Madero kicked off this Monday and runs through Sunday, September 11th. Vendors selling handicrafts are at the fair every day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and workshops, musical performances and film screenings fill out the schedule.
The fair is organized by the Popular Assembly of Migrant Families (Apofam) and its member organization Artisans of Cuautepec. Apofam is a coalition that works in Mexico and the United States. According to the organization’s website, its mission is to, “change the conditions of marginalization that force people to migrate, and to create spaces for reflection, organizing and action to build alternatives for migrants, their families, and their communities.” They work with Mexicans in states such as Oaxaca, Puebla and Tlaxcala and in the United States in New York. In Mexico City, they work with the families of migrants, and migrants who have returned from the United States, known in Spanish as “retornados.”
The fair seeks to promote the social and economic inclusion of migrant families in the Gustavo A. Madero delegation in northern Mexico City.
One initiative on display at the fair is the group Artisans of Cuautepec, made up of migrant families who are developing small businesses to support themselves and re-integrate returned migrants to life in Mexico.
Artisans from Cuautepec and the State of Mexico are selling jewelry, soaps, honey, home-made snacks, and textiles. Films to be screened in the coming days at the Fair include “Perdidos en Tokio” (Lost in Tokyo) and “La Vida Precoz y Breve” (The Short and Precarious Life). There will also be hiphop, trova and slam poetry performances.
The Rural Development and Community Equity Secretariat of Mexico City (Sederec) is another organization participating in the fair. They have a booth to provide information about the services the Secretariat provides for migrants in Mexico City, whether they are returning from the United States or arriving from other states of Mexico to live in the capital.
The fair is at the Parque del Mestizaje, five minutes walking from the Indios Verdes metro station, in the delegation of Gustavo A. Madero. It runs from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every day through Sunday Sept. 11. The full schedule of workshops, presentations and films is on the Fair’s Facebook page. Learn more about Apofam on their website.
