wfn.org | Cuban family makes new life with help from Florida church

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

Feb. 16, 2000  News media contact: Tim Tanton·(615)742-5470·Nashville, Tenn.
10-32-71B{075}

NOTE:  For related coverage, see UMNS stories #073 and 074.

By Michael Wacht*
	
MIAMI (UMNS) -- Hector Borroto spent more than seven years in a Cuban prison
for speaking out against the government of President Fidel Castro.
	
"He was charged with crimes against the power of the state," said Virginia
Finale, a caseworker with Church World Service (CWS) and member of Wesley
Hispanic United Methodist Church here.
	
With those years behind him, Borroto and his family are living in Florida,
and much of what they have now was achieved through help from the Hispanic
American United Methodist Church in Miami, according to his wife, Mercedes
Borroto.
	
The Borrotos, their two daughters and a son-in-law arrived in the United
States last April as refugees. In less than a year, they have found a house,
the two men have jobs as mechanics with Aviation Wings near the Miami
airport, and the daughters are enrolled in English language and computer
training classes.
	
"My husband is working at a good job, my two daughters are both studying,"
Borroto said. "Everything is good."
	
Judith Pierre Okerson, a supervisor with CWS and a member of Miami's Grace
Haitian United Methodist Church, said the church that helped the Borrotos is
one of 12 United Methodist congregations in Florida that have worked with
CWS and the United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR) during the past
year to help refugees.
	
CWS is a cooperative of 35 Protestant, Anglican and Orthodox churches and
ministries in the United States, with worldwide programs in long-term
development, emergency response and assistance to refugees, according to the
group's Web page. It is one of only two agencies in the United States that
helps undocumented refugees resettle, Okerson said.
	
Many undocumented refugees are detained by Immigration and Naturalization
Service until the courts decide if they can remain in the United States,
said the Rev. Brice Harris, pastor of First United Methodist Church, Pompano
Beach, and chairman of the conference's Refugee Ministry Task Force. One
deciding factor is whether there is someone who can help them stay.
	
Finale said the Borroto family already had friends in the United States who
helped them raise the $600 per person they needed to leave Cuba. They also
asked the Hispanic-American church, which they attend, to get involved. The
Rev. Antonio Fernandez offered CWS the church's support.
	
The family was worried and scared about starting a new life in the United
States, but Borroto said the church "was marvelous in helping." When they
arrived, they stayed with a church family. Other church members helped them
find a place to live, a car, clothes, shoes and money.
	
"We are very glad and pleased to have a family here ... that helped us as
brothers in the Lord," Borroto said. "Every person who came here told us not
to be afraid, that God will help ... and made sure we had what we needed."
	
The Borrotos are telling others about the Hispanic-American church. "I like
to talk about the church," Borroto said, "because of all they've done for
us."

# # #

*Wacht is the assistant editor of the Florida Annual Conference's edition of
the United Methodist Review. This story first appeared in that publication.

 

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