Los Embajadores participants explore a shared faith that provides common ground and a bridge to building cross-cultural relationships. The program structure relies heavily on Catholic Social Teaching and the model of other service programs like the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and Holy Cross Associates. The Los Embajadores experience is based on the same five pillars of Catholic Social Teaching as these two highly successful programs: spirituality, simplicity, community, service and social justice.

The experience itself is structured around an 11-day service trip to one of three sites in Northern Mexico. In Tijuana, we have been working with the Salesian Tijuana Project since 1988 in support of their work with at-risk youth. In 1997, we created a similar relationship with the Franciscan Brothers in Vicente Guerrero, working out of La Parroquia Cristo Rey. This is a small agricultural town five hours south of the California border. Our work with the Franciscans is focused on helping build the infrastructure needed to serve the indigenous population and the many migrants coming from Central and Southern Mexico to work in the fields. Our newest site, where we have served since 2000, is in Tijuana. At this location, we work with the Sistema Educativo Estatal (SEE), or State Educational System of Baja California. Through SEE, we are placed in a local community where we assist parents and other community members in building and expanding schools for their children.

All three sites involve daily interaction with the host community. Through the relationships Los Embajadores has built over the years, groups are able to participate in the full life of our host communities. Participants share meals with local people, often in their homes. They play with children, celebrate fiestas together, and share in the religious life of our hosts.

The Los Embajadores experience also focuses on developing a greater understanding of local culture and regional socio-economic issues. Groups in Tijuana focus on learning about the border culture. Among other activities, participants attend a presentation and dinner at Casa del Migrante, a shelter for men seeking to cross into the United State or who were recently deported. Groups at our rural site in Vicente Guerrero visit migrant camps and a packing plant in this largely agricultural area.

Los Embajadores does not directly recruit individual high school and college participants. Rather, independent groups (normally from churches or schools), under the direction of adult leaders, coordinate with us to facilitate the program. These groups are responsible for recruiting participants, facilitating an orientation program for the group (Los Embajadores offers materials and technical assistance), securing transportation to Mexico and food and lodging enroute, and providing chaperones for participants while in Mexico. Los Embajadores facilitates the group’s experience while in Mexico: fostering our relationship with host communities, providing food and lodging, organizing work projects and acquiring materials, coordinating cultural programs and providing a bilingual in-country representative to direct the experience while in Mexico.

For more information about Los Embajadores please explore the rest of our site and contact the Executive Director, Jamie Smeland, at:

Click on the pdf file below to read a reflection about the Los Embajadores experience by Padre Alex, a Salesian priest in Mexico.

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Padre Alex Reflection.pdf	68.87 KB