The Lost City Kickstarter Campaign - Why We Support This Project and You Should Too

I wish everyone had the opportunity to live for few years in a foreign country. Famous artists and authors such as Pablo Picasso, Rudyard Kipling and Ernest Hemingway spent years living abroad, causing many to speculate about the connection between their creativity and their years living abroad. During my four years living abroad in Mexico, I discovered my love for fresh food, complex flavors and unique spices. I also developed a deep understanding of a very complex culture, full of history, and rich in tradition. Mexico was very kind to me, it gave me the best years of my life. I met so many amazing people that change my life in ways they would never get to know. 

The beauty about Mexico and it's people is the great lengths they will go in order to help their family survive a disastrous government with bad economic policies and deteriorating environmental conditions.  Mexican people are in my opinion one of the biggest happiness pursuers. They  will always find something to be grateful for, and hold on to it as they life depends on it. They find happiness in the simple things and they embrace the light of a new day as a fresh chance to begin again.
 
Can you, just for one moment, try to understand, how would it feel if the country that your heart belongs to, doesn't care if you are dead, starving, or sick, and the country that holds your heart hostage makes no attempt to treat you like a human being. When you have children, it changes everything. You can only move forward, and fight for their survival.

Today, I want to raise awareness about an independent documentary produced by Alberto Garcia. "The Story of Candelaria, Texas".  Candelaria is an unincorporated community in Presidio County, Texas, United States, with about 75 inhabitants. The town stands in the Chihuahuan Desert on the north bank of the Rio Grande, just across from the small Mexican town of San Antonio Del Bravo. The two towns were linked by a bridge across the river that enabled the inhabitants of San Antonio to buy groceries and supplies from Candelaria; some sent their children to school there. However, in 2008 the bridge was controversially removed by the US Border Patrol because of concerns that it had become, in the words of Border Patrol chief John Smietana, "a route for terrorists, drug traffickers and illegals

Imagine you lived in a small town and then imagine you couldn't travel more then a few miles from that town. This is the problem that the residents of Candelaria, Texas face every single day. The only reason they live there is to send their children off to school on the U.S. side, because the school on the Mexican side is in complete shambles. The closest town with a grocery store is one hour away and for fear of deportation they cannot even travel to buy food. They must rely on anyone who is willing to help them. Most of the men work on the Mexican side but their wages are so small that most families have 4, 5, or even 6 people living in small trailers made only for a couple of people. 





A Kickstarter campaign went live a few days ago. The purpose is to raise enough money to finish filming this project and  share it with the world in hopes of creating a better understanding of the struggles Mexican immigrants and their children endure on a daily basis, and how families are often trapped in the bureaucracy, politics, and social injustice of two countries.  If you want to become a backer for this project please visit:


http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1580586065/the-lost-city-candelaria-tx