By Julia Lopez, community reporter
Lidixe Montoya, a 43-year old single mother and Salvadoran immigrant, is working with the local church communities that helped bring her here.
In August 2015, Montoya fled gang violence in El Salvador with her then five-year-old son Pavel. With the help of local church members, she obtained a student visa and enrolled at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire.
Five-plus years later, she now has her UW-EC bachelor’s degree with a public health concentration, plus a master’s degree in administration and ministry from Luther Seminary in St. Paul.
(To read the prior CVPost story that focuses on Montoya’s personal accomplishments, click here.)
Help needed to reach U.S.
Montoya wouldn’t have been able to come to the United States if it wasn’t for help she received from Debrah and Robert Adams at Hope Lutheran Church in Eau Claire, she said in a recent phone interview with the CVPost.
“Maybe sometimes, when you are struggling with money,” Montoya said, “you really think, ‘well, maybe I should emigrate and get a better job and help my family’- but I never tried, because the journey is a terrible experience, especially for women….
“I met [the Adamses] through church and they invited us to come here…I’m still very grateful,” she said.
The three had met in El Salvador in 2004 at an annual health clinic facilitated by Hope Lutheran and Montoya’s Lutheran congregation in her hometown of Lourdes.
Montoya had begun working at the Public Health Department that year, and her church activity led her to become involved with the health clinics where Hope Lutheran collaborated.
The clinics provide a variety of services to the Lourdes community, including treating patients and – for young girls and women – providing supplies and educational opportunities related to women’s health.
Invitation to come to Eau Claire
The Adamses and Montoya became close, and the couple became Pavel’s godparents. They remained in contact with Montoya and suggested that she and Pavel stay with them in Eau Claire after becoming increasingly concerned with the rising gang violence in Lourdes.
“The biggest thing is that Pavel is our godson,” Debrah Adams said. “It’s a dangerous country, especially for young boys who get recruited into the gangs to do their work.”
She said she was happy to have the opportunity to watch her godson grow, as he would stay at her home whenever Montoya was in class or out of the house.
“We have a lot of good memories,” Debrah said, “things he might never have done before. Like carving a pumpkin for Halloween.”
She mentioned that Montoya was able to visit briefly in 2010 when they lived in Duluth, MN. She said this visit helped Montoya obtain her student visa later on, since she had already traveled to the U.S.
Visa process was complicated
She added that Montoya’s visa process was complicated, but one she was more than willing to help with.
“I was familiar with [the process] in that most visas are denied from El Salvador,” Debrah said. “The other motivating factor was that she knew English. Otherwise it would have been almost impossible for her to get accepted at UW-EC.”
After Montoya was accepted and her visa approved, Debrah said money raised from donors and fundraisers at Hope Lutheran – as well as scholarships Montoya received from UW-EC – paid her university expenses in full.
Joyce and Dave Anderson, who are familiar with Montoya’s nonprofit work, said they came to know her through Hope Lutheran’s involvement with JONAH, a local nonprofit interfaith organization in which they are active.
JONAH focuses on social justice issues including immigration, affordable housing, and prison reform. Joyce is co-chair of its immigration task force, and Dave is a former president of the organization as well as former pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Eau Claire.
They noted that although Montoya does not work for JONAH, they are familiar with her current work with the Neighbor to Neighbor program.
Project aims at conversations about race
Montoya said she is also working on a project with Hope Lutheran which will facilitate conversation between local Hispanic and white participants about “race and social things.”
She said Hope Lutheran has been her “safe place” and that she’s grateful to be an involved member of the congregation.
“I hope we can continue working for God,” Montoya said, “doing his work for his kingdom on earth and understanding that the kingdom of God is one of love and inclusivity and diversity and care.”
“We have a lot of hope that Lidixe can help with her work in health and well-being in the Latino community,” said Dave Anderson, “and work with congregations on racial justice sorts of issues.”
Joyce added that working with immigrant communities in the Chippewa Valley has become increasingly important in the past four years, as the Trump administration moved to terminate the Obama-era Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.
DACA program
This program provides renewable two-year protections against deportation for people brought to the U.S. without documentation before their 16th birthday by their undocumented parents.
DACA protects approximately 643,500 people, according to March 2020 data from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). The program, however, is currently under legal challenge as the Department of Homeland Security moved to further limit DACA protections in late July.
However, President-elect Joe Biden is expected to continue the program as one of his first actions after he is inaugurated.
Debrah Adams noted she has met many families in various situations within the local immigrant community who have worked hard to establish a new life in the Chippewa Valley.
“What’s surprised me is how long some families have lived here,” she said. “A lot have children in college or own houses…they’ve lived here a long time, just quietly…the people we know are hardworking, and great parents, and such good neighbors.”
“They really try to make a good life here,” Dave Anderson added. “One person who has been here 20 years told me that there’s a lot of fear, but even with that fear it’s better than their country of origin.”
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