You and your friend, the founders of Hormigas, moved to Anapra, an “annex” of Ciudad Juarez that borders both Texas and New Mexico. Why did you move?

We were nuns for over 20 years and decided to leave that life. We did not come to convert people to any religion. We wanted to work among the poor and to heal broken communities. When we arrived, we lived as the people lived, with no running water, no services, no schools or medical providers, no opportunities for children. We just hung out with other women, and through them we saw their reality: partner abuse, overwork, no time or energy to give attention to their children.

Can you describe the basic situation in Anapra?

Anapra has become a community of migrants from many places: Oaxaca, Durango, Coahuila, Chihuahua. Here they find jobs in the maquilas. At Foxconn, for example, 8,000 people work making parts for TVs and computers.

Those jobs are a salvation because they enable migrants to earn money. They also give women some independence. But these jobs have another face: unhealthy working conditions and insultingly low wages. The company unions at these plants just control the workers and don’t allow them to complain. Five years ago, workers staged an uprising. All the people who demanded more rights have since been fired.

What did you do to help this suffering community of workers?

We realized that these workers are suffering from the “disease” of poor emotional and mental health. Like ants who work below the surface, we engage people in internal processes to reach their hearts, because that’s where the problem lies. We believe that people, when emotionally healthy, can change their social relations.

So we offer psychotherapeutic services to adults, helping women regain their dignity and self-respect. They do not deserve abuse. We also counsel men since they carry a load of suffering for just being men in a macho culture. They do not deserve to live with alcoholism and sexual violence.

Our second program addresses family issues and the neglected children. Many children lack even basic social skills. These children also need to learn how to read and write.

Given the structural poverty in Anapra, do you provide your services free?

No. Our sense of dignity means that everyone must contribute, and everyone must be valued. So people who seek our help give a donation, but not a set amount. They give what they can. And everyone on our team receives a salary that recognizes their worth.

The San Francisco Living Wage Coalition, among other groups, raises money for you. Relationships between funders from the US and the poor in México can also be unhealthy. How do you handle these unequal relationships?

We do not consider the relationships as unequal, nor the donations as “charity.” We see the fundamental issue hurting all of us as the compromised human development of those forced into poverty. So money becomes just another way to contribute to improving people’s lives. We’re walking on the same path.