Sin Fronteras: Un Verano Oaxaqueño

By Julia Hernandez Nierenberg, MSW & MPP ’23

Over the summer of 2022, I had the opportunity to participate in the Sin Fronteras: Oaxaca Program with the UC Berkeley Department of Social Welfare’s Latinx Center of Excellence in Behavioral Health (LCOEBH). Sin Fronteras is both an academic and applied practice program that includes daily classes and volunteering. Some classes were more academic, like Racism in Mexico or Technical Spanish. Other classes were more practice-oriented, like Culturally-Rooted Interventions and Curanderismo (Traditional Indigenous Medicine). For the service-learning component of the program, my colleagues and volunteered for Centro de Esperanza Infantil: Oaxaca Streetchildren Grassroots, an NGO that provides services to children with limited access to education.

Through my Sin Fronteras experience, I realized and learned many things about global health services and myself. The knowledge that I gained will influence my current and future social work practice.

I learned to open up to my imagination and to practice creativity in daily life. I saw art everywhere in Oaxaca: in the streets, nature, food, galleries, and people.

I realized that I can incorporate art into my therapeutic social work practice. During each meeting with my mentee at Centro de Esperanza Infantil, we used watercolors to paint special places in the city of Oaxaca. As we painted, she and I shared stories and memories of our families and homes. I learned about her continued pain after the loss of a family member and the importance of her Christian faith. I shared my favorite parts of my Jewish faith with her, and we connected over shared values. With every brushstroke, we talked, laughed, cried, and sat together.

I realized that I also need art in my daily life. During a five-hour printmaking workshop, I felt my mind clear and my heart open. I was at peace with myself. I realized that unconditional love is all around me in my community and within myself.

In Culturally-Rooted Interventions, we discussed the concept of rituals. I learned that rituals can be as small as setting an alarm to wake up and brushing your teeth or as big as religious holidays and birthdays. I unconsciously practice rituals every day. For example, one of my most important rituals is cooking for myself. The art of combining various ingredients to create a colorful and healthy meal is one of my favorite art forms. It brings me even more comfort and joy to include my community in this ritual. Although it is not always possible to cook with clients, this is how I practice creativity and I hope to discover how my future clients cultivate creativity in their lives.

Curanderismo is translated as a system of healing, specifically indigenous traditions of healing. In this class, we asked for forgiveness. The art of forgiveness is not shameful, but brave and vulnerable. The activity we did is one that I will carry with me and modify throughout my life and work.

This program provided me with an opportunity to work with and learn more about the communities I hope to serve after graduation. Sin Fronteras expanded my knowledge of global social service systems and policies. I familiarized myself with indigenous practices, beliefs, and stories from local community experts. In addition, the immersive Spanish-speaking experience paired with an intensive clinical Spanish language course helped me to revise and compile a “Spanish for Social Workers” resource guide.