Support the Arismendi Family in Their Return to Uruguay

My name is Lalo, and this fundraiser is to support my family's safety.

This is my mom’s letter to you:

Friends,

More than once I’ve sat in front of a Google doc trying to do the hardest writing jobs I can think of: in urgency, I wrote to you many times before asking to support through a small donation toward mutual aid funds, community bails, and other critical support for individuals in communities across the globe. Sometimes it is for people I knew and loved personally, others, complete strangers and their families, having one of the worst days of their lives as undocumented people. To sum up a human being, a member of community down to their material needs broke me every time, yet we collectively got our people back every time, penny by penny.

The trauma I experienced in my own personal life, compacted with, well… everything else, is something that I have been recovering from intentionally for some time now.

The past three years have been a gift, and DC has become my home.

As I healed, I also began telling stories and writing sermons again. I want to share with you an excerpt from a story written for and performed at Tango Mercurio’s Storytelling Hour that captures my feeling about being here:

“I have lived in the US for twenty-three years now.

Some of those years were hard and traumatic,

some were filled with art, music, victories…

beauty mixed in with grief that creates resilience.

I made friends, homes, gardens, children

Community and liberation…”

I am fortunate--I spent this past year making art, learning, traveling, and even had the privilege of teaching thousands of people all I know about keeping our communities safe from my own personal experiences, always hoping that the reality facing us in January would not come true.

My community, it is with the heaviest of hearts that I share this one last request for community support today. For myself and my children. We know what is up ahead, and assessing my capacity, mentally, physically, and even spiritually, I have come to the decision of re-matriating back to Uruguay, my first home. Today I ask for material support to make that happen. Moving my studio and work equipment, our household, and travel expenses are very costly. Getting my footing in a place I’ve not been in two decades requires a safety net too. Any additional support beyond our ask will be used to continue my work, which will always be For The People. I ask for support today so that I may continue to support our communities tomorrow. With the heartbreak of leaving all I know and love behind (again), there is the joy and curiosity of going to my Motherland. To go back to school, make new art, and travel more. I welcome the opportunity to connect with the world in a way I was not able to do in the USA.

This is not a goodbye letter, for my work is not done. This is a see you later, alligator. Until we find each other again, Take my Revolution.

Reverend Leonina Arismendi