During my involvement in the Race and Oral History in San Diego class at UCSD I visited CASA Familiar in San Ysidro. During my multiple visits at CASA I learned and experienced the beauty of friendship, community and belonging. I not only saw it when I interacted with the children and some staff but I heard it also first hand from Mario Azarte who I interviewed for my Oral History Project. My art project is based on my experience in seeing the friendships, community, and belonging that CASA gave. I built five stick people who represent some of the children and people I meet during my time at CASA. I labeled each person with their name to give them representation and to demonstrate how important they are to CASA but to the Latinx Community overall. I placed the stick figures in a circle to demonstrate unity and friendship within the children. I believe having those bonds is a very important factor in someone’s life. Have support is life changing and that’s what CASA offers! Moreover, children are the future and CASA specifically focuses on them in order for them to have a bright future. That’s why I choose the children to be the center of attention in my art project. These children share many similarities because of where they live and their ethnic background. I want to show the children that they are important and an essential component to their community. Going to CASA has been one of the best experiences I had at UCSD.
By: Stephanie Beltran
‘18
