BONUS CONTENT: full interview with Joanna Williams, the Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative

The Jesuit Border Podcast

Earlier this season, it was our pleasure to welcome Joanna Williams, the Executive Director of the Kino Border Initiative (KBI), onto the podcast. KBI is a binational program in the border cities of Nogales, Sonora and Nogales, Arizona, which includes a shelter and soup kitchen for migrants, education and encounter programs, along with advocacy outreach in both the U.S. and Mexico. If you enjoyed hearing from her in Episode 2, here is the full interview. Joanna shares the story of what brought her to KBI in 2011 and the stories that continue to inspire her work. She reflects on how her migrant ministry is truly a vocation, and how that ministry has been enhanced and deepened through her own motherhood since the recent birth of her daughter. The full interview includes stories of the many artistic talents she’s encountered among migrants, from a now “semi-famous” painter to many talented singers. She also reflects on persistence in the midst of adversity and offers her take on reframing migration in a more positive light through insights drawn from Catholic theology.