Rosa Sabido

I know, love and deeply respect this beautiful woman. She has so much love in her heart. She is doing this not just for herself, but for all (and there are many) in her situation. She remains joyful, loving and upbeat throughout, with only kindness and caring offered.

'I live in a church to prevent being deported'

By Taylor Kate Brown

BBC News, Mancos, Colorado, 8 August 2018

Across the US, dozens of undocumented immigrants have taken refuge in churches to avoid deportation. For one woman in Colorado, her 14 months in sanctuary have taken a heavy toll.

After midnight in the garden of Mancos United Methodist Church, Rosa Sabido can enjoy a bit of solitude.

Mancos is quiet and dark at night, a one-traffic light, two-coffee shop town in southwest Colorado at the edge of where the Rocky Mountains meet desert mesas.

"I spent a lot of time at night here, trying to watch the moon and the stars - my little piece of sky," says Rosa.

One evening, a family of deer came by, and baby raccoons were nesting in a tree.

During the last hunting season, she heard animals separated from their packs in the hills nearby.

"I heard their cry and it was like 'Oh gosh', I cried with them, because I could truly relate to that."

Rosa, 54, has not left the church grounds since 2 June 2017.

She sleeps in the church's community building, where a former nursery has been converted into a makeshift bedroom. She walks the dozen feet or so to the church itself to attend Sunday services.