Mexico: Day Four
One group went to the church in the morning to try to get a head start on the shower. At ten, the other group went to the church and we met up with Carlos, and all of us headed over to the Oaxaocan migrant camp. I’m not sure if any of us were fully prepared for it, and I for one was pretty nervous, but we went anyway. When we got there, we played soccer with some of the kids, and another group played pato pato ganzon (duck duck goose) with some of the other kids. After playing with them for a while, we gave them some sandwiches that we had made and some punch. Some of the kids sniffed the bread before they ate it. Some of them dunked their sandwiches in their punch. In all, I could tell they were happy and grateful. We also brought some oranges that we gave to each of the mothers that were there.
I can’t begin to tell you about the way these people are forced to live. It’s a version of share cropping/modern day slavery. Their language is one of 150 dialects in Baja that don’t have a written language. I don’t know if some of these kids have ever had baths. I don’t think that we can process what was going on quite yet, but we will show you some pictures. The church here has amazing vision for what they can do to help these people and lead them to Jesus. There culture is thick with paganism including witch doctors as their sole source of medical care. It was only an hour that we were able to be there, but I don’t think that any of us are the same after that short hour.
We debriefed a little bit from the trip to the camp and began to ask the question “What now?”, but there was no concise way to end that conversation. One of the really good thoughts that came out during this time actually developed from Joanna’s trip to Africa: Justice cannot begin to really happen without compassion, and compassion is ’suffering with.’ It is a feeling and a reason why we act rather than an action. The Holy Spirit uses it to partner us with others. It compels us. I’m sure the conversation will continue for the next couple of days
In the afternoon we were invited to a bar-b-q to celebrate the church’s 2 year anniversary. It was an interesting dynamic going from the one to the other, but there really isn’t any easy way to transition that.
We played with some of the children there as well as with each other. There was also some bocchi ball going on.
In the afternoon some of us stayed to try to finish the shower and the rest went to La Bufadora (The Blowhole). The group at the church got really close to finishing, but there was this water problem that required a fire line with 2 buckets for about an hour. We finished most everything, and we are going to put the finishing touches on tomorrow. We finished the night with some delicious tostadas and a bon fire on the beach. Smores were enjoyed, and we tried to unwind with one last night at the beach. We’ll be heading back tomorrow after church.
