(Photo Above: Blanca and Anahi cut watermelon for the Fiesta.)Saturday, August 15
After the construction and medical team left Juarez, Timothy Purdy decided to stay behind with me to connect with the kids in our JCEP program. We dropped off the team at the airport and returned to the Colonia. Saturday afternoon was filled with visits to many of the homes where our kids lived. We disturbed many siestas, but were never met with less than smiles and invitations to sit and talk.
First we went to the home of Anahi, our second-year college student studying to become an attorney. I have become good friends with her family. Her father is now working on construction for a new factory near the Santa Teresa border, where a Taiwanese company will manufacture parts for Apple. We sat around the dining room table in the middle room of their Mission-Ministries-constructed house. He sent Anahi’s two younger sisters to buy us Cokes at the nearby aborrotes (small grocery store). Anahi shared her photos with Tim. Reliving her trip to the U.S. last summer.
Anahi has become somewhat of a big shot at her local church. On Friday night, when the rest of the team went to the local church, I went to see Anahi as the Master of Ceremonies at her church’s youth night. She introduced a very entertaining band, a young rapper and the minister. The whole evening lasted nearly four hours and the alter call alone was more than an hour. This varies greatly from our tidy one-hour services at my church. I am very proud of Anahi with her polish and confidence on stage in front of a large group. This public speaking will serve her well in her future career as an attorney.
(Photo Above: The three amigos, Moises, Samuel and David after Anahi's church service.)Next we dropped by the home of Leo and Susie. Leo now heads up Mission Ministries in Mexico. Susie is busy running both libraries and shepherding our thirteen JCEP students. They have taken in a young Tarahumara girl named Natividad. Leo is a missionary and visits the Tarahumara in Copper Canyon once per month. We conversed in Leo’s living room sitting beneath a big beautiful photo of their daughter Esmerelda, taken at her quinciñera (party celebrating a girl’s fifteenth birthday) a few years earlier. Esmerelda will be joining our group of students as she begins college to become a teacher this fall.
Within walking distance of Leo’s is the cluster of homes surrounding the original library, now called Library 1 by the locals. Juanita (11th grade JCEP student) lives with her family in this cluster. We spoke with her and her parents and enjoyed a baby that her Mom was watching for a friend.
In the back of the complex we awoke Angel (8th grade JCEP student) and his mother Rosa from their siesta. We didn’t stay long since Rosa appeared anxious to get back to her nap. She works hard in the Missions Ministries kitchen and had gotten up at 5 am to make breakfast for the team that morning. (Photo Left: Angel helping with house construction.)We hopped in the car and made the short trek to Blanca’s house. Blanca is in her second year of college studying psychology. We hung out with Blanca and her family for more than an hour. Consuming more Coca Cola, which seems to be the hospitality drink of choice in these parts. Blanca’s dad speaks English very well. He has picked it up just by listening, reading and watching TV. He is still unemployed and Blanca’s Mom is also now unemployed having been laid of from her job at the Phillips ballast factory after many years of working the night shift.
Finally we drove down “Dead Horse Road” to kilometer 30. Kilometer 30 is named thus because it is approximately 30 Kilometers from the border. Dead Horse Road cuts through some bleak desert and is covered on both sides with trash, dumped and burned by the locals. The name comes from the fact that horse carcasses are occasionally dragged there to rot. I, in fact, had seen such a carcass last time I visited. (Photo Below: Dead Horse Road.)
We toured almost every road looking for the home of Jesus, our translator, driver and construction boss for the teams visiting. We finally found his house by spotting the gazebo he is building for his two daughters’ quinciñeras coming up in two years. This emphasized how important these coming out parties are for the girls here. Families spend a lot of money and time planning them.
Jesus’ house is the size of three MM houses all put together to make a very large and comfortable house. Jesus moved his family out to the desolate Kilometer 30 a couple of years ago and was able to buy his land cheap. This before there was even electricity in the neighborhood. Now he has electricity and a pretty nice place relative to his neighbors.
Our visits completed, Tim and I headed off to dinner at a restaurant, La Cabaña, which had been recommended near kilometer 20. The place was packed with the more upscale residents of town and we enjoyed a very good beef dish with tortillas, cheese and spices. With drinks the whole meal was $20. We brought back the sizable leftovers for our guard at the team center.
We ended the evening with a sunset walk trough the Colonia. Everyone was out enjoying the pleasant evening. We spotted a knot of people down the street and as we approached we saw Leo sitting outside surrounded by lots of folks. He was holding court and enjoying the evening. We chatted for a while before returning to the team center for the evening.
Sunday, August 16
The big plan for Sunday was to have a Fiesta at the MM team center. We invited all the JCEP kids and the Leo and Susie Pineda family. But we had some time to relax before going shopping in the afternoon.
I woke up early and decided to have a walk through the Colonia early in the morning. I took my camera hoping to get some good shots and indeed, I did. Being Sunday morning, the place was eerily quiet. It usually teems with activity the whole day. See my photos from walking around on my flicker site.
(Photo Above: Juanita, Perla and Claudia on the roof during house cosntruction.)In the afternoon, Tim and I made our way to WalMart in Juarez. We picked up burgers, vegetables, buns, soda, ice cream and watermelon. The WalMart has most of the same look and merchandise as the one in El Paso. Except you have to pay 4 pesos to park. The portion sizes of items seemed smaller too. Maybe people don’t buy in bulk or don’t have living-room-sized refrigerators.We picked up Blanca and Anahi to help us prep for the party and dragged everything into the kitchen. A couple of hours later everyone started arriving. We had all the thirteen of current kids at the party. As a big surprise one of our graduates, Marta, came with her son Diego, age 14 months. It was great to see Marta. She is doing a great job as a Mom and is happily married with a husband who holds down a steady job.
The kids played basketball and fusball while I cooked the burgers. When they were ready, Anahi and Blanca assembled the burgers In-N-Out style with lettuce, tomato and onions. Everyone seemed to like the burgers and most even had a second.
(The kids from left to right: David, Angel, Moises, Perla Lupita, Samuel, Anahi, Margarita, Blanca, Esmerelda, Claudia, Carla, Juanita, Edith.)I spent time speaking with each of the kids. We now have the following kids in the program.
Angel – 8th grader at Mexico Libre school. His Mom works in the Kitchen at MM. Angel is a smiling happy young man who worked hard helping us build the house earlier in the week.
Perla Lupita- 8th grader at Mexico Libre. Her Mom also works in the Kitchen at MM. Perla Lupita also helped on the house. She is very bright and charming young lady.
Claudia – 10th grader at Mexico Libre. I call Claudia Miss Mexico, because of her dazziling smile. She also is really gets great marks in school. (Photo Left: Claudia at construction site.)Margarita – 10th grader at Mexico Libre. Margarita is quiet and intense. A very good student.
David – 10th grader at Mexico Libre. One of the three Amigos, David is a very good athlete and cleaned everyone’s clock in Fusball too.
Moises – 10th grader at Mexico Libre. Another Amigo, Moises is one of our standout English learners. He is always quick to engage in conversation and is quite confident.
Samuel – 10th grader, Mexico Libre. Samuel is quiet. But he gets the best grades of the bunch and Joel, the English teacher tells me he is the best at English as well.
Edith – 10th grader at new school. Edith just moved a little down the road and is attending a new high school that I do not know. I hope to see it next time I am in Juarez.
Juanita – 11th grader, Esperanza public school. Juanita has been in our program since the start, she would be our first kid to go through all 6 upper grades to graduation with our program. (Photo Left: Juanita on Slide)Carla – 12th grader Mexico Libre. Carla is only in her second year in our program, but she is doing very well in English classes. She hopes to go to college next year.
Esmerelda – Freshman in teachers college. Esmerelda is Susie and Leo’s daughter. This is her first year in our program.
Blanca – 2nd year at Centro Cultural University de Cuidad Juarez. Blanca is studying psychology. She has been getting 9’s and 10’s on the 1 to 10 grading scale they use in Juarez. Blanca has become very conversational in English since her trip to the U.S. last summer.
Anahi – 2nd year at Centro Cultural University de Cuidad Juarez. Anahi is studying to become an attorney. She wants to work in the Colonia after graduation to help her people. Anahi has become a public speaker, leading youth worship services at church in front of 300 people. Her English is conversational after her immersion trip last summer.
It was really great to see everyone and spend so much time with them. Leo and Susie really are the glue of things and they are deeply involved with all the kids. Susie drives them to all functions in the Van we bought last year. We got group photos and the party went very late. (Photo Right: Margarita and Edith.)I must say I really love spending time with these kids. They are special people and I am very blessed to be part of their lives. (Photo Below: Everyone at the Fiesta.)
SRK
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