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| Team work! |
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| needs a little improvement |
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| We had our work cut out for us... |
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| improving.... |
For those of you who don't know, with this past week came an unexpected adventure and nuance to our previously scheduled week. Due to speaker cancellation, a new plan birthed in the form of local outreach week. Going into the week, we (as staff) had only minimal information about the overall picture/plan for the week. I discovered that about 50 of us (staff and students for 2 schools) were headed off to Ensenada (about an hour south of TJ) for the week to work and live in a migrant camp. Of course, I was a little surprised and anxious about what all that entailed, but well, its the way things go in my life and I have learned to be more and more flexible and take things in stride. Looking back, I wouldn't change anything for the world. The week was such an amazing bonding and stretching time for us all.
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| and completed with space to sleep... |
In part, we were all out of our element for 4 days: dirt floors as our bed, out houses as our bathroom, no showers, the great outdoors as our kitchen/living space, bucket water for dish clean up, etc. We dug 9+ foot holes for another outhouse. Our first project upon arrival was to clean out the rooms we would sleep in. It was not a fun task as the dirt floors were covered in trash and waste and smelled unpleasant. I am sure these rooms had not been cleaned out for a long time. By the time we had them cleaned, minus the bugs, spider webs and trash, and painted; they were transformed into liveable space.
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| Digging to Japan... |
The ironic part of it all is that many families live in these tiny one-room houses with as many as 10 individuals. Its crazy but really a part of their lives, and to them its not a burden or uncomfortable. The people, families and kids were so amazing and hospitable. Its funny though this time I didn't get attached to the kids but more the women. I am still processing why but I think maybe its due to the fact that I wanted my students to have that experience with the kids, where I have had many times previously. Also maybe I have been closing my heart off to getting too attached to kids who come and go in my life only to leave after a short time. It could have been the fact that I was needed to bridge the language gap with the women.
These indigenous women and children... so beautiful them as well as their culture! and well.... they live simplistic lives but are happy and grateful for their lives even though their lives are burdened with hard work! I know my students as well as I got a little taste of the lives they lead as we worked hard all week digging 9+ feet holes for an outhouse, trenches for drainage paths, hygenic water holes for waste as well as filling in an area with dirt that had become a festering water pool with waste and trash. Yet they all did so with amazing attitudes and so much enthusiasm. It challenged me in how I approach life and work.
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| ummmhhh... can we keep them, pretty please????? |
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| Making a stove out of tin cans... principles of community development |
growing up and how her parentes would wake her and her siblings up at 1 a.m. to work until the next day, physically and emotionally abusing them. All these individuals are migrants who come from other parts of Mexico looking for work and a better way of life. Often they work from sunup to sunset at least 6 days a week manual labor. Although to us, it may seem like such a tragic way of life, most were content to be in a place where they could at least earn a living, despite the hard labor and living conditions. It makes me wander how much more simple life could be....
With the women, I don't know how much I have to offer to them, other than my friendship. I know nothing about being a mom or wife. One of the women was 15 and pregnant and she looked like she could have been 30, makes me wander how hard her life is. Another shared about her life
1 comment:
Wow! Digging 9+foot holes. It is amazing what you can do with very little.
Tori:)
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