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Goal of the Whole
7/16/09
In this week of getting back into the swing of things after our retreat, God has continued giving us insight into the culture that we have come to love.
We are learning so much about ourselves, the community, and the people here. Many of the insights have been enlightening, but there are others that are hard to learn and sad to see.
Through our relationship with the family Diamante and I stay with, we have seen many of the effects of the relationship that Mexico has with the U.S. We were initially surprised that many people in our neighborhood don’t suffer from the destitute financial poverty we had expected to find in a slum.
Many cement houses are established; the one we stay in is clean, roomy, and comfortable. Many of the families in this neighborhood live in less than squalor because most households have at least one family member working in the U.S. In our family, both Mago’s and Georgina’s husbands live in the U.S.
Most families have no hope of being reunited or even seeing each other in the near future. The women have told us that because their husbands are illegal, they cannot come to visit Mexico, or they would risk never returning to the U.S. The family members here cannot visit the U.S. because they do not have the resources (such as bank accounts with money) to be allowed in.
In many ways the poverty in Mexico is different than in other countries, because it takes the form of social poverty within relationships rather than extreme financial poverty in most cases. While our family does not have extra money for luxuries, they at least know they will be able to put food on the table each day.
So many families have broken relationships amongst themselves, but we have been lucky to see examples of families who are close-knit and help each other through everything. This is another reason that our family seems to thrive in the neighborhood: they work together and love each other.
We have also seen poverty in the way some people here view themselves and their community. A few times we have been asked what we think of the neighborhood, and before we respond they insist, “It’s ugly, right?” Many residents have trouble looking past the dust and dirt and seeing the good things about the community.
We have appreciated how our host organization works hard to improve the community as a whole. Rather than just working with individuals to send them of to “better” places, the organization tries to instill ownership of their vision for the community within its people. The activities we have seen here encourage positive thinking and outlets for feelings, and empower community members to help them as they strive for improvement.
This is something that I know we will be able to take back home with us: rather than just improving ourselves, we should be looking to improve those around us and society as a whole.
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