Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Oasis



This week has been a tall glass of water for Sarah and I.  We traveled to Juarez to work with our friends, Matt and Misty who live in Juarez.  They work with an organization called Amigos that does a number of projects within the city.  They have a vision for change and beauty in this neighborhood that just a year ago or so had no paved roads and most of the homes were made out of pallets.  There has been a number of changes so far over the years partly due to Carmen's Cocina.  One of our new friends that has been cooking for up to 400 kids a day in a poor neighborhood in Juarez.  It is a story of success.  Partly due to media attention to Cocina De Carmen the government has poured more money into the school and as of now the first and only school in Juarez to have an after school program.  Their home is an oasis in the dusty, forgotten neighborhood.  We talked about starting gardens and working with them to build greenhouses and teaching the neighborhood to grow some of their own vegetables.  

 

After our time in Juarez we started heading south to Creel, in the Sierra Mountains.  Mid December, we heard about this people group, the Tarahumaras, who are natives to the region.  This people group is keeping to their culture amidst the pressure of the Mexican culture upon them for a couple hundred years.  They are very traditional and live in simple homes with no electricity or water.  Surviving off of the land and by selling handmade gifts.  They have one of the highest infant mortality rates in Mexico and are pretty much outcasts by society.  Yobel had hopes of making connections with a family of Tarahumaras whom Matt and Misty had known in the area to start a new fair trade project.  The area is famous for its baskets and woven goods made from palm leaves and pine needles.  We were able to go to the family's home and play soccer with the kids and spend quality time getting to know them.  They are lovely people with wonderful smiles.  We were able to buy some handmade goods from the locals down there and will continue working with this family in hopes of providing education options for them as well as their neighbors.