Let me introduce our next family… Mexico, Summer 08

It is my pleasure to introduce to you our next family to receive a home, Miguel and Ofelia with their three daughters. The Mexico Hero Holiday arriving in San Diego on August 2nd will be changing this families lives. Currently they are living in a put-together house, and because it is missing parts of the walls and roof, they are sleeping in the van. Not sure the story behind the van, it clearly says taxi on the side, but like most things in Mexico, you can’t take that at face value. Both of the parents work, Dad in construction and Mom in the strawberry fields. The girls, when they are not in school, go to a day care on days when both parents work. At one point we were standing around discussing details of pouring the concrete pad, which Miguel is working with Roberto on, and he looked at us and smiled. Then he showed us the goose bumps on his arms. He didn’t really have the words to express what he was feeling, but it was a mixture of excitement and gratitude. Miguel is able bodied and willing to work, they are in need of a house, an expense that is too great for them, and he can’t wait to work on it along side the group.Day cares are an important part of the social structure in the nothern part of the Baja. It is common for single mothers to go to work in the fields and leave their older children to take are of the younger ones. By older I mean aged between 6-9 taking care of multiply younger siblings ages 1-6. Day cares provide a safe place for the younger kids, allows the older ones to go to school and the mothers have some peace of mind. This build is across the rodeo grounds from the build that Seycove Secondary from Vancouver did the first week of July. This morning, after visiting with Miguel and the girls, Ofelia is working, we went looking for other friends, Micaela and Honorio. They weren’t home, but the girls were, so we had fun with them while we waited for a bit. The pace in Mexico is slower, Mexico time and manana really do exist. After waiting for a while, myself, Kelsey (our summer volunteer staff) and Roberto, (our neighbour, concrete worker, interpreter and friend) headed back north. It is always a good day to be out visiting and working, sometimes hard, sometimes heart breaking, most always dusty, but definitely good.