Day 4: Community Service and the United Artisans

Day 4 was an exhausting, and shocking day. I will never forget what we saw and learned this day. In the morning the community service was for a staff member, named Herlinda, at CCIDD. She is a housekeeper within the complex. CCIDD usually does service with Habitat for Humanity, however, a few years ago, they had a group ready to do service and Habitat for Humanity cancelled so they had to find other work for the group, as they were there and ready to help. Sister Kathy, a leader with CCIDD, asked if any of the staff members had work that needed to be done at home, and at first, no one came forward. Sister Kathy was worried that the group would not have a place to lend a hand so she asked her staff again and finally Herlinda said they could work on her house. This was great, as it gave the volunteers a project to work on. It was quite a shock once Sister Kathy and the group arrived at Herlinda's house. No one knew the conditions she lived in, and it was devastating to see. The walls of her home were made of cardboard, sticks, palm, and a little bit of concrete. The floors were dirt, and she had no running water. Hearing this story from Sister Kathy was quite shocking. She had no idea Herlinda was living in these conditions or she would have offered to help much sooner. This situation is not unlikely in Mexico. Many people struggle to find appropriate shelter and it was heart breaking to see. Ever since CCIDD found out about Herlina's living conditions, they have been helping her build a new home. This is where we worked Tuesday morning. When we arrived, the building process was half-way through. We were informed what to do and got to work. Our job was basically to give out the floor so they could pour concrete. We had lots of shovels, picks, and buckets. The area was probably only about 12 feet by 12 feet so it was quite a small area for all of us to work in together, but we managed! It was hard work, but we all enjoyed it because it was for such a good cause. The plans are to eventually build a two story house for Herlinda and her family. I wish I could see the final product! I could have spent the whole week helping, but unfortunately we were only scheduled to work there for one day.
Later in the day we had a presentation and talk with Isidro Rosalines, an indigenous Artisan from Tlamacazapa, Mexico. Isidro lived with his wife and 6 children in a house made of palm and cardboard. Unfortunately this shelter does not protect them from rain or cold. Isidro makes straw baskets to support his family, and one of his older sons makes bracelets. It was very tough listening to his life story. He told us of days when they couldn't afford to eat. Sometimes he would work hard all day making a beautiful large basket and then when he sold it, he could still only afford to buy one loaf of bread for his whole family. After meeting with Isidro, we met many others in similar situations. A group, called the United Artisans, is working together to sell their goods so they can eliminate the middle man. Often, stores will buy their products, but for very little money. If the United Artisans can sell their goods directly to the consumer, they can make much more money and hopefully better support their family. The Artisans had tables set up displaying their products so we could buy from them. They sold things such as blankets, scarfs, skirts, t-shirts, earrings, bags, table cloths, art work etc. It was great to be able to buy a few souvenirs and know our money was going to a worthy cause!
To end the day, we watched a film after supper about the Zapatista Movement. The Zapatista are a very prominent, revolutionary group against the Mexican government. The group is mainly made of indigenous Mexican and they basically want to give the power back to the people of Mexico. The government stole their land a long time ago, and took everything from them so they were not able to support their families. We had read about the Zapatista before coming to Mexico, but I could understand the film better. It was also a good introduction to a guest speaker we had later in the week.
After the movie was over, a few of us stayed up to chat about the day and then we were soon off to bed as it was an exhausting day!

Day 3: Cuernevaca Quest

Once again, the day began at 8 am with breakfast. Then we had a morning reflection and a session learning about the art of dialogue. Dialogue is different than discussion. Most people in everyday life use discussion, but not everyone uses dialogue. We learned dialogue is much more than discussion. Often, discussion merely involves people trying to get their own opinions out and people don't really listen or care what others say. However, dialogue is much different. It involves people truly listening to what others say. Dialogue includes reflection, concern, trust, respect, appreciation, affection, and hope for all those involved. It is a much deeper means of conversation than dialogue. From what we learned, I can see that dialogue is necessary to make things happen and to deal with crises; it truly allows one to see the full picture. I hope to keep this with me throughout the rest of my life.
Today was especially shocking as the Cuernevaca Quest involved us going to the market with only 50 peso's and trying to get groceries for the week. The average family has to buy groceries with only 50 peso's, and this would be about 5 dollars American. During the quest, we were split into groups and each given a different grocery list. We had to choice of going to a grocery store, similar to those in North America, or a market to bargain. It was shocking to see that the prices in the grocery store were basically the same as ours in North American, even though most families live off 5 dollars a week! The market had better prices because there is so much competition and we were even able to bargain to get even better deals. The locals there are all competing to support their own families. It was tough trying to communicate with the locals at the market because very few spoke English. We tried to speak the little Spanish we knew, and just communicated using hand signals and any other way we could. It was definitely a learning experience communicating with others of a different language. In the end, we managed to get tortillas, avocado's, rice, eggs, and toilet paper, as they were all on our list. It was devastating to see what small amount of food most Mexican families had to live off of. It really made us appreciate what we have back home.
The quest took up most of the day. It was a great learning experience. Later in the evening after supper we learned about the social issues of Mexico. We had done readings about this before arriving, but it was much better to hear about it from the staff of CCIDD.

Day 2: Xochicalco Pyramids, Cortes' Palace, and Mariachi Mass

This was our first full day in Mexico. Everyday started with breakfast at 8 am, made by the wonderful cooks at CCIDD. After a morning reflection, we were off to the pyramids. They were only about a 30 min bus ride. We didn't mind the driving though because it was always interesting seeing different areas of Mexico. The pyramids were originally made by the Mayan people, and these pyramids dictated their whole life. There was three levels - the bottom level was for the everyday village people, the middle level was for warriors, and the highest level was for the astrologists that could read the stars and predict the weather and seasons etc. We had a very knowledgeable tour guide so it was very interesting to hear the whole history behind the pyramids.
After lunch we went to Cortes' Palace, which is in Cuernevaca. One of the most interesting aspects of this museum was the mural created by Diego Rivera. It depicted a chronological visual of the history of the region. This mural, which covered a wally approximately 30 yards long, started with the indigenous cultures and told the story of their initial contact with the Spanish when the indigenous believed Cortes was great, and ended with the eventual enslavement and devastation of the Aztec Culture caused by Cortes. Unfortunately we did not have a tour guide of this museum because we did not have enough time, but it was still a worthy visit as Cortes is very prominent in the history of Mexico.
Because it was Sunday, after dinner, Sister Kathy, a leader at CCIDD, took us to a Mariachi Mass at the Cathedral. It is called a Mariachi Mass because there is a mariachi band that plays all the music, so it was quite entertaining. The mass was in Spanish, but we could surprisingly follow along pretty well because it was very similar a Catholic mass at home. Most Mexicans in the area are Catholics so this mass is very popular. That evening there was about 4 masses. They started around 5:30and then started again every hour after. Cuernevaca has a population of about 300,000 people, so you can imagine they would have to have a lot of masses to cover everyone.
Everyday, in between activities, we had group discussions and reflections to talk about what we experienced, and learned. This was very helpful; Not only did this allow our group to become close knit, it also allowed us to learn about from the CCIDD staff.

Day 1: Arrive in Mexico!

The trip started early, as our flight was at 6 am Saturday morning! Luckily the cost of the trip covered a night stay at the airport hotel Friday night so we could get a few hours of sleep. I got about 2-3 hours of sleep and we were off to the airport around 3 am. Surprisingly, I wasn't actually too tired. I think I was just too excited to get to Mexico! When we got off the plane, our bags were all together, perfectly aligned and waiting for us! The flight went smoothly and we landed in Mexico City in the afternoon. We then had to get about a 2 hour bus ride to Cuernevaca. It was very interesting as the bus drove through Mexico City then up the mountains, where Cuernevaca is located. The day we arrived there was actually a rain storm. It was the first time they saw rain in about 6 months!! When we arrived at the center we were staying, CCIDD, the power was out. (The building shown in the photo is the CCIDD complex, and that is the front door). That was no problem though because they were well prepared with flashlights and candles. CCIDD also had an oil stove, and a delicious meal was ready for us when we arrived at 6:00 pm: bean and cheese buritto's with an amazingly spicy salsa and fresh fruit! :) After dinner we were given a short introduction and welcome to CCIDD, and had the chance to meet the amazing staff we worked with all week. By this time we were all exhusted from a days worth of travelling on basically no sleep. We were all then assigned rooms. Each room had single beds and a washroom with a shower, so we were well taken care of! I also had 2 great roomates, Julianna and Amy. Luckily I had brought a flashlight with me so we were able to find our way to our room. Unfortunately though we could not shower because the power was out, and I was too tired to shower the morning we left....so I was feeling quite grundgey, haha! We ended up going to bed that night at about 9 pm!! I can't remember the last time I went to bed that early! Having just finished exams that week sleep was limited so that night we all got an awesome sleep as we did not have to be up until 8 am! :) It was well needed to prepare for the upcoming week.