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!
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