Summer??? Really???

Since being a kid, I learned that the seasons are the opposite in the Southern Hemisphere from the Northern Hemisphere. Here in the Sierra of Peru I am sensing that summer is a misnomer however. Our temperatures are in the mid-sixties during the day, falling to high forties at night. Summer is actually the time for rain. January to March are not much warmer than the rest of the year, just wetter. I think the wetness actually makes the climate seem cooler than when I have visited in the summer (ours) months.

When looking at a couple of places to visit, the information said to forget going during the rainy season. The tourism board may not like that advice.

When the sun does shine here in the Sierra–Huancayo and Tarma–the day really warms up. We northerners need hats, sun block and sun glasses, which no one Peruvian seems to be wearing. The trick when going out for all day is to dress in layers and have an umbrella handy.

Given the fact that washing clothes is pretty much done by hand and no one has a clothes dryer, it is challenging to dry clothes during this rainy season. I have been messing for the last couple of days with getting jeans dry. First I hang them outside and then it starts to rain. So, I run out and get them and lay them over the ironing board. I repeat this several times, before giving up and leaving them inside to SLOWLY dry out.

The cool nights call for several warm wool blankets since there is no central heating of any kind. Peruvian homes generally have no water heaters either. So all that hand washing is done in cold water. The shower at Nataly’s house is similar to the one in Costa Rica. There is a kind of water heater rather than a shower head. It’s about the size of a cantaloupe. This functions sort of well depending on the day and time. The showering person has to discover by trial and error just the right point to turn on the water in order to get hot temps.

At Gladys’ house there is warm water until about 10 in the morning. After that, there is often no water at all until the next day. Gladys has a water tank and so has cold water all day for household needs. Given the fact of the rainy season, it’s hard to understand why water isn’t available all day. At least in Tarma, we always have water. Tarma’s water mainly comes from springs. Our handy man says that if you dig about a meter down in the lower part of town, you’ll hit water. Luckily we’re up the hill aways!

Gladys has gone off to visit relatives in Lima. She was complaining to a not-very-sympathetic-me that she is worried it will be too hot. Lima is about 20 degrees warmer than Huancayo and Gladys likes the cool temperatures. No one except the very rich seem to have air conditioning. I’ll be back in Lima for several days at the end of the trip and am looking forward to being warmer!

Oh, well, at least it is not snowing or icing like poor old Iowa.

Let’s Go Grocery Shopping!

One of the best aspects of a trip to Latin America is shopping in the open markets and the weekly ferias (street markets). Ever since I went to Uruguay way back in 1968, I have enjoyed the way Latin Americans provide fresh food for the populace. Grocery stores are only one of the options that people have and grocery stores are no match for price and freshness of the markets.

In Tarma we often go to one of the larger open air market stalls about 8 blocks away from our place. Natalie likes the fresh produce and friendly attitude of the owner/operator. Most of the market stalls are run by women, though not all. We can buy the usual veggies and also some from the selva (jungle) around an hour and a half away. The huge avocados come from there, as well as a variety of bananas. From the high valleys come many varieties of potatoes. The little yellow fruit in a husk called capulin is a good source of vitamins and you just tell the seller to give you $.30 worth and you’ll have all you need. The tomatoes are mostly Roma. We can buy enough veggies for the week for about $10, all super fresh.

For meat, we go to the covered market. We buy a whole chicken and the women at the counter cuts it up to Nataly’s specifications. Then we go to the beef area and pick out meat that we like. The butcher grinds it and weighs it in front of us and off we go.

At another stand we can buy a variety of grains and beans. Quinoa is popular in Peru, as is kiwicha or amaranth. I had trout covered in kiwicha and baked—-yummy. I guess both are actually seeds. Maca is a product grown near our area. It is sold in a powdered form. Gladys made a drink with maca, oatmeal, greek yogurt and a banana. Very high energy. Maca is technically an herb and sold in a flour-like form. It is called Peruvian ginseng. I’ve seen it at Trader Joe’s in Iowa and on the package it says that it is a product of Junin, Peru, our place.

There are some folks who arrive and just spread out the few veggies they have on a piece of plastic. We generally buy the big avocados from the selva from a little old man who just brings in those and spreads them out on his blue plastic. Others in the market are selling sandwiches–pork is popular. There are many varieties of street food, though I’m not usually willing to try much. Neither Nataly nor Gladys do either, so I follow their lead.

However, food is not all you can find at the market. Tarma is called the City of Flowers. Huge gladiolas last up to three weeks and are found in a variety of colors. There are roses, carnations, lilies, geraniums, others I can’t name off hand. We buy big bunches for the sanctuary for Sunday services and we spend very little. When I visited the jumbo sized Catholic Church (an entire square block) down the street from us, I was impressed with how many gladiolas they use!

So, don’t hesitate to go to the open air market and buy your favorite or new veggies, fruits and flowers.

When You Don’t Have a Car

A car is a luxury for most Peruvians and the folks I know don’t have access to luxuries. Never fear, there are many ways to get around town or between towns without your own vehicle.

In Tarma I am living very close to the Main Street in town, as well as the Thursday market, supermarket and daily open air (and rain) markets. So, walking is the usual means of getting around. This means taking along a shopping bag or my trusty backpack.

If we don’t want to walk in Tarma, then the moto taxi, a bicycle built for three, is the answer. The driver sits in front and the two passengers behind him. ( I have only seen male mototaxi drivers so far.) It is like a motorcycle with a little tent built on it. For $.30 you can go anywhere around Tarma.

Want to leave Tarma? The moto taxi will take you to the transportation hub where you can take a car into Huancayo, our biggest town nearby at about an hour and 15 minutes. The cars are usually packing three in the back and one in the front. We each pay 20 soles or almost $7. Usually it takes less than 15 minutes to fill the car and take off! If you don’t mind a minivan, that will cost 10 soles or not quite $4, but will be slower. Buses to Lima leave from here as well.

In Huancayo I did some shopping with Gladys and we walked out about 6:30 in order to get to the wholesale market for a whole wheat homemade bread that she can only find there. She is an avid walker and would not spend a $1 for a taxi if she could walk. Another market that she likes for cheese and grains was too far for walking, so we took a taxi that cost about $1.50. On this shopping trip we looked in vain for a Frisbee for the teen group at the church in Tarma. The toy stores were all in the same area, a blessing because of the rain. I finally settled for a couple of plastic rings about the size of the Frisbee and they work surprisingly well. The only person who seemed to really know what I was looking for was a Venezuelan gal who informed me I would only be able to use one at the beach! We were quite wet when we arrived home, as it was raining cats and dogs, a usual occurrence here.

Here in Huancayo I see only minibuses running routes. No big buses like in Lima, Mexico, Costa Rica, etc. I have only spotted one moto taxi. However, there are many, many taxis buzzing around town. Most charge from $1 to less than $2 to take you anywhere you want to go in Huancayo. Gladys left for a visit with family in Lima and took a very comfortable bus for a ride of around 8 hours, depending on the weather.

Trains are also an option for a few destinations in Peru. Tourists can plan a trip around the train running from Lima to Huancayo that gives amazing views of the Andes. It has no heating and the wooden benches get hard, so be prepared. It is also around 12 hours! Since this train leaves only once per month, you must plan your visit around its schedule. A band in uniform plays for you as the train leaves the station in downtown Lima. The band didn’t make up for the slow train ride. Once was enough for me. The train took forever to leave Lima, a city of over 11 million. The scenery is wild and rugged. I did enjoy very much meeting the Belgium family of five who were traveling around the world for a year, before relocating from Abu Dhabi back to Belgium. They had picked 10 countries and were spending a month in each. What an adventure for the two teen-age girls and upper elementary age boy!

Gladys and I tried the train from Huancayo to Huancavelica last May. It was another stunning trip, with lovely scenery going through a river valley. We stayed the night in COLD Huancavelica. Our hotel was nice, but no central heating. We walked around town, looking at a number of the many churches for which the town is famous. Had a good dinner at the Hotel El Presidente, where we should have stayed because it does have heat. On the cold early morning we hopped on board the train for the return trip. Again, no heat aboard the train. The trip is about five hours. Always dress in layers in the Sierra in Peru.

The train ride everyone takes is the one from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes, the town at the foot of Machu Pichu. The terminal used to be right in Cuzco. The first time I went, my nice hotel manager walked me to the train. I think he was pretty sure that the gringa would get lost. Now, due to train accidents in town, the departures take place at the new terminal about 15 minutes outside of town. My hotel helped me connect with a responsible taxi driver who also appeared on the dot when I returned the next day after having visited Machu Pichu. What a great guy! This train also runs along a river valley. It stops in several spots for hikers to hop off and join their guides for treks on the trail leading to Machu Pichu. Trekking is for the young adventurer, which I no longer am. I did find out that many treks use horses for the tourists, as well as native Peruvians who carry packs, tents and do the set up for the night as well as the cooking. Treks can take many forms it seems!

So, forget about your car when you come to Peru and rub shoulders with the natives as you enjoy a variety of transportation.

Retired, but very active.

Gladys Paucar Cordoba is another Peruvian woman I’ll be visiting while spending January to March, 2019, in Tarma, Peru. Gladys is the older generation of Peruvian women as she is in her early to mid “60’s. I first met Gladys in Iowa. She was an exchange teacher residing in Shenandoah for several months and came to my Spanish classroom in Greenfield. We visited several times before she returned to Peru, where she had been teaching in the Andes in a mining town near her home in Huancayo.

As did other Peruvians, she returned to the U.S. in a few years to escape the civil war with Sendero Luminoso. Gladys over-stayed her visa and went to work, traveling to visit other Peruvians in several states and even me in Iowa. Finally, she settled in California, where she easily found work as a nanny because of her good English. Before returning to Peru, she was a caretaker for an elderly woman. All of the time she sent money back to her family for building a home for them and for her. During that time I went to Peru and met her parents. Gladys was unable to return for her mother’s death and funeral because of her visa’s expiration. She knew that her decision to return to Peru would be final.

Gladys returned to Peru for retirement and a pension from her teaching job. She brought back items from the U.S. that she could use in Peru and finally was able to see her lovely American-style home for which she had worked in the States. Her brother had designed it and her father managed the construction. Her father lived with her for a few years in the home before he passed on. Now she enjoys life in Huancayo and visits her seven brothers in Lima for holidays or entertains them and their families. I have visited Gladys twice now.

The first time I came for a visit she was newly returned from the U.S. and feeling a bit lonely. She was reconnected with some people she had known in her youth and a few teachers from her time in the mountains before heading to the U.S. She seemed to be experiencing culture shock. For her it was especially insecure being a woman on her own in Huancayo. She was very careful when going out. We spent several days taking tours in the Mantaro River Valley where Huancayo is located. On my visit last May, 2018, I found Gladys to be busy with social activities and very well-adapted to life in Peru. We took the train to Huancavaleca and stayed the night, enjoying the beautiful scenery. One night the district superintendent, a man living in Huancayo in her neighborhood, asked to come over. Although Gladys was reluctant, she let me invite him to talk about coming back in January. She wouldn’t come out to meet him though. Later she told me that she doesn’t like for people to know where she lives unless they are family or very good friends.

Gladys has never married. Her brothers have families which she enjoys. She is especially close to the little niece and nephew of her youngest brother. We talked about the influence her Catholic private school education and its effect on her attitude towards men, sexual relations and marriage. I think she also observed her mother, who had two little boys when she married her father. Six more children followed, and Gladys helped her mother care for the five younger boys. Because her father was a policeman posted in places far from their home, he began a second family, which took some of his resources as well.

However, Gladys and her siblings all obtained good educations and have been successful in careers, especially several in engineering. Gladys herself paid for her youngest brother to take special English classes, which helped him to obtain a mining engineer post with a Canadian company in South Africa. Now he and his family are back in Lima and very successful with the Canadian mining company. He credits his success to Gladys for urging him to study English along with engineering.

Gladys stays fit by exercising a lot and eating a healthy diet of Peruvian fruits and vegetables like the beans pictured here. Quinoa is high on her list of nutritious and economical foods. When visiting Gladys, I am a vegetarian and I like it!! Although she has a lovely “American” kitchen in her house, baking and cooking are not really her hobbies. She does like it when I bring chocolate though and has requested cashew butter from Trader Joes!

I’ll look forward to visiting Gladys and going to Ayacucho, where she attended the university. I’m interested in hearing more of her stories of the founder of Sendero Luminoso, Abimael Guzman, who was a professor at the time she attended the university. Gladys was a good student of psychology and English at the time. I’d like to learn more about what prompted her to leave Peru so long ago to seek her fortune and leave her large family and the mother to whom she was very close.

Unlike Nataly and Elena, Gladys does not participate in any church. She is culturally a Catholic. Her family often comes for the beautiful Easter celebrations in Huancayo centered around the Catholic faith. She doesn’t attend any church regularly, although there are Catholic churches all over Huancayo. Gladys is also just a few blocks from the flagship Peruvian Methodist Church and prestigious Methodist school in Huancayo. I have recommended it to her, but she hasn’t been tempted to attend yet. I think her Catholic school education influenced her in ways that she looks back and can see were not helpful in her life.

The Middle Generation

Elena Pariona represents the middle generation of Peruvian women I know. She is about 20 years older than Nataly, between 45 and 50. Nataly represents the younger generation of professional women who strike out on their own, supporting themselves with their own work and living independently.

Elena is also single like Nataly and well-educated. Elena is the youngest of three children and lives at home with her widowed mother on the outskirts of Lima, near the University of San Marcos. Her two older siblings are married with children. Elena, at her father’s insistence, babysat for two of her nieces and nephews when her brother divorced. Elena has been an avid student. After studying law at the University of San Marcos, she studied art, theology and recently, sociology. For several years she worked for a legal firm doing para-legal types of tasks.

Her theological studies at a seminary in Lima affiliated with the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana (UBL) in San Jose, Costa Rica, led her to receiving a scholarship to finish her degree. I met Elena at the UBL while I was a volunteer in their library.

A solidly middle class, Elena’s family has long attended a Protestant church started by missionaries from the U.S. When there was a break between the Americans and Peruvians, Elena’s family stayed with the Peruvian church where her father was an active leader. Elena has also been active in Christian education. Her studies in seminary in Lima and later at the UBL helped to prepare her to lead Bible studies at the church. Although it is a bus ride of a couple hours and in a decidely poorer area, Elena and her mother remain committed Sunday worshippers. From her comments, Elena is looked to for guidance and advice in church matters and dedicates time to planning and organizing in the church.

Last spring on my exploratory trip to Peru, I contacted Elena and she dedicated a couple of afternoons to taking me sight-seeing in Lima. Since the late fall, she has a new government job working in the department of Ministerio de la Mujer y Poblaciones Vunerables (The Ministry of Women and Vulnerable Populations). This means she works with issues involvng domestic violence, sexual assault and feminicide, among others. I am looking forward to meeting her in Lima for an afternoon on my way to Tarma and hopefully at another time as well. I am wondering about resources in the area of domestic violence to share with the women of the Tarma Methodist Church.

El

Ancient and Modern

I marvel that Peru is such an ancient culture. There are many indigenous groups with histories of over 1000 years. The conquest by the Spanish was over 500 years ago. Tourists regularly climb all over ancient ruins like these at Machu Pichu and are in awe of the building done by ancestors hundreds of years ago. Machu Pichu is only one of many archaeological sites all over the country. Even in the Miraflores neighborhood, an affluent section of Lima where the tourists stay, there is a large ruin that can be visited at a 15 minute walk from the Parque Kennedy.

However, people expect that while they live in the midst of the old ways, they can also enjoy all that modern life has to offer: safe drinking water, houses for all, education for all children, enough food to sustain all Peruvians, all the same basics of life that we expect here in North America. And yet there is still a long ways to go in many rural areas. The cities reap the benefits of modern life, while the countryside struggles for the basics.

Where does the Peruvian Methodist Church take a stand? How do they promote the project of abundant life? The Peruvian Methodist Church ordains women and offers them leadership positions. Peru itself is known for a high level of violence against women. Police do not enforce the laws on the books that protect women against violent partners or friends. Impunity for crimes against women is pointed out as a critical problem. Femicide is recognized as being a social evil that has not been rooted out of Peruvian society. Does the Peruvian Methodist Church advocate for women, for compliance with the laws against domestic violence? Old ways and new understandings are struggling and innocent survivors are caught in the middle.

Nataly’s First Christmas

Nataly Romero, a Peruvian Methodist Pastor in Tarma, Peru.

In a few short weeks, I’ll be visiting a young friend, Nataly Romero, who is midway through her first year as a minister of a Peruvian Methodist Church. I’m anxious to know how she is getting along in her assignment. Has she been accepted by the different groups with which she works—the women, the men, the young adults, the children? Has she developed leaders in these groups? How are projects of maintaining the church proceeding? Has she made friends in the community? Are there associations for pastors like we find in our small towns? In what kinds of mission projects is the church participating? How did the class that she taught for other pastors work out? Will there be any visitors from the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana visiting to teach while I am there?

I have lots of questions and I wonder if three months will be enough to find out all the answers. Most of all, I wonder if I can find what the will of God is for my stay in Peru. God has smoothed the way this far, so what does God want of me? Maybe I’ll find out a little bit as I am packing my suitcase and I see what fits in!!!

Off to Peru

After a long time of not communicating via blog, I am going to resurrect it for my journey to Peru, which will begin on January 9, 2019, and end with my return to Iowa on March 26.

In between going to Laredo way back in 2014  and this trip to Peru, I have spent several winters in Costa Rica at the Universidad Biblica Latinoamericana (UBL) as a volunteer in the library.  It is a small seminary founded in the early ‘teens by a Methodist missionary and a Presbyterian missionary.  These two denominations continue to be the major supporters.  It is small and progressive and hosts students from all over Latin America from many denominations.  The professors likewise are from many denominations.  Due to rising costs of travel by students, the UBL has gone to a distance learning model.  A few students are able to receive scholarships and clear their calendars for several semesters in residence, but the majority now learn via SKYPE and their computers.

The last time I spent a winter in the library, January to March of 2017, I met an inspiring young Peruvian named Nataly Romero.  She was studying theology to become a pastor in the Peruvian Methodist Church.  I became an admirer of Nataly because she is very assertive about the importance of women being able to serve as ministers.  She also defies some cultural norms by being a single Latina who is not interested in placing marriage and children first on her agenda.   The church is where she wants to put her time and energy.

Here I digress: while teaching ESL for five years in Marshalltown, I remember upon meeting Mexican mothers at school conferences with our fail their first question to me was, how many children do you have?  These Mexicans defined themselves as mothers first.  How interesting to meet a young Latina who is not placing motherhood first on her agenda!

So, I want to become better acquainted with Nataly as a young professional.  I am curious to learn how representative she is of her young generation of Peruvian women.   I am also curious to learn more about the Peruvian Methodist Church, especially its attitude toward women pastors.

When I visited Nataly last spring, I proposed that I come to room with her and be a “judy of all trades.”  She is living alone at the parsonage and doesn’t have a church secretary or much help with church duties, so I offered to come and do whatever possible to help out.  We’ll see what that entails!   What are the people of Peru who call themselves Methodist like?  In a very predominantly Catholic country, what kind of person becomes an “evangelical,”  which is what Protestants call themselves.  How did the Peruvian Methodist Church become progressive enough to ordain women?  Is this a young and growing church?

I am also wondering how Nataly is getting along since I first visited with her last May.  At that time, she was beginning with the mission of rebuilding the congregation.  The previous pastor had lived only part-time in the parsonage, as his family was in another city about an hour or so from Tarma, location of the church Nataly is serving.   Since he was only there a few days of the week, some duties seem to have been neglected.  Nataly is a fulltime resident and very enthusiastic about rebuilding the church community. She is also coping with a situation that had happened a few years before her arrival when a pastor had some differences with the district superintendent and committee and left taking half the congregation with him.  Many challenges!!

Another interesting project that the church in Tarma was involved in at the time of my May visit was the use of industrial sewing machines set up in the basement of the main building.  It seems that at some point in the not too distant past, the district UMW, or its Peruvian equivalent, had requested industrial sewing machines to give women some income.  The machines arrived quite quickly from the UMW in the United States and the district committee had to decide where to place them.  Tarma was chosen.  At that point in time, there was a young pastor who got the ball rolling with some instruction.  Then he was moved and the following pastor, to whom I referred earlier, didn’t follow up. So, when Nataly arrived, there were some eight industrical sewing machines in good shape in the basement with no one using them.  The district superintendent had challenged her to find an instructor and put the sewing machines to use.  I hear from her that she has women busy at sewing bread bags and I am curious to learn more.

Another project in the waiting is general updating and maintenance of the church facility.  The bathrooms were not working when I was there last May.  There was a small library that had been neglected.  The kitchen area was in need of a face lift.  The Sunday School rooms in the basement were generally unappealing and needing a paint job.  Just lots of neglected tasks had piled up and, perhaps, a lack of fund-raising as well.  The district had fixed up the parsonage for Nataly, so that investment of money was well-worth it to give her a pleasant place, mostly due to some elbow grease on the part of her mom and brother who did the painting.  All in all, the parsonage is in good shape and very pleasant, if simple. There are three bedrooms, so there’s a nice space for me!!  All the floors are cement–no carpet.  Remember, all laundry will be washed by hand and there’s no oven, so no baking.  However, there is a frig and a microwave, so good news there.  There is internet!   I am wondering if the congregation has prioritized any repairs and upgrading of the church building itself.  My agreement with Nataly is to pay her rent, which will go to the church funds.

So, off I go to Peru and you are welcome to join me.  We will see what Methodism is like in Peru in 2019, or at least in Tarma.  We’ll meet a young woman professional who is defining herself by her faith commitment rather than her place as a wife or mother.   Nataly confided in me that she wants to teach  other pastors who haven’t had the benefit of the education offered in Costa Rica at the UBL seminary.  She would even like to become a professor of theology one day.  I’ll be excited to learn how she has grown and changed since I last spent time with her.  Come along with me.

Travel Tips: Do’s and Don’t’s

Travel Tips: Do’s and Don’t’s for the Long Road

(names have been changed)

After speaking to our sojourners, I just want to leave you with a few tales of caution in case you get desperate for a better future for your children and need to take a long journey away from a dangerous place to a safer location.

First tip: when riding atop a train, among the things not to do is fall asleep or let your child fall asleep. When Marlin told me that she had taken two months to travel from Honduras to Laredo, I knew something was wrong. She related how Gael, her six year old, had fallen asleep and rolled off the top of the train. He rolled over three times, then he hit the ground and a stand of brush stopped him. She immediately climbed down and jumped from the moving train, fearing the worst. But the child barely knew what had happened so fast asleep had he been. A few superficial cuts and a few bruises were the worst of it. A longer delay had kept them in a small Mexican town while he ran a fever for six days. Having no money for medicine, she sat in a park holding him night and day.   To see them after clean clothes and a bath, you wouldn’t know that they had suffered through such dire circumstances. Gael begged to run to play on the slide and swings as soon as he had his hair brushed. By the way, I’m not sure how you’re supposed to get any rest on top of a train.

Second tip: do travel when pregnant and hope that the border patrol will call your name like they did for Samanta.   Twenty-year-old Samanta of El Salvador had not seen her mother for fifteen years. When she became pregnant, her mother asked her to come to the States, have the baby with her mom’s support. She discussed this with her partner, who agreed, with the idea of coming at a later time after more money had been raised. Samanta’s hopes were just about gone as she sat aboard a bus with single women bound for deportation from Laredo. Suddenly her name was called. She stood and walked forward. A Border Patrol official asked how far along her pregnancy had progressed. Tiny Samanta was very obviously pregnant. Called off the bus, she was given her notice to appear in immigration court and taken to the Laredo bus station. From there, we gave her clothes and other items for the next step of her journey. A phone call at the Catholic Social Services station assured her partner and her mother that she was doing fine.

Third tip: be sure that you hire an honest coyote. Alisa’s trip northward was a little expensive—about nine thousand dollars.   When she and Pablito and their group from Honduras made it to Mexico City and a safe house, their coyote abandoned them. He took the money that her family had lent for her trip. In a few days the owners of the house began demanding money for her to stay at the house while waiting for family to send more money. She had to stay on for two weeks until she could get enough money to hire another coyote. Was it worth it? Only time will tell.

The final tip for the adventurous traveler is this: don’t be born in a country like El Salvador, Honduras or Guatemala where the society is falling apart, the government is impotent and the criminals, lower, middle and upper class, enjoy impunity for their crimes. Being a woman or a child or a teen or just about anyone without a weapon is dangerous to your health.

Monday Morning Quarterbacks

As I look back, I am surprised that we held that conversation last night.  We are all putting in lots of time and energy to help here at the Holding Institute Community Center in Laredo.  Blanca, a special education teacher, has been the main organizer of the crazy assortment of used clothes that people keep pulling out of their closets to give.  José is a consultant who comes over early evening after work every day and writes grants for things like new appliances for the center.  Viky is giving time from her campaign for city council by being here off and on to handle a variety of tasks and issues that pop up.  Mario is a Missions Minister with the Baptist church and starting his own “cowboy church.”   He plans to follow up his activities here with trips to evangelize in Mexico City and Venezuela.  And I am participating, too.

          All of these folks have been very involved in the Laredo Humanitarian Relief Team for weeks, but we still don’t get it.

          Our sojourners are facing numerous bad choices in their lives and having to make the best of it, even thought “the best” may not be what we would choose.

          Elena* and five year old Teo* from Honduras seemed like any other folks when they came through the door on Tuesday.  After showers Elena went to use the phones provided by Catholic Social Services, while Teo went to play with the two Head Start teachers provided by Save the Children.  When the other three women and children left for  the bus station to await their buses,  Elena and Teo were still here.  Then we head that she didn’t have money for a bus ticket, so Mario took them to the home his supervising pastor to spend the night.  This doesn’t usually happen.  

        In the morning we were glad that Elena and Teo had gone to the pastor’s home rather than Mario’s church because the church was broken into on Tuesday night and many items stolen.  At any rate, Elena and Teo were back with us around noon and Teo seemed quite happy to play and get snacks again. But Elena was looking pretty frazzled.  She started calling to make connections in Virginia.  Then it came out.

       The person Elena was calling was not a relative, but a man she met on Facebook with whom she said she had been corresponding for over a year.  They had agreed that if she would come to the U.S. then they would get married. Each time she would call him in Virginia he would have some excuse as to why he couldn’t send the money for the bus ticket—he was working, the bank was closed, he didn’t have enough money yet, etc.  Well, when we learned this, quite the conversation ensued between those of us who are privileged and can manage our own destinies quite well.  

       Our remarks ranged from “How could she think that he would really pay $500 for a bus ticket?!”   to “Maybe she better just go back to Honduras.”   Or, “He might take her passport and threaten to harm Teo if she doesn’t do whatever he wants.”   Visions of human trafficking or domestic abuse came to our heads.  One person opined that we shouldn’t even let her go to Virginia until he talked on the phone with Facebook boyfriend.

      Reflecting on the conversation of a group of well-meaning volunteer helpers, I am embarrassed that we were not more sentient of the difficulty facing Elena.  Coming from Honduras, the country with the highest murder rate in the world and the poorest country (except for Haiti) in the Western Hemisphere, just how many good choices did Elena really have?  Who did we think that we were to tell an adult how to manage her life choices?  Suddenly, simply because we had the time, energy, motivation and money to be involved in this relief effort we had taken on the mantle of judging her actions.   

      How easy it is to have power and how easy to tell the powerless what to do.  

      Oh, yes, our motivations were certainly above reproach.  Oh, yes, we want the best for this mom and child.  But, we can give information and the needed immediate material aid without assuming that we know what is best for Elena and Teo.  She has received information on the national hotline numbers for domestic violence and human trafficking.  She knows where the Catholic Social Service office is in Virginia from the information given out by them.  

      Now we have to let go and let God work in Elena and Teo’s lives.  She has gotten herself and her little boy with a mop of curly red hair this far and I don’t think that happens without a lot of prayers on the way.  Her life experience is not ours.  Her choices are not ours.  Her dreams are not ours.  She has her own path that we can’t walk.  

      May we invest the time, energy, money and good intentions into pushing for changes that are our responsibility to make.  We are U.S. citizens in a democracy with free speech.  Our tasks are to advocate for social justice and comprehensive immigration reform, for foreign aid that actually contributes to making countries better places for their people and for a fresh and realistic look at our neighbors to the south. We can make the effort to find out more information about what life is really like for refugees who come to our nation.  As active Christians we can urge our denominations to be prophetic voices in the immigration debate.  These things we can do, but we can’t judge Elena and her life choices.  Our circumstances are not hers.  May we humble ourselves in the sight of the Lord so we may not assume that we can judge. 

       What are you doing to understand more fully the plight of the people of Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala?   What are you doing to urge your church to speak out prophetically for new immigration policies? What are you doing to advocate with your congressional delegation?  Are you spending your time judging or are you being pro-active to do what is within your power to find justice in this situation?