Enrique's Journey

I have just finished reading Enrique’s Journey and I highly recommend it. Numerous people had encouraged us to read it in preparation for our time in Mexico with MCC. But as Isabel Allende says about this book “If you are going to read only one nonfiction book this year, it has to be this one, because you know these young heroes. They live next door.”

“And now what?” I ask myself. “Now what do I do with this heart-breaking information?” For now, I will continue to pray and collect stories from the people I meet here in Cuernavaca. And I will continue to occasionally press a few pesos into an open hand and look into the face of the person who is asking for help…knowing those pesos are not the answer to the problem…knowing we are all children of God.

Here is the summary from the inside cover:
“In this astonishing true story, award-winning journalist Sonia Nazario recounts the unforgettable odyssey of a Honduran boy who braves unimaginable hardship and peril to reach his mother in the United States.
When Enrique is five years old, his mother, Lourdes, too poor to feed her children, leaves Honduras to work in the United States. The move allows her to send money back home to Enrique so he can eat better and go to school past the third grade.
Lourdes promises Enrique she will return quickly. But she struggles in America. Years pass. He begs for his mother to come back. Without her, he becomes lonely and troubled. When she calls, Lourdes tells him to be patient. Enrique despairs of ever seeing her again. After eleven years apart, he decides he will go find her.
Enrique sets off alone from Tegucigalpa with little more than a slip of paper with his mother’s North Carolina telephone number on it. Without money, he will make the dangerous and illegal trek up the length of Mexico the only way he can – clinging to the sides and tops of freight trains.
With gritty determination and a deep longing to be by his mother’s side, Enrique travels through hostile, unknown worlds. Each step of the way through Mexico, he and other migrants, many of them children, are hunted like animals. Gangsters control the tops of the trains. Bandits rob and kill migrants up and down the tracks. Corrupt cops all along the route are out to fleece and deport them. To evade Mexican police and immigration authorities, they must jump onto and off the moving boxcars they call El Tren de la Muerte – The Train of Death. Enrique pushes forward using his wit, courage, and hope-and the kindness of strangers. It is an epic journey, one thousands of immigrant children make each year to find their mothers in the United States.
Based on the Los Angeles Times newspaper series that won two Pulitzer Prizes, one for feature writing and another for feature photography, Enriques’s Journey is the timeless story of families torn apart, the yearning to be together again, and boy who will risk his life to find the mother he loves.”

School

Greetings from eternally spring Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Isaiah and Micah are attending preschool at the “Buena Tierra” (Good Earth) school. The school is supported in part by MCC’s Global Family Project. Go to http://www.mcc.org/globalfamily/projects/latinamerica/mexico/cebt.html for more information. It is in the middle of a squatter’s settlement. The school is a true gem in the midst of great poverty.

When I picked the boys up after their first day, I asked the teachers how it went. “They both did great, but we couldn’t understand anything they said. They seem to understand us though.” So the boys are still speaking English, but functioning in Spanish. We are so proud of them and thankful for how well they are adapting to this new situation.

Martin and I are attending our own language school in an incredibly beautiful setting. Tangerine and Orange trees abound in an immaculately landscaped, terraced garden, complete with swimming pool. I asked Martin how his classes are going. “I try to say ‘thank you’ every time I am corrected. I think I say ‘thank you’ a hundred times a day.” he replied. “Yesterday I told my teacher that she was a saint. She handed me a dictionary, so I looked up saint in Spanish – santa. She laughed and kindly replied – “Oh Martin, You are the saint for coming here to learn Spanish.” There were many other funny stories this week, but he didn’t understand them, as they were all in Spanish.

After some informal conversation (or so I thought) with the director at the language school, she promptly informed me that she knew exactly what I needed. “I’ve noticed that you aren’t using the subjunctive form when you should be.” she said. “You need to work on your grammar.” Ahhh yes, and that’s exactly why I’m here. And so begins the next two months of language school here in Cuernavaca.

Thoughts on Poverty

Towards the end of orientation, we were asked if there was anything else we would like to focus on before we go to our assignments. Many people requested more discussion about how to work in areas of great need with the poor. How do we, as privileged North Americans, relate to, work with, and live amongst the poor? Our orientation coordinator set up a time for us to meet with Paul Myers. He has most recently worked as the executive director for MCC's 10,000 villages store. Both Martin and I found his reflections powerful and helpful. Below are some notes I took during the session.

Learn from the poor today
The poor are hospitable, the poor know how to share with each other, with you, with me.
Some people never get to the point of sharing and receiving their hospitality - so take time to listen
In other words - Drink lots of tea

Challenge to Us: when you get to your assignment, identify 30 different ways in which people make a living - people who make less than $2/day, that is.

We tend to assume poor judgement of poor people.
The primary problem for the church is poverty. The church needs to confront poverty.
The solutions to poverty are found among the poor themselves. This is why we need to TRAIN ourselves to observe and listen and identify how the poor make a living.
Water is also a critical element - water issues are HUGE right now
An entry point to relieving poverty is potable water.

Challenge to Us: be yourself - don't try to be someone else. Accept who you are. Then, and only then, can you begin to share.

Your role is to share your experiences with us (the poor). We (the poor) might accept it, we might reject it, or we might adapt it. Just share your experience.

Recommended book: When the Rivers Run Dry
4 critical points to dealing w/ poverty
1. institutional work
2. education
3. environmental work
4. income generating
Two things prevent the poor from getting out of poverty: they don't have business skills, and they don't have access to credit.
Access to credit should be a human right.
The only way to get out of poverty is to do business.
Recommended website: mechai@pda.org.th

Challenge to Us: you have been successful if you have persuaded 3 people to be passionate about working to eliminate poverty. Work it out together. There are solutions.

"What is our role in the structures that perpetuate poverty?"
(that's a good question!)
Be careful who you dialogue with.
Be careful who your partners are.
Pick on someone your own size - i.e: neighbors, people in your congregation
Think about who you are in that context.
Local people need to do advocacy work in their own community.

Challenge to Us: Share your experience, be realistic about what you can do, and take care of yourself.

The church needs to understand the poor.
The church needs to work with the poor.
Spend your time with the poor.

Challenge to Us: Read the gospels regularly. These are practical stories. These are the stories Jesus told while walking with the poor.

One of the greatest commandments: Love your neighbor as yourself