Menu

Mexico

Poverty conversation

, 1

One of the reasons blogging became so popular waaaaaaay back in the day is because it was conducive to conversation.  And today, the conversation on a particular topic is getting a boost – the topic is poverty.

Blog Action Day is an organization that encourages discussion on a single topic each year.  They do this by asking bloggers to write on that topic on a particular day, in hopes that a continued, helpful discussion will take place.

This year the topic is (you guessed it) poverty.  I wrote a post earlier (one I was planning to write anyway!), so today I’m just going to refer you back to the series I’ve been doing on the topic.  (I wrote early to submit my post to the blog carnival at Missionary Blog Watch – check there today or tomorrow for other posts on the topic from a Christian perspective).

Here’s the series so far:

  • Poverty – living on the minimum wage in Mexico (featuring a music video)
  • Poverty (part II) – questions about poverty, links, and another video
  • Poverty and Community – when helping the poor fails, and a suggestion of how we can improve things

These are difficult and controversial topics – I would love to hear your comments, whether you agree or not!

No such thing as “Simple errands”

2

We’ve often repeated variations of the old joke – if you can do one thing a day in Mexico, you’re doing all right.  If you can do two things, that’s fantastic!  If you can do three – you’re lying.  🙂

A couple of recent incidents might illustrate why that is.

Last Thursday I was in Cuernavaca to pick up a few things, and see our friends the Casteels.  When I first got into the city I decided to run downtown to get some stamps and mail a few letters at the post office.

First of all, I admit that I got a little mixed up as I tried to find the right street.  With a memory like mine, 3 months is enough time to forget streets!  But eventually I found my way, and I realized that something was going on downtown.

It was something that blocked off streets, because I found my way into a complete dead end, right downtown, nothing to do except back up.

Cuernavaca teacher strike
Downtown Cuernavaca with a sign from the teachers (demanding respect and against a Mexican politician).
Photo courtesy of aquafoxx

Finally I got myself out of the awkward situation and found an actual parking lot.  I walked to the post office, and realized that what was going on was a teacher’s strike.  The streets were filled with booths, and rallies were going on.  I minded my own business and everything was fine, though later I heard that some store owners had felt threatened by a group of teachers.  (That’s just one story, of course – sounds like it’s been pretty peaceful.)

In the end, mailing a few letters took a LOT longer than expected!

On Friday, Shari and I headed to the Municipal Palace in Ixtapaluca to get some paperwork done.  As we walked toward the building and the square, we could see that there was a platform set up, and a crowd of students standing around.  Some kind of rally, it looked like, or protest.

Someone on the platform yelled into the microphone louder and louder as we approached the building.

The whole crowd began to chant as we were metres away from the door.  We passed a police officer with a big gun looking on (not so unusual here, but it added to the atmosphere).

Then suddenly the students literally stormed into the municipal palace!  We were close enough now to see inside, and there were soldiers actually in the building.  We were right in the crowd now, thinking…hmmmmm… maybe another time would be better….  and we turned around and walked back to the van.

I still don’t know what was going on – might just have been a field trip, for all I know.  Even so, it appeared that at that moment we probably wouldn’t be able to get the service we needed to get our documents!

So maybe that illustrates, in case you were wondering, why simple things often take so long.  Of course, it’s never exactly the same thing twice.

And a footnote – we did get our documents taken care of later that day.  But we later discovered that it was something we didn’t need to do at all.  Oh well, it gave me something to blog about.  😉

Poverty and Community

5

Poor widow

The poor lady sits by the market, begging.  Is any other option open to her?  How many children is she trying desperately to feed?  Did she have a husband long ago, and where is he now?  How many months – years – has she sat here, day after day, begging from strangers?

I say strangers, because I have a feeling she doesn’t get a lot from people who know who she is.  Apparently, she’s quite wealthy, and owns land all around the city.  Begging is a very lucrative business for her.  Another story of Mexico for you.

I’m very frustrated with poverty, and very frustrated with the money that’s being made, squandered, and stolen in the name of helping the poor.

I’ve heard missionaries talk with that same frustration about the high percentages of aid workers who are only in it for the money, who scoop away the goods meant for the poor.  Goods maybe paid for by someone across the ocean, who actually cares and wants to help.

Though I wouldn’t want to discourage large scale aid efforts, I’m increasingly convinced that a key element in helping the poor is community.

There best help comes when people really know and trust people.  The money goes into the hands of someone you trust, and makes its way to someone who is in a community with the poor person or family, who knows the situation and knows what might help.

Paul wrote to Timothy,"Honour widows who are really widows" (1Tim 5:3).  And how would Timothy know who was really a widow?  Community.  Most of all, the committed church community, but also the larger community.

Not long ago people in our local church built some cabinets and installed them into the houses of some "unsuspecting" families.  These were families in need, who were somehow connected with people in the church.  Creative, fun, and likely to be a real help, and a real demonstration of God’s love.

I tell this story a lot, but at one point researchers in Baja California discovered that the poor in many communities would wear their clothes once and then throw them out.  They stopped doing laundry altogether.  Why?  Because a steady stream of groups came from the USA – well meaning, but ill informed.  These groups brought down clothes in such large quantities that the poor no longer needed to wash their clothes – they’d just wear another donated outfit when one got dirty.

What was missing?  A connection to the community.  If they’d just asked someone, instead of using their eyes and making assumptions, they could have been a much bigger help.

Large scale help efforts can succeed, and small efforts where someone-knows-someone can also succeed.  But I think an important thing to look at is, where does community fit in?  Who really knows and understands the situation?

We need to help the poor, and help more.  But lets do it with wisdom.

A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows,
Is God in His holy habitation.
Psa 68:5

The Challenge of Mexico City

, 3

On Friday night I went to Texcoco (east of Mexico City, toward the north) to meet with some of the CAM International missionaries from the Mexico City area.  We were there to see the mission director and his wife (Dan and Sue Wicher, who were served for years in Mexico City themselves), and two of the CAM board members; Jon Campbell (his wife is Wanda but she wasn’t there) and Walter and Dottie Baker.

One thing that was interesting was that everyone was sharing about the joys and challenges of working in Mexico City.

Many of the joys we talked about are what you might expect anywhere – watching Jesus "invade a family", for example (as Rod Fry said during his presentation).  But I thought you might be interested to hear about some of the challenges we talked about.

The challenge of Mexico City
  • Traffic.  Just getting from one place to another.  People may look at Mexico City and wonder why it’s so hard for us to get together with believers from other areas.  But when people are an hour or two late for meetings like this one (even people with board members in their car), they are reminded.  It’s not easy to get around in Mexico City.  You plan for it, but it’s drastically unpredictable.  When Mayra Fry came to pick me up Friday, she was stopped by the police.  When Rod and I left from his house and headed to Texcoco, we were stopped by the police (not because any of us did anything wrong, by the way.  No one got a ticket.).  And we were among the first to arrive.  There are accidents, construction, delays of all kinds.
  • Fear.  One missionary mentioned just the challenge of safety in the big city.  Every missionary does need to take precautions and be aware.
  • Discipleship.  I was trying to carry on with my one-word summaries – maybe that’s not the best word.  But one missionary shared what they’d heard from a Mexican believer.  The Mexican pointed out that so many of the Mexican believers are first generation Christians.  That means there is an incredible lack of role models.  They’ve never seen a functioning Christian marriage, or how to parent as a believer, or what Christ-like leadership looks like.  It’s exciting when your church is almost all new disciples – but it calls for a different kind of discipleship.
  • Commitment.  Someone else pointed out (and I’ve heard this a lot) the challenge of a lack of commitment.  Now, a disclaimer here – there are many very committed people here – Mexican and non-Mexican.  But when you’re on the front lines of disciple-making this is always a challenge, no matter where you are.

This reminds me of the great summary of challenges that Dennis Poulette shared in his post If you can minister in Mexico City…  He listed space, transportation and time.  That was in the context of youth ministry, but I think those three things fit everywhere.

If you work in Mexico City, I would love to hear what you would add to the list.

«‹ 56 57 58 59›»
Back To Top
All content at CottrillCompass.com is © J. Cottrill 2002-2024. If you quote any material, please be courteous and provide a link.