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Local teens join others from around the Bay Area in building homes for the poor in Mexico.
YouthTalk
Young people learn much in Mexico
This week, the YouthTalk column features perspectives from two young people who belong to Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga. They, and youth from several additional churches in the Bay Area, went to Mexico to build three houses for needy families. --Editor
Lesson of poverty learned quickly
By Alex Berger
From July 18 to 23 this summer, a group of teens and adults from Prince of Peace Lutheran Church and other churches around the Bay Area drove down to Mexico to help build three houses for needy families. This was the third annual trip for Prince of Peace youth. We drove down in a caravan of nine cars and vans.
Once we arrived in San Diego, we unpacked at a local church where we were to stay each night. The next six days we got up bright and early to cross the border into Mexico. Once we crossed we noticed an immediate difference that was a shock to those of us who hadn't come last year.
Many buildings were worn down and there were dogs wandering the streets and sidewalks everywhere.
When we arrived at the three work-sites, we unpacked our tools and materials. We started off with a cement foundation and 12-foot-by-12-foot planks of wood and boards of plywood. It was not easy work but fulfilling.
We were building houses for those in need and it was amazing what we accomplished in four days! We started with nothing and within the first day we already had walls up! As we continued to work and as the days progressed, more and more local kids came to visit us and see what we were doing.
We set up a Bible school for the children that week, in Spanish so they could understand the lessons. Every site had people who were fluent in Spanish, which made it much easier to communicate. I also had the privilege of helping kids to carry 10-gallon water jugs back to their houses. I could not believe the small size of the houses or the large size of their families.
I do not know how they managed to get by, but I do know I will not take things like living in a large house for granted anymore. I also know that many other teens on the trip felt the same way and I'm hoping everyone was at least a little sad at having to leave. We had a lot of fun there and we also learned a great deal. I hope that these memories will stay with all of us forever.
Alex Berger is a ninth-grader at Lincoln High School and a teen member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga.
The homes the young people built were small and modest, but a big improvement over many of the worn-down buildings in the area.
Thirteen-year-old a worthy role model
By Sarah Wilczak
When I was down in Mexico, I met a girl at my work-site. Her name was Diane. At first I thought nothing of her. She was just another Mexican child I would be spending the next week with. She kept trying to get my attention as the first day of building progressed. I always walked past her to talk to the younger children that needed more help. But by the end of the day, she finally did get my attention because she said hello to me, not "hola" but "hello" in English.
That caught my attention. Most of the children in Mexico can barely speak Spanish well, so to hear someone speaking in English surprised me. As I continued to talk to her, I realized that she knew English almost as well as she knew Spanish. The next day I sat in her house with a few other girls from our church and heard her story.
She had lived in America from the time she was 6 to the time she was 11. She learned English in the public school system. When she was 11, she was caught for being over the border illegally and was sent back to Mexico. She was now 13.
The house that we were sitting in was the house where she held her summer job. She was a babysitter for the little girl we were building a house for. Diane was paid $10 a week and took the bus home only on weekends. It was an hour and a half to get home.
What amazed me most about Diane was that she didn't seem upset. Most children who live in Mexico have no idea of the world that we live in and how different it is from theirs. Diane knew all the differences there were.
She knew that in America children don't work for $10 a week as a babysitter, but she accepted the life that she had in Mexico and didn't let herself get upset by it. Diane amazed me because if I was in her position I don't know if I could be as happy as she. I think I would be angry at the world.
As the week went on, Diane helped us with everything we did. She was the main translator between us and the kids. Sometimes she was last to get food for lunch, but she never complained and she never asked for the water that we drank out of the coolers. She just waited until the end of the day when she knew we would give her some.
Diane made the best of the situation that she was in because she knew that she would probably be there for the rest of her life. She showed me the kind of person that I would like to be. I just think I could never be that person.
Sarah Wilczak is a junior at Lynbrook High School and a teen member of Prince of Peace Lutheran Church in Saratoga.
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