Saratoga News

Cover Story

Photograph by Marlene Hurrell

Members of Saratoga Federated Church gathered to say a prayer, blessing the new home of Irma Ramos and her family of seven.

Building a Future

Mexican families living in desperate conditions have a new start, thanks to local volunteers

By Shannon Burkey

Maria Bautista Perez stood in the doorway with tears in her eyes and a huge smile on her face.
"Es mi cuarto," she says proudly, showing off her new bedroom.

It's the day before her 54th birthday, and this is to be the room she and her husband, Inosente De la Cruz, will share--the first they have ever had to themselves.

Previously, the couple and their four children shared a small two-room house on the outskirts of Tijuana. But on this day, their lives have forever been changed by the kindness of strangers.

"This is going to be the beginning of something new for my family," Perez says.

It has turned out to be better than any birthday present she could have dreamed of.

The Perezes are one of nearly 800,000 families living below the poverty line in Mexico with not much to call home. Most reside in one- to two-room shacks with walls made of plywood and dirt floors. Sheets cover the doorframes and windows, and tires, wheelbarrows and other debris sit atop the roofs to keep them from blowing away. There is no electricity or plumbing in most of the homes, but the lucky ones do have an outhouse of their own.

On April 8, 206 local residents from Saratoga Federated Church made a weeklong trek to Mexico to build homes for 12 families, all of them living in desperate conditions.

And though the homes they built may not seem like much to some, the 11-by-22-foot, two-room structures with cement floors and sturdy roofs are just what these families needed to turn their lives around.

"It's neat to see what a head start this gives people," says Steve Wood, a construction leader on one of the homes.

This marks the ninth year the church has led the house-building trip to Mexico. Originally, the trip was planned as a youth trip to expose the church's young people to other cultures and educate them on life beyond Los Gatos and Saratoga.

"How do you reach kids who have all their needs met?" asks Jason Roeder, pastor of student ministries. "You take them on a mission trip and let them see how 90 percent of the rest of the world lives. This is a great way to communicate with our kids."

When 60 students signed on for the first trip and three homes were constructed, the trip was considered a success.

"The idea was really simple: We were going to build a house, leave it there and leave the community a better place," says Tim Galleher, pastor of students and children. "When you take people away like this, they learn a lot about themselves and about each other."

Amor Ministries

The church works with an organization called Amor Ministries, founded by Scott Congdon in 1980, that finds the families. What started out as Congdon building homes for families and orphaned children living at Tijuana's garbage dump has turned into something bigger than he ever imagined.

Growing up in San Diego, Congdon says he wasn't aware of the extent of the poverty in Mexico. It wasn't until he was a college student at UC-Davis that he went to Mexico for the first time.

"I lived less than 20 minutes away, and I had no idea that conditions like that existed in the world, much less my own back yard," he says. "At the time I was studying to be a vet, and this just changed everything. I loved animals, but seeing children in that kind of poverty seemed a lot more important than animals."

Congdon was 22 years old at the time he decided he was going to make a difference in the lives of Mexico's poor.

He began by building an orphanage, then built up the garbage dump for the people living there. Eventually, the program became what it is today.

"I was naïve, but I guess that's the good thing about being young," he says.

His spirit and perseverance, however, paid off. Since Amor Ministries began 27 years ago, volunteers have constructed 13,000 homes--that's about 1,100 each year in partnership with more than 700 churches and organizations.

Amor Ministries works with local pastors in the Tijuana community who go door-to-door to find the families with the greatest need. Religion is not a factor in getting a house, but the family must buy the land on which it will be built. At $30 to $40 a month, that's a difficult feat for some, considering the average family makes about $200 a month.

"It's important that they take the initiative to do that because we don't want to just give them a handout--to us it's like a hand up," Congdon says. "We really want the family to be hands-on in improving their own situation."

Congdon says it would be a terrible thing for the family to lose the house once it's built because they don't own the land.

Though his passion has never waned, Congdon says at times he is awed by what Amor Ministries has accomplished.

"We are all just amazed," he says. "The impact being made here is unbelievable."

What began as a student mission at the church evolved into much more over the years as other people began to see the importance of the work the youth were doing and wanted to become involved.

"This is the heart of what our church is about," says Roeder. "Our church really is about helping people."

On each trip, that's exactly what they do. This year, the church's largest group ever made the trip and built 12 homes during the week of spring break.

The group included a 6-year-old boy building homes with his parents and two siblings, and 80-year-old Audrey Carlson, who says she felt called to the cause.

Cause for celebration

Carlson, a Saratoga resident for 44 years, turned 80 in September and took the trip in celebration of her birthday because, she says, if she can do this, she can do anything.

"Everyone around me has been extraordinary," she says. "And when you see what the homes do for these people, you think what a gift it is for them and their lives. It's been much more than I expected."

The trip has also turned into bonding time for many families who say they can't imagine spending their spring break any other way.

"This is the best week we have as a family," says West San Jose resident Clay Elliot. "What a great thing to do together."

For the past few years, Elliott, his wife Kelly and their three children have gone on the trip.

"This is what they want to do for their spring break, and we can't talk them out of it," Kelly Elliot says.

Lance Archer says he brought his two daughters on the trip because he wanted them to experience life outside of Saratoga.

"There aren't many places like Saratoga in the world, but there are many places like this, and that's the point--to let them see and experience it," Archer says.

It was five years ago when Doug Hurrell and his son Jon, a freshman at Saratoga High School, first made the trip. Last year, Jon didn't make it, but his mother Marlene and younger brother Jimmy joined his father. The trip has really turned into a family affair for the Hurrells, and this year, for the first time, the entire family made it to Mexico.

"It's been great having the whole family here together," Marlene Hurrell says. "They're all here because they want to be. We don't make the kids come; they look forward to it all year and always want to come back the next year."

Marlene Hurrell says she has seen the impact on her children, especially 10-year-old Jimmy, who was extremely independent during the trip and has discovered a spirit of helping within himself.

"We live in la-la land in Saratoga. All their friends have every new thing out there," she says. "It's nice to come here and be humbled."

The first year Jimmy went on the trip, he says he was amazed by the way people lived, and it made him realize how lucky he is to have so much.

"It's been really good to come out here and build houses for the poor and help other people," he says.

Jean Cherniss made the trip with her husband and two daughters and says it is a wonderful way to anchor her children and open them up to so many opportunities.

"I don't think it's how much you have that will make a difference, it's how your heart has been ripened and exposed," says the Los Gatos resident.

But even with the new influx of families, the trip is still thought of as a student trip, and the experience for them is just as important as the bonding time the families have.

Jaclyn Houston, a Monte Sereno resident and senior at Valley Christian High School, says she was scared and didn't know what to expect when she made her first trip two years ago. Each year, however, the trip has worked its magic and she is left transformed. "It really allows me to step out of my boundaries and has been a life-changing experience for me," she says.

For some, like Patti Hewitt of Los Gatos, the trip is about finding a new meaning in life. After her husband of 33 years died, Hewitt was unsure of the next step, but she says the trip has given her a new focus.

"You don't have a lot of time to think about yourself when you're helping others," she says. "I needed something like this. I needed to step outside of myself."

Many circumstances brought this year's group together, but despite their differences the barriers were broken as they came together as one.

Making memories

As they set up camp at the base of the desolate, rolling hills of Tijuana's suburbs, they waited for the assignments that would change the lives of families they had yet to meet.

The group was divided into 12 teams, each with its own family to build for. The only guideline was to go out and "make memories and make them smile."

Each of the families had a different story and a different circumstance, but the common theme is their need for help.

For some, such as the Rodriguez Ramos family, the house would be an addition to a smaller, two-room house the family of seven already shares.

For others, such as 24-year-old Antonio Vergara, this would be the first home he and his wife-to-be will ever own. The home, a surprise to her, will give them a chance to begin their lives and start their family.

As the week progressed, Vergara was all smiles and laughs as he helped his team build his new home. On the third day he brought his future wife to the site and surprised her.

"He has such a joy in him," Houston says. "I saw in his eyes just what his life is going to be and how amazing it is. I could tell that he saw it as his future, the beginning of something that was going to turn into something greater."

Throughout the week, the building efforts became a real bonding experience, not only among the team members themselves, but also between the teams and the families. At most sites Mexican and American children could be found playing together, despite the language barrier. Mexican parents and children could even be found hammering away or painting their new dream home alongside their new American friends.

"The house is the most tangible thing we do," Congdon says. "But almost as important, if not more so, is what happens in these people's lives who come down here and what happens when they interact with the family and how the family's life is changed. That interaction influences them almost as much as the house. It's hard to say what's more important."

When Saratoga High School student Kevin Rollinson took his first trip last year, he says he didn't have much of an opportunity to meet and interact with the family he was building for. This time, however, the family was very hands-on, with the mother and three kids helping every day. He says getting to know the family really changed the experience for him.

"It made me feel really good because it is going to be something positive for this family that I have gotten to know," Rollinson says. "When we were leaving on the last day, the kids came up to us and said that we were really nice people for coming and doing this for them and that they enjoyed working with us."

Cristina Keslowski, a 14-year-old from Saratoga, says what really stuck with her was how happy the families seemed to be, despite the conditions they were living in.

"They don't have much, but they are always smiling and wanting to help," she says.

Los Gatos resident Grace Peterson, a 10-year-old student at St. Andrew's School, says the differences between Mexico and home were eye-opening.

"I noticed how lucky we are and how we take things for granted. These people have nothing but are so happy for every little thing. They have so much joy with what they do have," she says. "It's sad to see them struggling, but it makes me happy to see how happy they are and to help them."

Irma Ramos lives in a two-room home with her husband, daughter, son-in-law and three grandchildren. And though they don't have much, they cherish what they do have.

Saratoga resident Donna Butcher says 1-year-old Emilio and 5-year-old Brenda would come out to greet the team in spanking clean clothes, dressed perfectly, with big smiles and hugs, saying, "Buenos dias."

"The family was just absolutely filled with joy and took such pride in what they had," Butcher says. "They worked so hard to maintain a clean and wholesome environment for themselves and the children."

Doris Valdez and her family of four also reside in a two-room home. They have turned the front room into a small store to try and make a living while the family resides in the back room. The walls and ceiling have huge cracks and holes in them that the family stuffs with articles of clothing to keep the rain and wind out.

But the new home, added onto the back of the existing one, offers a chance for the family to expand its business and reach for a better life.

"This is a blessing," Valdez says. "It is amazing to me that people would take the time to come down here and do this for us. We never would have been able to purchase something like this ourselves. God is going to help you because you have helped others."

The house is not much, but for this family, it's just enough.

"We would consider this substandard," Laura Menard says. "But she has had her neighbors coming by all week drooling."

As the week comes to an end, the families are left with something tangible that will help to shape their future.

But the students and families who went to build will also be left with something--a sense that in just four days they were able to transform lives and make someone's life a little bit easier.

"This is about planting dreams," Cherniss says. "If someone has a home, then what else can they hope for? It opens doors to dreaming. It's amazing, the power of four days, and 12 families lives are transformed."

"The thing that keeps on striking me is the families. We're doing things for them that will draw them together and change their lives--that's the wonderful part of it all," Doug Hurrell says.

As the group leaves camp, the caravan of buses, vans and Ryder trucks filled with construction equipment makes its way down the one-lane road dirt, but it's evident they have left this place a little better than it had been a week before.

Standing at the end of a long dirt road, watching the caravan drive away, is a lone man waving goodbye with a thankful smile covering his face.

"God bless you, amigos. God bless you," he says.