Mexico Part 2

While in Mexico I was reminded of the things that I take for granted back at home.

* Here at home I take for granted that I can drive on roads that are asphalt or concrete, smooth and well drained. In Tijuana, other than the main road into town, the roads we drove on were dirt or mud with huge ruts. They were bumpy and treacherous when wet. Some went straight up or down steep hills with no guard rails to keep a vehicle from plunging over a cliff.

* At home I take for granted that my garbage will be picked up at least once a week and deposited somewhere where I don’t even have to look at it. In Tijuana, there is no garbage pick-up for the communities we visited. Garbage is strewn everywhere (see the background of the picture) and when it is collected it is burned so that there is a constant smell of burning trash. The haze from the fires just adds to the smog problem.

* At home I take for granted that the sewers drain away from my house and the waste is dealt with somewhere far from my nostrils. In Tijuana, the sewers often drain down the roads or in streams. We had one that ran through the center of the beautiful retreat center where we spent the week. We crossed it each time we headed to the dining hall for a meal – not too appetizing. A sewer-stream drained across the road (see above) that we drove over every day and we were so grateful that no one got stuck in the middle.

* I often take for granted the opportunity that I have to be a stay-at-home mom. We visited an orphanage in Tijuana where the children haven’t actually lost both of their parents. Most of the children have at least one parent, but that parent is unable to support his or her children. There are no food stamps or welfare programs and so the children are put in this orphanage. The parents visit, when they can. While we were there we saw a father trying to say good bye to this three children, the youngest about 2 years old. They were all in tears and the youngest was in full melt-down. At the time, the orphanage had about 25 children with maybe 4 adult supervisors. All of the children (from 1 year old to preteen) were desperate for attention and were not always able to communicate that need in appropriate ways. It was difficult to watch and this was the hardest experience for Joshua. He could not understand why the kids would hit him just to get a ball.

We have so much to be grateful for. There are other things that I learned from my experience, but those thoughts will need to wait till next time.

Sheryl