FRIENDS, FAMILY AND MORE

Most of us can honestly say that when we travel to a foreign country, that we won’t run in to many friends or  family members, unless, of course the purpose of our trip is a family visit. Ramiro and I however, are very fortunate that  we get to meet several friends and family members, while in Mexico.

 

When we traveled to Mexico in 2008, we spend several weeks at Roca Azul, by Lake Chapala and met some wonderful people at the RV park with whom we spend many pleasant hours; We even introduced them to Rotary and kept in touch. Just when we were about to return to Cofradia Louise and Jerome returned from a trip to Quebec, Canada and are staying again in Roca Azul, but now they live here as permanent residents.

Of course we join them to a Rotary meeting and are invited for lunch at their lovely little home. I’m sure we will get together again before we return to Canada.

We have set this weekend aside for visits such as this and on Sunday, we are honored by the company of Ramiro’s nephew, (the son of his cousin in Chile)  who happens to live in Guadalajara.

Patricio, his girlfriend Gaby and her little girl Sofia, come to the RV park for a visit. We get to spend some quality time together and share a meal. Our visit is rather short, but hopefully we will get to see them again as well. It’s sure nice that our stay here is six months so we will have other opportunities.

After we return to Cofradia we have a lot of work to do to prepare for the next group of visitors. But before they arrive, we want to make sure that we get to meet our sponsored child Francisco, who lives with his grandparents in Suchitlan, a small village 5 minutes from Cofradia. We already met him at his school, where I noticed that his reading skills are four grades behind his age.

There are plenty of books to choose from, so after I learned that he has two more brothers we brought a bag full of books and some toys from Canada.

The grandmother was notified that his padrinos were coming and ensured that Francisco was well groomed for the ocassion. He meets us at the Ciber café and we walk to his home over the cobble stones.

The main house looks fairly reasonable for a family in this type of village, but soon we learn that the grandmother is not able to live in the main house. That part is for her young son and her husband who can be quite violent.

Grandma lives with her teenage daughter and her three grandchildren, in a separate dwelling in the back of the lot. The wooden shack, with its dirt floor, is divided into two rooms separated by a curtain. Francisco, 10, lives with his two brothers 8 and 9 in the other room. The walls are kept together with cardboard and old pieces of cloth. I can see light coming  through the corrugated board that covers the dwelling. As I look outside I see the turkeys and chicken running around. This building would be better suited for these animals than they are for a family. I wonder where the bathroom would be.

 

As she leads us through the “house”, Grandma, does not stop talking and tells us how her oldest daughter, the mother of the three boys, is a druggy and abused her children. She shows us the scars on Francisco’s head and continues to tell her how they fell behind in school due to the stress caused by the affairs going on in the family.

She, together with social services, decided that the kids would be better off living with her. The only problem is that grandpa is not so keen on this arrangement and keeps out of her affairs by sleeping in the other building on the property with their twenty-some year old son.  She shows us the kitchen. All I see is a stove, a fridge, a cabinet with some glasses and a table with a large number of plastic basins and containers. There is no sink, no running water. How on earth does she cook and clean for eight under these kind of circumstances.

Francisco is a bit shy, but his younger brother Jesus is much more outgoing. He’s the first one to check the packages we have brought. Luckily, he too is a Project Amigo sponsored student and does well in school. Only the youngest one does not yet have a sponsor.

We let Francisco open the box with the Canadian map puzzle and together we start putting the pieces on the table, showing him where we live.  We would like to spend more time together, but we have to leave. Francisco walks us back to the Ciber café and announces that he has not eaten since 6 am, when he got up to wash and get dressed for this important visit. We stop at the corner store and buy a big bag of Pan Dulce, a nice variety of fresh pastry. We sit on the bench outside and talk a bit more about school, the upcoming Christmas party and his brothers. He takes the rest of the Pan Dulce home to share with his family and we walk away, back to our vehicle, without exchanging any of our thoughts, which I know are similar: “How on earth can you help a family like this out of poverty?”

As I calculate the daily cost of sponsoring Francisco, I realize that with less than 25 ct does not mean much to us, but for them people it means a chance for a future, an education and perhaps one day a house with a concrete floor and a real roof.

We feel somewhat sad after this visit, and neither one of us talk about it much. But we have not much time to talk because we’re on another mission today. After putting some final touches on our little house. I rearrange some plants and power spray the pots.  The bugs  the yard are no longer a concern, I actually start  admiring them and hope our visitors will also. We drive to the Manzanillo airport to pick up our visitors. Not just any kind of visitors, but my brother Fred and his wife Annemieke. They will join us for the next workweek and after that we will spend some time at Roca Azul and do some touring.

It’s a good two hour drive and as we head farther west, it is getting warmer and warmer.  

There they are, already waiting for us in the receiving hall. It’s good thing that had an overnight stop in Houston, because at gave them a chance to get a good night rest and adjust to the e7 hour time difference.

Welcome to Mexico Fred and Annemieke, we look forward to spending these three weeks with you.

There they are, already waiting for us in the receiving hall. It’s good thing that had an overnight stop in Houston, because at gave them a chance to get a good night rest and adjust to the 7 hour time difference. 

Back in Cofradia we celebrate their arrival with a nice cold bottle of Champagne and stay outside until it gets too dark to see anything. 

Welcome to Mexico Fred and Annemieke, we look forward to spending these three weeks with you.