As days have come and gone, one thing we don’t need them to bring is more rain!
Work has continued to be sporadic for me around the mission. When I don’t go into town to the church, I’ve been able to help out with other projects and needs. I’ve been driving the kinder to school three days a week. After devotions I’ll grab the Ur Van and bring it round where the kids are waiting in their uniforms and there house parents heard them onboard. I’ll work with the boys on the weekends or when they have days off from school. I have cleared weeds, sanded furniture, moved cement and helped Ricardo with the vehicles. There is always something to do.
The work doesn’t just stop at the mission. The other day Ricardo asked if I would help “mow” at the kid’s school on a Saturday. We had no mower available to bring but we were going anyway. I was surprised to see that there was a huge group of volunteers there already. All the parents come a couple times a year to handle the grounds. I was even more surprised when the school’s gate locked behind me. The school collects so many volunteers by taking role of who shows up and fining the parents that don’t show. Then, if you don’t pay, they’ll suspend your kid. Once you’re there, they lock you in for as long as they need you. Feel free to suggest that to your local PTA. The mowing was actually sharp shovels and machetes hacking through the tall grass and weeds. Not the most efficient, but it got the job done. After a few hours they workers were gathered for announcements and arguing and then the gate was finally unlocked when everyone was sufficiently agitated and we were released. Free at last.
Between jobs, it has rained and rained a lot. The mountains around the valley are very steep and it doesn’t take long for the water to accumulate and start causing problems. The drive to the mission is constantly flooded but we can usually get vehicles through. I accompanied Jill and Janelle and little Celina to Oaxaca to get things for the house and help carry things on a Sam’s Club run. It was a successful trip and we were on our way home when Ricardo called and asked if we were going to be able to get back. Sure, sure, I’m sure we’ll have no problems. We did have problems. Shortly before Tlocelula traffic was backed up on account of bridge being party washed away. There was an option of a three or four hour drive around through other mountain roads that have the potential for the same problem, so we decided to stay in town.
We had hundreds of dollars of stuff from the store so we found a place that we could park inside and settled into an impromptu vacation. Everyone was worried about us but we were living it up on the town, though the girls were stressing because they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to leave on their long planned trip back to the states for a visit. But the Holiday Inn was more than comfortable and I had my first worm shower since I arrived in Oaxaca.
Luckily we awoke to sunny skies and the bridge had been stabilized enough to let light traffic through on one lane. We were on our way home. The traffic was backed up but it really didn’t take too long. Hopefully the rain holds off for now. If we get another squall like we’ve had the bridge might be completely wiped out.
I seem to enjoy unforeseen hiccups like these that create a little adventure. It was fun to get to know Jill and Janelle better, spend some time in town, and play with Celina who is two and will be staying with us while the girls are in Chicago, which they had no problem getting to their flight. Unfortunately, a little adventure for me was disaster for many people in the valley and the mountain villages. Towns are cut off, mudslides have knocked out homes and many fields and homes are flooded all over Oaxaca. Hopefully, the weather continues to dry out.
It’s easy to see a ripple effect of poverty when things like this happen. The country and state don’t have the money to build decent infrastructure, which is easily upset, which hampers commerce leaving less money. The people can’t have nice houses in nice places which flood or crumble, taking up more resources to build again. Some have said that it is unfair for these things to happen to poor people. It seems like they are poor because these things happen. Of course that is an overly simple explanation. It just boggles my mind that I have lived such a prosperous and privileged life that I am unaffected by things like rain. I’ve created an environment so artificial that even the most basic natural processes bare little, if any, impact on my daily life. I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, but it seems significant, though I’m not quite sure how. Maybe I’ll find out one day.
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