Día de Servicio

Today was a good day. A full day. A tiring day. A day with friends. A day in the campo. A day of service.

We organized a small group from the Casa for a work day with a Mexican organization we support, COPERE. Its a small group that works with youth at risk of becoming jovenes de la calle (street kids). They focus on prevention with kids on the brink, working with them and their families to try to manage problems and help them get on track for a better future. Venancio, the coordinator, is a good friend of the Casa, and we've had a few events to help raise funds for them. But this was a real get your hands dirty out in the campo kind of work day!

Venancio has been looking for a little piece of land out of the city to create a rehabilitation and work center for his chavos (guys). The idea is to get them out of the city and giving them some manual labor and something of their own to work for. And after a few years of trying to make this happen, he found a priest (a padre from Michegan actually, 35 years in Mexico) with a little land and a couple small buildings he is willing to share with COPERE. But there's work to be done to make it a livable space. Which is where we came in.

I don't know that we really made a whole lot of progress for them. We did manage to put in some wooden boards for steps, clean out an area that will be used as a kitchen and workshop, dig some holes for a small bridge, and whitewash one of the buildings. ...Well, now that I list all those things I guess it was a good day's worth of work! But like any group service project, it may not be the physical products that are the most important part.

I know I'll remember watching the two young boys, Edgar and Diego, who came with us dive into the holes we dug, arms full-length in the dirt, pulling out all the earth with determination and glee. And slapping whitewash on the small brick structure with gorgeous hills of pine trees at our backs and rolling clouds above our heads. And listening to the cackling of roosters and the biggest turkey I've ever seen as they wandered around the yard with us. And sharing a make-do potluck meal of beans and tortillas, tuna and fresh parsley, dried fruit, peanut butter, and tamarind candy with a group of friends: The wrinkled priest from Michegan who speaks Spanish just like a Mexican and cracks jokes about whiskey and marijuana. Venancio and Alejandro, the dedicated leaders of COPERE. Juanita, Darcy, and Christie, our Casa crew. Juan, the hard-working leader of the youth. Andres, the single father, who brought his 8 year old son and 7 year old nephew to help. Raymundo, the cute young Mexican chef who cracked jokes all day and offered to cook for the chavos in the future.

There is something that happens when people work together, in the outdoors, with their hands in the dirt, and the sky overhead, for the good of someone else. I do not know how to name it - service? friendship? spirit? But it reminds you what life is really about. And why we are put here together on this big beautiful earth. And what a good day of work is meant to be.