The Good Old Days

Those of you who have been here in Queretaro know that I don't see a lot of poverty on a daily basis. Yes, there are the homeless people asking for money in the streets, but hey, I worked at Great Harvest Bread in downtown Salem, I think I now see about the same amount of homeless people per day as when I worked there. My friends here, as well as the young people with whom I work, aren't starving to death by any means. They have a moderate array of clothes to choose from everyday, and can generally scrounge up some money to go to a movie or grab a coffee. The people that I am with on a daily basis are your basic middle-class Mexicans.

My friend Mariana is included in this "middle-class mexican" group of friends. Mariana is an 18-year old girl who just graduated from high school. I've been meeting with her on a regular basis since the beginning of the year. Her house is small, and nothing extravigant to be sure, but they have everything they need - food (really yummy food too! her mom's an awesome cook!!), enough clothes, money to get to and from school, money to enter college in august, a roof over their heads, hot water showers, etc. And I know that if Mariana or her brother wanted a candy bar or something, they wouldn't be denied that from lack of money.

The other day I was talking with Mariana, and she was telling me about when she used to live in Ensenada (about 2 hours south of San Diego CA). After Mariana and Alan's (her little brother) biological dad died, her mom got remarried, and later THAT dad died too, so they moved to QRO about 5 years ago to be close to the grandparents. I'd known all that since I've known Mariana. But it's always interesting to me to hear more in depth about what life was like in Ensenada...

Silvia (Mariana's mom) and her husband began to build a large house in a nicer neighborhood in Ensenada when the kids were young. I don't know what happened exactly, but the money dried up and the house was never completely finished. The family was stuck with a big house (owned by the bank because of loans they couldn't pay off) and no money to eat, buy clothes, etc. In fact, they didn't have cupboards or furniture in their kitchen, and got used ones from a rich friend who remodeled her kitchen. But the cupboards went in the bedrooms to make closets for the kids. And the countertops that they had in the unfinished kitchen were plywood; the kitchen floor bare concrete. Mariana told me that she remembered that right before her dad (second dad that is) died, a team of people from San Diego came and put a countertop in the kitchen, and tiles on the kitchen floor, and patched up holes in the non-waterproof roof. She told me about receiving a basketball from a team that came to help at their church, and she was SO happy to have the ball, she and her mom cried because Silvia couldn't have afforded to ever buy Mariana a basketball. Mariana and Alan remember receiving "Operation Christimas Child" boxes from Samaritan's Purse, and Mariana even told me with a smile on her face that she was so happy to open a box that had a doll, gloves, and toothbrush and paste in it! They even received their clothes from people from the States who gave away their used clothes. (Mariana and I wonder if they ever got MY clothes, we think it's funny that I went to Ensenada in 1999, and they were still living there, and were poor then!)

It's so hard for me to imagine all this for this family. God is so good; once they moved to QRO, Silvia's sister gave them a house, and Silvia got a good job, and they are now on their feet financially even to the point where Mariana will even enter college soon. Mariana said she was amazed, even as we sat in a coffee shop together drinking milkshakes, that it's hard to think that 6 years ago a milkshake was only a dream, a 50 cent chocolate bar was even out of reach for them! And today those things are a part of everyday life, just like they're a part of everyday life for you and me. It's amazing the miracles God works in peoples' lives...