Anonymous
Unregistered
Posts: N/A
Registered: N/A
Member Is Offline
|
|
College Students' Lessons from Building Houses In Baja
http://www.orion-online.net/vnews/display.v/ART/2004/02/04/4...
AMY O'NEILL
February 04, 2004
Learning how to build a house was the easy part. It was seeing the poverty-stricken lives of the people from Vicente Guerrero, a small village in Baja
California, Mexico, and saying goodbye to the union that was formed with their community, that was challenging.
"For me it was so many emotions put in one situation," said Andrea Daniel, a senior at Chico State and one of the 40 people who went on the trip.
"There was so much love down there. When I looked at the people down there my heart broke, and it was amazing to know what we could do."
The group of students went to Baja during the week of Jan. 18 to Jan. 24 through the Campus Christian Fellowship group The Edge, which is associated
with Chico State. The group built four houses, and a group from Vineyard Christian Fellowship in Chico built two.
They began raising money in November by passing around a collection plate at their Sunday service at Chico State. They raised more than $5,000 by
mid-December, which paid for the supplies for the houses.
They had $750 left, which they used to buy two bunk beds, three stoves, electricity in two of the homes and food for one family.
Senior Charlie Fairchild said he has traveled to third-world countries before, but that this was unlike anything he had ever seen. Humbleness came
over him as he described the homes the people were living in before their arrival.
"One house had a dirt floor, it had no walls and a sub-par roof and a screen door," Fairchild said. "That, for me, was hard to see, because you get so
used to comparing to what you have here in the United States to what everyone else has around you. Then when you go there you are in a whole different
ball game."
Fairchild said he often feels like a poor college student living off $100 a week, but compared to the life these people are living, he knows he's a
"rich guy." He said he realized the division of wealth as soon as he crossed the border to Mexico.
"It's incredible that there's a family who, for $1,200, can have a home that sets them apart from everyone else in the whole neighborhood," Fairchild
said. "And some people spend that much on the wheels of their car."
Fairchild said it really put things in perspective for him because these people had joy, though they didn't have anything else.
"Why we were down there was to share with them a faith in a God who gives those things to us that we are able to go down there and give it to them,"
Fairchild said. "Aside from that we had no other purpose down there, it was just to give out of our abundance. That's what we are commanded to do, to
give what we've been given."
Daniel and Fairchild are preparing to graduate, but they aren't thinking about their future careers yet.
What they are thinking about are the lessons they learned from the 20 children who just wanted to play with them and the people who sacrificed at
least a week's pay to host a meal for them in order to say thank you.
Now that they are back in Chico, they are trying to incorporate those lessons into their everyday lives.
"Now I am reflecting on things I want to buy and saying 'is this for pleasure or for need,'" Daniel said. "The things that are for pleasure you really
take a step back and say, 'I don't need this,' and it feels good to make that decision and to have a situation that has an impact on you so deep that
you are able to carry it out."
Pastor Bob Sprague, who said this was their sixth year working in that area of Mexico, organized the trip.
He said last year was the first year they built houses, and before that they worked in the orphanages in that area.
The cost for students was $225, which pays for the transportation down there and the peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches they ate every day, but the
students agreed they would have paid more.
Fairchild, who was given the chance to go on the trip through an anonymous donation, said his work paid off at the dedication of one of the homes when
the group, including the family they built it for, was praying together.
"The woman of the house had her eyes closed and her head down, and I just kind of peeked up," Fairchild said. "And she had tears in her eyes. That for
me said so much...for me that was incredible."
|
|
|
Mike Humfreville
Super Nomad
Posts: 1148
Registered: 8-26-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Very Sweet Post
We exist with many "sides." We all have equal amounts of energy that we bring to the party. You helped build houses and those whose houses you built
caused you to gain strength from the recognition that we are not all identical. Thanks for an early Sunday thought.
|
|
|
LarryK
Junior Nomad
Posts: 99
Registered: 8-26-2003
Member Is Offline
|
|
Thank you for the trip report. To experience the true love of the Mexican family is one of the best things about Baja. It always saddens me that so
many people go south and do not have the true experience that this group had. To work side by side with our brothers in Mexico, it just does not get
any better then that!
We have been down south with high school groups, and it is always a joy to watch these young people get transformed and learn the joy of giving.
|
|
|
|
![[*]](images/xmbforum/default_icon.gif){kind=icon}
