The first time I took a trip up the rocky hill I was surprised. Tijuana is very Americanized, with the beautiful ocean view, there are many all inclusive, fancy shmancy resorts and really nice ocean view houses. So, I was surprised at what I found at the top, not so far away from the resorts.
We took an exit off the main highway that goes right along the Pacific, and we went up, up, up. The road became gravel and we bounced along the side of a hill (for those of you who have been in Bolivia, this was like a mini Bolivian road, it made me nostalgic). Soon we came across shanty houses with skinny dogs laying on the door step. I can't say much surprises me anymore, I have seen many many towns like these, but I was surprised to find a community like this so close to the States. These communities above Tijuana are called the colonias. It is a bunch of little communities clustered together in a ramshackle way. One community is called Garanjas, another, Antorcha, and there is Antorcha 2, and so on.
As you can imagine, the poverty is ever present, it is like a third world country up there. Anything you can picture in a poverty stricken Mexican town was there, dusty roads, patched up houses, graffiti, kids, dogs, you name it.
YWAM has wonderful ministries with these communities, we build homes for the neediest of the families, and we have a children's program on Thursdays that I happily attend. Right now, YWAM is working in community development with these communities and getting a feel for what the needs are that we can meet as a ministry.
The other day I got to go on a trip up to the colonias and we were going to do house visits, gathering information on the families and the community but most importantly establishing relationships with the people. We work a lot in Antorcha so we went there.
The first house we visited was a girl named Abi. Her mom wasn't home but she knew one of the people with me through the kids program so she invited us in. She was about 15 or 16, maybe 17 I couldn't tell. She had four little siblings. She watches her siblings while her parents work. The older kids go to school but they have a one year old sister that Abi watches all day. She said she can't go to school because there is no one to watch her baby sister. While she talked, I wondered what she really thought? She knows she is supposed to go to school and be educated, she has dreams, she said she would like to work in an orphanage (yay!) she isn't from some far off jungle village she is lives half an hour from States, she grew up in Nevada. But what does she think now? What do her parents think? People in Mexico have to work really really hard to make a living and you don't ever get paid vacation. I imagine her parents work really hard to have money and keep their home. But what about Abi? What are her parents working so hard for if she is going to stay at home? I have been wondering a lot about this. Abi's situation is extremely common in the colonias. Life is difficult and everything revolves around surviving and making a living, I feel the idea of having "dreams" for your life are too much of a luxury. How do we relate with these families when they are so occupied with survival? Where do we begin? Obedience and open ears to what the Lord has to say is a good start right? "It is the work of God through us that counts, not what we do for him." -Oswald Chambers
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