Week #16 Getting ready for Christmas

Kind of a dark week this time. On our way back from grocery shopping in a cab on Saturday I snapped the photo below after asking the driver if he thought it would be o.k. My interest was the truck load of soldiers with assault rifles with one of them scrolling on his phone, the others had their fingers on the triggers of their guns. We live close to a Mexican army base so soldiers are a common sight but similarly armed security guards, also usually with their fingers on the triggers of their weapons are a common sight. "12 dead after armed attack in Guanajuato", was one of the headlines in the news Sunday morning. The article references another attack in the same city the night before that left 4 dead. The news says there is a mass murder (3 or more people) in Mexico every 19 hours. Rarely is anyone charged for these crimes, let alone aprehended. Unfortunately, the rule of law here is not a given.

Yes, it's pretty here but if you look just a bit closer, the terror is pretty close to the surface. The picture below is en route to my BJJ class and the Chedraui and Costco grocery stores. On top of the wall is a high voltage electrified wire - when we lived in Cholula I asked what happens when someone get's electrocuted on top of one of these walls. They told me that if the person has ID on them their relatives might get a call but more often than not they are simply hauled away and buried in mass graves with no notification to anyone.

On another awful note, Sister Schlachter and I went to an event hosted by Doctors Without Borders to premiere a film called "Espérame" (wait for me) in which migrants in Mexico share their personal stories about what drove them to the border with the United States, what happened to them on route and once they got there. It was awful to listen to and worse yet, conscience numbing. The intent is to raise public awareness of the human cost behind the numbers of migrants in this country and the need for safe immigration pathways. Mexico's national news outlets often report whole busloads of migrants being diverted off the highways en route to the border to strip them of everything they own, their dignity and even their lives - many never make it to the border. We partnered with Doctors Without Borders to increase their capacity to provide free services to migrants en route and after they arrive. The trauma and the politics that drives migration are complex. Being "homeless", as migrants are, is often viewed with suspicion, of probably wrong doing. 

Avoiding the very appearance of evil is among the exhortations and council the Apostle Paul gave to the Thessalonians.  First impressions are difficult to change - to mind comes my homeless friend Nathan in Salt Lake City. For many, awesome as his beard is, his outward appearance did not instil confidence in either him as a person or his street ministry messages, even though they were sincere. I was in my early 20's the first time I attempted to grow a moustache. My mother asked me who I was trying to impress - my 20ish year old retort was to ask her who I was trying to impress by shaving to make it look like hair didn't grow there. Fast forward 40 years and I understand differently. As a missionary I shave every day to always look keen as the song goes...but I have a razor, strop, soap, water and my glasses and plenty of light to see what I am doing. It's a vicious circle. If I'm living on the street, I won't have access to any of these things and I very quickly mark myself as being 'other'. I'm probably more concerned about where my next meal is going to come from and where I'm going to sleep that will be safe, affirming Maslow's pyramid of needs and what I like about humanitarian aid, it doesn't come with strings. We try to help everyone we can regardless of who they are, what they might look like, have or don't have.   

This is our happy little Christmas tree, made of cardboard from Amazon boxes and the paper bags we buy our fruits and vegetables in. It is lit up with way too many decorations that one of the other senior missionary couples gave us. We chose names among ourselves last week and purchased gifts that we thought each other would have enjoyed receiving when we were children. We opened the gifts together tonight and tried to guess who the gift was purchased for. It was a lot of fun! The gift I received was a set of coloured markers and a sketch pad. We are donating the gifts to a charity for them to give away to needy children here in Mexico. 

Next week is Christmas. We will spend much of it with the other senior couples that we are serving with here as our families are far far away.