la primera vez

Saludos a todos,

I have been welcomed into my new home. To be honest, when I first saw the gates, the parched yard and the yellow buildings of the posada from the corner of a dusty intersection of the rugged roads, I was slightly bewildered: "Welcome home Aly." I don't think I was expecting anything in particular, but it was just the realization of moving to a place I've never seen before and swallowing the decision I've made to live and work here. Now that one day of site work is done, I have relinquished some of those initial qualms.

Our group from Seattle U. (twenty of us) is also here with another group from WWU Newman Center which is 40 members strong. It is a good mix of students. We arrived in the evening yesterday, made dinner, and had a looong reflection session, plus some rule setting, and went to bed. We had thought that we were an hour ahead of PST, so set our alarms accordingly. We were awoken by a brisk knock at the door this morning and discovered that there is no time difference between Tijuana and Seattle, so the morning was a little rushed to catch up. Luckily, our speaker, the field director named Eduardo was also a little bit late. The groups gathered in a large circle, introduced ourselves, and we discussed the mission of Esperanza in the community, what we would be doing at the sites this week, and clarifying questions. I introduced myself to Eduardo, who is essentially my boss, and already feel that I will learn a great deal from him. He is a staunch Mexican devoted to the community and the work of Esperanza. I am humbled to be working here with members of Esperanza who are whole-heartedly invested in creating change from within communities, empowering the people to regain confidence in their ability to control at least some of their destiny instead of waiting for the government or economy or some other outside force to change their situation for them.

We headed off through some more urbanized parts and out to a more suburban area down dusty, rough, steep roads in a caravan. I hope that I will also be allowed to drive truck here when I am leading groups. Eduardo is grooming the other volunteer and myself to be able to lead groups without his help so he can do more administrative work at the Posada (our home base where I live and groups stay). We came to our site where we were digging into an embankment to clear it for a patio. We were also hauling metal-concrete supports for a ceiling that will be poured later this week. From picking, shovelling, bucket-tossing, and wheelbarrowing loads of rock and dirt I was soon drenched in sweat...and it was great! Our group works well together, and the women we were working with were awesome. They worked as hard as we did and cooked us delicious tostadas for lunch. All in all, it was about 4-5 hours of labor.

We left to visit the tortilleria cooperative and that provided a great snack! So delicious are those fresh tortillas de harina!! Then we went to visit a community savings group. There is a secretary and a treasurer who monitor accounts of about 80 people and 30 children. The objective is to train members to save instead of spending money without monitoring. So the group as a whole decides how the money will be regulated, what sorts of loans will be provided (and they are usually interest free!), etc. The money is deposited in a bank account and at the end of the year, the members will receive the total amount they have collected plus interest. There are also small raffles throughout the year which are meant to be incentives for investing in savings.

Now we are home at the posada and there is a long line for our one-minute showers. I feel good about being here. I'm glad that my first week is with the SU group to support my initial transition. I already see how this will be a great learning opportunity, and that I will make many friends and memories in the communities. I also understand that this is a physically demanding job that will leave me slightly exhausted sometimes. And I like that too, at least for now.

Unfortunately my camera stopped working as soon as I got to the San Diego airport (weird). It's really a shame, because I can't share with you my initial experiences beyond words. But, I hope you know that I am content; I feel well-cared for; and I am not fearful for my safety. Tijuana is not what the media makes of it. There is much more than a drug war occuring here. There are families, communities, schools, social services, offices, businesses, panaderias, churches, sheep-herding, horses walking down the streets, and people building hope for a better future, for a real home in Tijuana.

I love you all and will write again soon!

How is it they live for eons in such harmony-

the billions of stars?

When most men can barely go a minute

without declaring war in their mind against

someone they know.

There are wars where no one marches with a flag,

though that does not keep casualties

from mounting.

Our hears irrigate this earth

we are fields before

each other.

How can we live in harmony?

First we need to know...

We are all madly in love

with the same

God.