engagement photos...

pictures from the hike at starved rock state park, utica, illinois.

homecoming...

i arrived here in atlanta last night without any trouble. the trip to and from mexico seems to get shorter/ faster every time i make it... here are some photos from my last couple weeks and then below are some final reflections on my time in mexico and what (i hope) i got accomplished.



so, 6 months in mexico have passed. it's unbelievable, really. i will first reflect on the work that i did and a summary of the educational plans that are in place for the children of casa hogar. then i will record some thoughts on what i've learned, the ways i've changed during this time, what i think about all of this, etc... so i have left mexico with two main plans in place (or, perhaps better said, that will continue to be put into place), one for the more short-term (next 2 or 3 years) and one for the longer term.

the plan for the short-term includes hiring an educational consultant (priscila rojas will be this person for at least the next 5 or 6 months) to work part-time, continuing to present the older children with the options that they have once they are to leave the home (these options include going to live with a host family in puebla while they continue in high school/college, going back to live with family members if it's a good situation and if they can continue in school, or living in other homes around mexico that are specifically for youth/young adults). this educational consultant will also continue to look for tutors for the younger children still living in the home and other ways to help them catch up in school.

the plan for the long-term is to use an unoccupied space in downtown puebla that is owned by the methodist church of mexico as an 'extension' of casa hogar for the older children. they would move here at the age of 13 or 14 to continue middle and high school and possibly even college. this plan is contingent upon the approval of the methodist church of mexico, and the educational consultant will continue to pursue this option with the bishop and cabinet of the church.

so what do i think about all of this... hmm. i have learned a lot about bureaucracy, both positives and negatives, over the last 6 months. things in mexico just take a long time to get done, and things are confounded even more when the people in charge of making the decisions that ultimately determine the well-being of the home and the children (i.e. the higher-ups in the church) don't seem to care a great deal about the home. but the work continues and i believe with all of my being that there is a reason this home is still in existence 25 years after its founding, even with a history filled with problems and roadblocks. there are signs of positives coming from the home and from the children, and this is what keeps me (and the rest of the many american churches and individuals) coming back again and again. when i look back to the first summer i spent at the home, 3 years ago, i am amazed at how much progress has been made. so the work is slow, but it continues...

so thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, support, and interest in the children's home and in what i've been doing. to close, here is an excerpt from a journal entry i wrote on the bus just after leaving the home and the children:

"...my hope is that over the past 6 months, I have truly accomplished something. So GOODBYE Neri, Cesar, Luis Angel, Rogelio, Javier, Jose Luis, Jesus, Octavio, Arturo, Juan Pablo, Pedro, Juan, Alfredo. GOODBYE Soledad, Angelica, Naama, Sofia, Isabel, Basemat, Raquel, Karla, Alicia, Lupita, Jasmin, Fernanda. I hope my time with you has been worthwhile. I hope you've learned as much from me as I have from you. I hope you ALL escape the poverty that you came from and the poverty that is creeping along outside the Casa walls, waiting to try to snatch you up again. I hope you make it."

brief july update and graduation photos

things are winding down really fast, a little too fast. i've run into a little trouble trying to get all of the educational plan approved officially by the church here in mexico, but i am confident that the work will go on after i leave. priscila rojas, a good friend from puebla who is also currently the methodist church volunteer coordinator for mission teams to this region of mexico, is going to take over for me once i leave and continue pushing to make sure the work that i have started continues. i am very confident in her ability to continue everything... neri, the oldest boy, is now signed up for his new technical high school (he did GREAT on the admission exam) and has a host family to live with in puebla, so it's exciting to have him all situated for this upcoming year. he is the only youth from the casa hogar to leave this year...

below is a link to pictures from the kids' graduation about a week ago...

june comes to a close...

... and i have but a month left. i spent the last week with my parents and melissa, and at the bottom of this entry there is a set of some of the pictures from our travels to mexico city, puebla, serdan, and querétaro together... things are coming to an end and i'm working out the final details of the educational plan for the transition of the older children to living with host families in puebla while they continue in school. the oldest boy at the casa, neri, passed the entrance exam with very high marks to a high school where he will receive a nationally-recognized technical degree as well as a high school degree in 3 years. he will start at his new school in august. so things are moving along, and it's good to have something tangible as a result of this work, to know that neri will be able to continue in school while living with a family in puebla. this is a short update, i will write more later. but for now, enjoy these photos!

pictures and update

it' s been a little bit since i've last written. there are some pictures down below, one set from a trip to el pico de orizaba ('citlaltepetl', for those of you wanting to practice your nahuatl language - it's the highest mountain in mexico at just over 16,000 feet. we rode up about half of the mountain in the back of pick-up trucks, which was quite a ride, and then hiked for about an hour til we got to the snow and had to turn back) and the other set from two clown shows here at the local high school and then at the casa hogar, featuring benjamin and isaac, two friends from puebla...



things are going well here, it´s hard to believe i have less than a month and a half left. but i have finished the final recommendations and am currently looking for someone from mexico to take over for me part-time when i leave (to be sure that this plan is actually put into place and that it becomes sustainable) as well as looking for host families in puebla that will take in the youth from the casa hogar once they leave so that they can continue studying in high school and possibly in college. those are the two big tasks left on my plate, and i think i´ve found someone, priscila rojas from puebla, who is interested in taking over the educational consultant position when i leave...



also see below (the previous entry) for more photos of when charley spencer's team was here from chattanooga, tennessee, last week.

and if you aren't done blogging yet, check out my brother bryan's blog, complete with new updates from his time in the congo. it's really interesting!

photos from work team

below is a link to the blog of signal crest umc's work team that is here this first week of june. there are pictures (LOTS) and updates.

http://www.mexicomission2005.blogspot.com

work, adoption, immigration, and more

a lot´s been going on here in mexico since i last wrote (this may get long, i apologize). i have finished the ´final recommendations´ for the educational plan of the casa hogar kids and for the next two months will be working to make this plan a reality (as well as hire someone from puebla part-time to continue the work once i leave). on thursday of last week, i met with the bishop of the southeast conference of the methodist church in mexico to get his approval for the plan. on friday, i went with neri (the oldest boy here) to register him for his new technical high school in puebla.

(photos from mother´s day celebration at the kids´ school...)



and on saturday i went with priscila rojas to la palmilla, veracruz, to talk with the grandmother of two of the girls here about the possibility of them being adopted by the family in atlanta who is already adopting another of the girls here. priscila was planning on going to la palmilla for an event of the methodist church, and she asked if i wanted to come along to get to talk with the grandmother and see what she was thinking about the adoption (she had been here in february to talk with the girls and with the family from atlanta, but we hadn´t heard much from her since). so we arrived in la palmilla without much of an idea of where to find this lady - thankfully one of the women at the church knew her and was going to take us to see her, when we ran into the grandmother´s former pastor (who now lives 3 or 4 hours away and just happened to be in town for the church event), who said that he would take us to see her. as it turns out, he was very instrumental in getting the girls to the casa hogar because he knew that the grandmother just wasn´t able to take care of them anymore and they were becoming more and more rebellious, and he is very much in favor of the adoption because he doesn´t see much of a future for the girls if they move back in with grandmother (which is what they´re thinking about). we talked with her and one of her daughters (who has 2 young boys and said that she would have loved to have had such an opportunity to go to the us) for a good 2 hours or so, and at the end of that time, 3 women from her current church came to talk with us and just encourage her to think more about this opportunity for the girls, to have a mom and a dad and to be able to continue school through high school and even college. and she seems interested in going to visit the family´s house in atlanta with the girls just to see for herself what their situation would be and make a more informed decision. plus, the girls will probably be in contact more with their grandmother if they go to the u.s. than they have been here at the casa hogar (the family has promised at least yearly visits as well as weekly conversations)... it was interesting to be there, sitting with 8 or 9 mexican people, from different backgrounds and different social classes, all talking favorably about immigrating to the u.s. they all had family members who have crossed the border illegally - the grandmother has lost contact with quite a few family members who can´t just visit whenever they want. and they all expressed what a great opportunity this would be for the girls. obviously, adoption is not the best option for all of the kids at the casa hogar; however, looking at what these 2 girls' futures could be - in la palmilla versus in the u.s., they´ll be much better off having a mom and a dad, getting to continue school, not living in poverty, etc... so we´ll see what happens from here after the grandmother gets to talk more with the girls.

pictures from puebla festivities and la palmilla, veracruz