Oaxaca Trek, Who We Are

¨If you have come to help me you are wasting your time.

But if you have come because your liberation is bound up with mine,

then let us work together.¨

-Lila Watson, Australian Aboriginal Activist

2010 Oaxaca Esperanza Volunteer Group with friends from Rio Grande

We, the first Esperanza volunteer group to team up with a community in Oaxaca, are made up of nine volunteers from Philly, Denver, and Seattle. From 18 year olds to early 40`s and from 5`4¨ to 6`9¨ we come from a variety of life experiences, joined together with the people of Rio Grande through this cultural and service immersion opportunity.

WHO WE ARE:

Aimee Khuu (Seattle, WA) and the infamous Eduardo (Tijuana, Mexico)

Our fearless Esperanza leaders for this week long trek!!

Andrew (Seattle, WA)

This allstar treaded water for TWELVE HOURS straight, prior to the trip to raise money for

Esperanza`s Oaxaca program!!!

Katrina (Seattle, WA)
A Master`s candidate in Social Work at UW, she chose to spend precious summer vacation days roadtripping from Mexico City to Rio Grande for her first Esperanza experience, sharing with us her laughter and free spirit!

Dan (Philly born and raised) with Isabel and Rosa (Rio Grande, Oaxaca)
Standing 2.03 meters tall, he is quite the ladies man here in Oaxaca. There is never a dull moment with Dan and the Rio Grande ladies around!

Erin (Seattle, WA) with Vivi (Rio Grande, Oaxaca)
Radiating kindness and curiosity (and a knack for Spanish), Erin has a way of easily engaging the Rio Grande community, particularly the pups and children. Wherever she goes, a puppy dog or child will surely be close by!

Deana (Seattle, WA)
A die-hard Esperanza trekker, this is her THIRD Esperanza trip THIS YEAR! She even missed her 27th (??) wedding anniversary to kick it with us in Oaxaca. A special THANK YOU goes out to her husband!

David (Seattle, WA)
As true as the statement on his shirt, he never ceased to bring a smile to our faces and those of the community we worked with. David was fearless in his desire to connect with both the people of Rio Grande and his fellow volunteers. ¡Me gustas tu, David!

Hana (Denver, CO)

As a Master`s candidate in International Nonprofit Management, she connected with Esperanzà to fulfill an international internship requirement with some behind the scenes volunteer work in support of the Oaxaca volunteer program.

Pete aka ¨Pedro¨ (Philly, represent!)

After years of hearing his friend Dan rave about Esperanza adventures, Pete finally had to find out for himself what this Esperanza craze was all about! We are glad you did!

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We haven`t even been here three full days and already we have been received with incredible hospitality by the local community and the Esperanza staff. The hospitality is humbling.

MEET THOSE WHO MADE THIS TRIP POSSIBLE:

Javier, Esperanza architect (Tijuana) with Don Willy (Rio Grande, Oaxaca)
Also known as ¨Arcky¨ within the Rio Grande community, Javier not only designed the houses we are helping to build, but he has also forged strong bonds through community meetings with the Rio Grande families we are working with. He is truly the face of Esperanza here in Oaxaca.

As the soon-to-be-recipient of the first Esperanza home in Oaxaca, Don Willy´s hard work and joyful spirit has been an inspiration to all of us volunteers. It is an honor to work alongside him in fulfilling a lifelong dream of adequate housing for his children and grandchildren!

Rigo, Construction Technician-Esperanza (Tijuana)

Many of you may recognize Rigo from Esperanza treks in Tijuana. His tremendous work ethic and subtle perseverance through tumultous hours of hard work is truly an inspiration!

¨Rebe¨, Admin Assistant-Esperanza

Also a familiar face from La Posada in Tijuana, Rebe`s warmth and smile helps us feel at home in this new place!

Romeo and his mini-bus (Rio Grande, Oaxaca) with Dan and David

Never before have I witnessed such patience as that of our driver, Romeo. Already he has been with us from sunrise to well after sunset, ensuring we make it to all of our engagements!

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Thanks to the hard work of both the Esperanza staff and the Rio Grande community, we have been warmly welcomed and our first three days have us feeling right at home.

Oaxaca Trek, Days 1 and 2

ADO-BLOCK PRODUCTION

Tuesday Aug 17th and Wednesday Aug 18th, 2010

Introducing Guest Blogger, David Chen.

Youngest member of the 1st ever Esperanza volunteer group

in Oaxaca, Mexico this past week, August 16-24, 2010!

¨Today we arose bright n’ early for our second day of work en la comunidad de Rio Grande. Choosing to rebel against global influences, Rio Grande does not participate in day light savings. Therefore, we got to the worksite just after seven; Aimee was worried that our lack of punctuality would make a bad impression on the people of the community, who pay small fines for being late, however, all seemed to be fine. Reflecting on the past two days, it does not seem like we have been in Rio Grande for just two days. It seems much longer. Perhaps this is because of the connections made, or because of how much we accomplished, or maybe just because it was a very long day. Whatever is the case, here is an overview of the worksite.

Everything is centered on feeding the block-making machine, ¨la maquina.¨ The three ingredients it eats are mud, sand, and cement mix. The mud is the most laborious ingredient to harvest. It is chopped from the mounds, hand-sifted through a makeshift-iron-window-cover-like device, dug out from underneath and dumped onto the sand.

¨La Luz de Jesus¨ y ¨El Corazon del Virgin Maria¨
These sisters, named Light of Jesus and Heart of Mary, helped in the sifting of mud.

Erin and Santos sifting the mud, ¨el barro¨

Angel dumping the sifted mud onto the pile of sifted sand.

The rest of the ingredients are relatively simple. The sand is dumped near ¨la maquina¨ from a truck, and is easily wheel-barrowed after sifting the rocks out,

and the cement is usually carried by Eduardo (anyone who has been to Tijuana knows Eduardo) to the place where all is mixed.

Eduardo and Juan hauling cement bags.

Aimee dumping cement and cal (lyme) on the pile.

The mixing process is to shovel each mound, montun, into a new mound, and then, into a new mound.

Edgar, Andrew, David and Katrina on mound patrol, while Pete supervises!

And after shoveling into one more mound, it is ready to be fed to the machine.

David feeding ¨La Maquina¨

The machine then intakes its food through the equivalence of its esophagus and compresses the meal in its belly. It is then burped up in the form of a perfect block for construction. And here is why everything is centered on this final step. The machine produces one block at a time, about half a minute per block. Not counting problems with the machine itself, if any one step of harvesting mud goes awry, the process of making the blocks is threatened. Without a constant supply of fully-mixed mix the machine cannot eat, and no blocks are produced.

Keda carrying the final product to a location to dry.

It takes 2,400 blocks to make a home. The goal is to make 1,000 blocks/day. We made 1,200 blocks each day we were there!

The other main component of our day is visiting and learning about each other. This component includes lunch, and with the famous Southern Hospitality, the Esperanza families in Rio Grande made sure we were well taken care of. Day One they served steak, carne asada, beans, frijoles, tortillas, tortillas, salsa, salsa, more salsa, mas salsa, and cactus salad, made with a certain type of cactus and things like tomatoes and onions. There was a juice made from local fruit that one can only compare to what they could hope might be served in heaven. There was also starfruit. Day Two, the main course were flautas, an incredibly delicious fried tortilla filled with potatoes and topped with lettuce, tomatoes, and crema (what sour cream would be without the sour). This was accompanied by horchata, a drink made from milk, rice, and cinnamon… And perhaps a little bit of sugar.

Community member making fresh tortillas for us at the work site!

Besides the food, another reason some of us may have been interested in Esperanza is for the human connection. We have all had different experiences as we all worked in different areas. And perhaps rather than explaining the way we appreciate certain individuals that we have had the opportunity to speak with, it is better to leave it to the imagination. However, it is clear that the people, at least those we have met, have lived incredible and profound lives, and are well deserving of every ounce of respect and appreciation that we can give.¨ -David Chen

Aimee and Keda = Friendships formed.

Esperanza bloggers unite!

More and more Esperanza volunteer groups that have been using blogs to share their experiences with loved ones and strangers alike. Check out some of the group blogs here:

• St. Louise Youth Ministry: http://tijuanatrek2010.blogspot.com/
• Free Agents of Hope: http://freeagentsofhope.blogspot.com/
• C.W. Post Builders of Hope: http://hopebuilding.blogspot.com/

Feel free to contact us for assistance in setting one up!

Group Leader- Marty Mellett

Before too much time passes, I wanted to share some thoughts and reflections from our experience working with Esperanza in Tijuana last week. I have been a group leader for about 5 years and have been organizing a group of between 15-20 adults/teens to travel to Tijuana to work with Esperanza. I am not affiliated with a church or civic institution. I have been organizing these trips to give my sons and their friends/colleagues an experience of living and volunteering briefly in another country – particularly our southern neighbor – Mexico. After participating in 2 trips each for my older sons, they have “graduated” to other adventures. My oldest, Luke, was very much inspired by the work of Esperanza. Following his two week long service trips with Esperanza, he did a summer experience in Nicaragua and a year ago, he spent a year working as a volunteer with a human rights organization in Chiapas, Mexico. This summer he is doing an internship with migrant farmworkers in North Carolina and he heads to Bolivia for a fall semester abroad. While my other son has not returned to Latin America, he has carried with him a deep sensitivity for immigrants and others left out by the mainstream.

This year I had the opportunity to travel to Tijuana with my youngest son, Ben, and 12 of his friends and colleagues. I also had the support of 4 great adults who made the trip possible. While these trips are always good for my soul, it is especially gratifying to watch as these young men and women freely throw themselves into the experience. They worked hard digging and carrying blocks, doing the bucket brigade, and mixing cement. They also worked and played side by side with the Mexican family and their neighbors over the course of the week. We talked about important things like the cost of living, immigration to the United States, when the colonia would get paved roads. We also sang songs with the family’s little girls, danced in the bucket brigade and discussed the all important World Cup.

Apart from the work day, our group had an opportunity to visit the health clinic, the border fence, and to share a meal with recently deported men as the Casa de Migrantes. And we had a chance to reflect on what the US immigration policy does to families when breadwinners are deported. We did not come up with solutions – but our teens are much more aware of the challenges facing immigrants in our country and I know they will be more engaged in the debate over immigration reform that hopefully, will soon take place.

All in all, the experience was fun, challenging and hope-filled. My son and his friends have already asked if they can come back next summer and bring more friends with them. For me, that is the best evidence that the experience was moving.

I wanted to share some thoughts about the topic of risk. Each of us has a different risk tolerance when it comes to stretching beyond our comfort zones or when we move into areas that may present safety and security issues. Myself and many of the kids and adults in my group have lived and worked in the DC area for many years. We take the Metro and we bike and walk on streets and in neighborhoods that sometimes experience different types of violence. Unfortunately, shootings and drugs are part of the life of our city and our neighborhoods. We learn to be street smart and we learn how to minimize risk. But we have chosen not to move to far out suburbs with large houses and supposedly safe school buildings. I believe that risk comes not only in the form of violence and physical danger. Risk can also come in the form of living within an overly protected environment where we never meet those who are poor and struggling, or those who speak another language, or those who live in different cultures. This is the risk of ignorance and sometimes, prejudice. It limits our ability to form relationships across various boundaries of class and race and nationality.

Within the context of the above reflection on risk, I wanted to share what happened last Friday on our way home from the work site. We were about 2 blocks from the posada when our bus was turned around by a police tape and a number of police cars. I got out of the bus and walked over to the police line and asked what was going on. I was told that several people were shot and killed. I learned the next morning reading the newspaper that 3 young men were killed with a 9 mm pistol. We don’t know yet if the shootings are a result of a domestic dispute or a land dispute or drug related violence. While I am saddened by the violence and the lack of respect for human life that can result in unnecessary deaths, I did not feel unsafe at the posada or with the Esperanza team. I feel the staff are attuned to what is happening in La Gloria as well as the various colonias in which we work. The posada is almost too safe – it is an enclosed community with gates and walls. I also trust that the Esperanza staff will look at this particular experience of violence close to the posada and determine whether additional security measures are warranted. I believe there is a difference between an active gang war where there is an increased possibility of violence reaching into the lives of the Esperanza volunteers and an isolated incident. If this is an isolated incident, I am not sure what additional security measures would look like. I do believe that if a permanent decision is made to remain isolated within the four walls of the posada with the exception of traveling to and from the work site, the experience of being in La Gloria would be severely limited. On many nights after work, our teens walk down to the pasteleria and the ice cream shop to talk with the workers and the residents, to taste Mexican food, to experience a regular neighborhood. This is an invaluable part of the Esperanza experience and I would be disappointed if an isolated incidence of violence permanently closed this part of the experience.

I have already talked my son who wants to return to Tijuana and Esperanza next year. One of older teens who will be attending college is planning on introducing Esperanza to her Catholic youth group with the hopes of sponsoring a trip next spring or summer. These trips are life changing to many teens and young adults and I am grateful for the many hands who make it possible – and I hope it will continue.

Reflection from Steve Hinderhofer

I remember Father Ted asking me to join the Newman Club for a mission trip to Mexico. He asked several times actually, and for many semesters and years in college I turned him down.

"College Life" always seemed to get in the way. Whether it was the baseball season or a girlfriend or laziness, they just seemed to take precedence in my life and inhibited me from being there. Father Ted was persistent to say the least, and he knew better God's plan for my life and the direction in which He needed me to travel.

I have again returned from Tijuana, Mexico, after another life liberating week of service and fellowship through the Esperanza program. I regret not being there in those early years in college. It isn't a regret that takes over my life and effects the future, but one that keeps me hungry to keep after those that haven't been their to join a group and come with us in the future, no matter what "Life" is getting in the way. It is a small regret that keeps me fighting on this side of the border, hanging Mexican flags and displaying pictures of our trips in my classroom at school. It is a small regret that helps me to get through one minute showers here in Iowa during the frigid winters, even when turning the water on would feel much better. But mostly I do these things not out of regret, but prominently for my simple, yet passionate love for Mexico.

Mexico is the first place where I truly felt the Spirit of God in my heart. God was finally able to break through these tough scales and remove the blinds from my eyes. My life has never been the same. Mexico is where I asked my wife Mary to marry me. Mexico, Tijuana, the Posada and surrounding community is the place I love the most in this world and Mary is the person I love the most in the world. The setting appeared to be very obvious to me. I remember how proud and joyful the folks at the work site were to know that I decided to ask Mary in their country, as opposed to anywhere else in the world. Mary said "yes", and we received a wedding gift from Catalina, whose house we were working on that week. We hugged Catalina and cried and shared a wonderfully intimate moment...I have trouble not crying even as I write, but why hold it in, what a wonderful moment. Finally, Mexico is where some of my closest friends live and work daily. This closeness led my wife and I to name our son, Thomas Zavala Hinderhofer, after our good friend Eduardo. Thomas is nine months old now. I thought we would probably wait until he was at least a year old before we practice putting away his toys in a bucket-line like formation between himself, Mary and I. I hope one day that he will be able to find something in his life that he is crazy passionate about to pursue.

I don't like returning from Mexico. I always cry on the last day during the reflection circle. Sometimes to the point where I can't speak. Two years ago we just hugged, and sobbed, and it was more than words could ever describe. Leaving there is always tough, and I feel as though part of me has been taken away, has gone missing, is lost. We have been home for about two weeks now, and I still awake slowly in the morning, hoping to wake up on a squeaky bunk-bed, body soar, hands calloused, hungry for more...I miss you so much...

I encourage you to continue your fight for what you love and what you hold dear about Esperanza. We all have so many stories and memories about why we continue to travel to the wonderful community. Whether it be the Esperanza Clinic or the girls orphanage, perhaps the families or the workers who give their lives each day. Continue to move, to press on, to make a difference where you most feel led. May God Bless you all and the seeds that you sew. May He make your paths straight, showering your lives with peace. May He give you the courage to step out and step forward towards His people with a love that is unstoppable.

My best to you, safe travels.

Steve Hinderhofer

World Environment Day

Oli, Nico, Frances, Maru, Mari, Lupita, Graciela, and Monica went to a beautiful park in Tecate to partake in the festnsivities for the Dia Mundial del Medio Ambiente (World Environment Day).

There was a stage set up where various groups performed all day. Many different types of environmental organizations were present - handing out information and doing activities with the kids. Our wonderful women from Lazaro Cardenas and La Morita sold their chip-bag purses and taught people how to make them.

We also had a team of 4 that participated in a scavenger hunt - we won cute little cactuses for coming in 4th place! Check them out the next time you come to the Posada :)


Performance from a local tribal group


Oli, Maru, and Frances making and selling bags


Trying to figure out the clue in the scavenger hunt


Michael Jackson performance

Esperanza 20th Anniversary Celebration -20 Years of Hope-

Saludos to all of you Esperanza supporters out there; both the seasoned professionals and those newbies that are just beginning to become Esperanza addicts! This is Claire (long term volunteer) and Angela (group leader) hoping to give you a little taste of what we experienced at the Esperanza 20th Anniversary Celebration.


To celebrate the 20 years of community development and home building the Esperanza team, communities members, and volunteers from the U.S. put together a fabulous evening of recognition, celebration and dreams for the future. In preparation for the big event the Esperanza community members came together to paint a beautiful mural and decorate the posada with pictures from the worksites and communities. We and the other volunteers present added to the native plants garden and helped repair its brick walkways. We also added gravel to enhance the landscape for the occasion.

Five families from each of the Esperanza communities were invited to join the festivities as well as group leaders and previous long term volunteers from the U.S.. During the celebration, Esperanza International and Fundacion Esperanza de Mexico board members were recognized for their continual support of the program as well as groups leaders, long term volunteers, and the Esperanza team members. Esperanza Director Josefina Pataky-Duran was recognized for her continuous hard work with a special video tribute from the Esperanza team, community members and long term volunteers. It was quite an emotional experience and wonderful for her to hear how much her work is appreciated by all!

Previous Esperanza team member Sergio, his wife Lourdes, and two community members from the Sta. Margarita community (Berta and Teresa) prepared the delicious meal that was served at the celebration (we were lucky enough to help Sergio cut the pig skins for the home-cooked chicharones!). After the recognitions there was dinner, dancing, a bouncy castle for the kids and a mechanical bull which got the best of everyone, even el Toro (Eduardo). All in all the day couldn't have been a better representation of the true community spirit that the Esperanza communities and group members experience during their time together.

We sincerely wish that all of you could have been with us in Tijuana as it was truly an honor to have been present. It was wonderful to be part of putting together such an amazing event and to celebrate the 20 years that Esperanza has making life changing experiences possible for everyone involved with it's mission. A big thank you to all of you for your continued support of the ogranization that has stolen our hearts. Here's to another 20 years with Esperanza!