Hello.
Well good afternoon from the road between Oaxaca and Puebla. It seems that with all the groups coming and going, my only free time to catch up on sleep and correspondence is when I'm in transit! And so, having written to you from a bus last time about preparing the houses, thinking about expanding the Oaxaca students', hard working groups and forming international friendships, I am sitting on exactly the same bus with the same driver doing the same route, and find myself with time to write a little missive.
It's hot and very sunny at the moment which, combined with eating salsa and tortillas, is turning my skin and eyes browner. (Apparently this is improving my Spanish). But Lynn will be happy to hear that it's raining every afternoon. Hard oreographically-driven convectional thunderstorms that roll down the hills surrounding the site bring a fresh katabatic wind. Mmmm; geography. Some days, it seems that no sooner have we done the pipe-sucking-gravity-drain trick (I'm losing my English I think - why didn't I just use the word 'siphon'?) to empty the unplanned swimming pools than nature starts to fill them up. But I don't mind because it's nice to cool off in the afternoon and, after all, who needs to shower in the evening if you've worked out in a downpour?
The highlight of the last month has been a celebration of the first anniversary of the Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholar's (AIMS) Program site in Oaxaca City. Although AIMS has been running a lot longer, principally in a site called Yalalag in the mountains above the main city, they were violently expelled early last year. Although this was disappointing and depressing for the Armonía directors they had been generously given a significant sum of money to buy a new house. A confusing set of events pushed them towards the city – an apparently trustworthy woman sold the house they had settled on in the single day between them agreeing a price and coming back with the money. Perplexed and ready to send the money back the donors told them they should find somewhere else and then provided extra money to allow a bigger house to be bought. However, just before paying for the house, Sr. Saul was called over by the official who asked him if he had given any money to the owner. He replied that he hadn't and was surprised to hear that the papers were forged. Without knowing this they would have lost a 6-figure dollar sum! The donors once again refused to be re-paid and the current worksite was bought and some rented accommodation found. On the 3rd and 4th July, a total of 14 malnourished, mistreated yet happy students left Yalalag and were reunited with Snr. Saul, Sra. Pilar and Dani in an emotional meeting. And AIMS Oaxaca City was born, coaxed into rebirth by God's grace. Talk about being refined by fire.
A few weeks ago, we held a large celebration in the residence, broadcast over the net to Santa Cruz, Presidentes, Jalalpa, the US, Germany and the UK. If you didn't get to see it live there is still a recording on our webcast site: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/556239 Sr. Saul recounted these events, Sergio played the clarinet beautifully, some students told their stories, people wrote in over the net and the team of Fran, Craig, Stuart (my bro), Heather, Sarah, Rosemary and Anna helped in many ways with the technology, by singing In Christ Alone and translating. It was a beautiful moment and if you have a moment you should look it up.
Talking of the Eden group and my brother, I should inform you that they have been working very hard, achieving the milestone of moving, filling and compacting 14 tonnes of dirt in 2 days to help the construction. They've moved briefly in most parts of Armonía; helping Sr. Saul in the office, doing inventories, working on Summer Course preparation and giving classes, construction in Oaxaca, interacting with the AIMS students and, this week, running a special week of activities for the kids of the ladies at Santa Cruz. They have been an excellent group and have worked humbly and steadily despite some illnesses or the dreaded 'Armonía-fatigue'. The latter has been mainly seen as I watch them slowly dropping off in one of the famous 4 hour (or longer) meetings that are sometimes held here. There have been plenty of comical moments when we've been together – Rosemary trying hard not to tell everyone that she has many men when she's actually hungry, Heather having to change her name to Miriam for ease of pronunciation and the ladies' impressions of Fran's charismatic Argentinean accent. Banter. But their experience has clearly had an impact (hopefully positive) and they were able to leave on Sunday proud of what they have achieved.
Whilst they have been here, the groups have continued to come and I have been mainly based in Oaxaca. This has had the disadvantage that I'm not able to hold my usual English classes in Santa Cruz, or help out with the kids that I love so much there, but I have been able to take on new roles in the South of the country. It is nice to 'make up' for spending so much time up in Mexico City in the winter and spring, although it is much hotter here and I do have to live out of a bag all the time. Not literally of course. The construction has been moved forwards incredibly by two groups from Willow Creek PCA Florida and a recent visit by Twin Oaks PCA St. Louis led by Wes and Stephanie Vanderlugt, who are to be my successors. This last week we have not been directly supervised by the directors – Joaquín and I have been running everything, more or less successfully. We have completed a week without anyone going hungry or anyone getting ill and we only lost one visitor so we're confident we've done OK.
Twin Oaks has finished off filling the foundations and set a record of setting and concreting 4 columns for the second floor in just one afternoon. Which is impressive. But better has been the way in which they have interacted with the AIMS older brothers and sisters. These guys are mostly new to Armonía and form the hosting team; the new university entrants have gone to Mexico City and A-level students haven't returned yet from holidays back to their villages. All the new students had two weeks in a camp out at the worksite to see whether they fitted what Armonía is looking for (and whether they want to be with us) and now have a slightly better idea of what is required of them. The most obvious thing is their energy and enthusiasm. They are truly taking this opportunity with both hands and seeing that Armonía can help them in so many ways. In a recent teaching session, when asked whether they would be able to go to university without Armonía none of them put their hands up. Such is the chance they are being given, but it's so much more as they learn to live in community and to serve others in mutual love.
Mum commented when she was here how much she would like to have these guys as her students for their willingness. To hear Job (pronounced "hob") learning English phrases from the visitors – yesterday he was mixing cement, paused for a moment, pointed to a girl and announced to the whole team; "This is my wife. She is very beautiful." If only I could convey his accent – we laughed so much. Another (girl) visitor joined in; "But I thought I was your wife?". He paused for a moment and then pronounced: "I choose later. Please wait." Priceless. He has started copying me when I give instructions, his current favourite phrase being "OK guys; let's go" as he tries to move the group from one place to the other.
Mum and Dad have had a good two weeks in Armonía and I think it has helped them to understand some of the events of this year. It's been fun working with them – I haven't had to keep Dad in check too much (phew)! Actually he's been very useful in a plumbing capacity – tracking down leaks in Alheli – and sorting out a mess the work site plumber made of the black and grey water drainage. To have him come to me and say he'd sorted his tubes out was perhaps something I could have done without though. Mum has become something of a column preparation expert. The program didn't allow her time enough to teach sewing but she has faithfully prepared the bases, levelling them out ready to put the tubing over which forms the concrete. She did have a moment on the tamping machine, bringing the normally wild bouncing thing under strict control. It didn't dare mis-behave…
I would love to talk a little more about the Santa Cruz summer course but I really haven't been there at all. I've heard very little (except that it's going well) so I am unable to relay much. Nor will I be able to say much because I have a chance for a week's holiday/rest with Mum and Dad starting on Wednesday and then I have just a week left which will be spent into Oaxaca. My time is almost done and I'm increasingly looking ahead to the future, trying to deconstruct what I've learnt, attempting to understand what God wants for me in the years to come and planning for the many things coming up in the next few weeks. But that's for another newsletter.
I've put a whole load more photos up from the groups which have visited us here in Oaxaca so have a look at how things are progressing at: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer
Thank you again for your summer news and birthday notes. I felt very blessed to have so many people remember me even when I've been away for so long.
So until 3 weeks' time,
God bless,
Chris
http://mexicanchris.blogspot.com/
Well good afternoon from the road between Oaxaca and Puebla. It seems that with all the groups coming and going, my only free time to catch up on sleep and correspondence is when I'm in transit! And so, having written to you from a bus last time about preparing the houses, thinking about expanding the Oaxaca students', hard working groups and forming international friendships, I am sitting on exactly the same bus with the same driver doing the same route, and find myself with time to write a little missive.
It's hot and very sunny at the moment which, combined with eating salsa and tortillas, is turning my skin and eyes browner. (Apparently this is improving my Spanish). But Lynn will be happy to hear that it's raining every afternoon. Hard oreographically-driven convectional thunderstorms that roll down the hills surrounding the site bring a fresh katabatic wind. Mmmm; geography. Some days, it seems that no sooner have we done the pipe-sucking-gravity-drain trick (I'm losing my English I think - why didn't I just use the word 'siphon'?) to empty the unplanned swimming pools than nature starts to fill them up. But I don't mind because it's nice to cool off in the afternoon and, after all, who needs to shower in the evening if you've worked out in a downpour?
The highlight of the last month has been a celebration of the first anniversary of the Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholar's (AIMS) Program site in Oaxaca City. Although AIMS has been running a lot longer, principally in a site called Yalalag in the mountains above the main city, they were violently expelled early last year. Although this was disappointing and depressing for the Armonía directors they had been generously given a significant sum of money to buy a new house. A confusing set of events pushed them towards the city – an apparently trustworthy woman sold the house they had settled on in the single day between them agreeing a price and coming back with the money. Perplexed and ready to send the money back the donors told them they should find somewhere else and then provided extra money to allow a bigger house to be bought. However, just before paying for the house, Sr. Saul was called over by the official who asked him if he had given any money to the owner. He replied that he hadn't and was surprised to hear that the papers were forged. Without knowing this they would have lost a 6-figure dollar sum! The donors once again refused to be re-paid and the current worksite was bought and some rented accommodation found. On the 3rd and 4th July, a total of 14 malnourished, mistreated yet happy students left Yalalag and were reunited with Snr. Saul, Sra. Pilar and Dani in an emotional meeting. And AIMS Oaxaca City was born, coaxed into rebirth by God's grace. Talk about being refined by fire.
A few weeks ago, we held a large celebration in the residence, broadcast over the net to Santa Cruz, Presidentes, Jalalpa, the US, Germany and the UK. If you didn't get to see it live there is still a recording on our webcast site: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/556239 Sr. Saul recounted these events, Sergio played the clarinet beautifully, some students told their stories, people wrote in over the net and the team of Fran, Craig, Stuart (my bro), Heather, Sarah, Rosemary and Anna helped in many ways with the technology, by singing In Christ Alone and translating. It was a beautiful moment and if you have a moment you should look it up.
Talking of the Eden group and my brother, I should inform you that they have been working very hard, achieving the milestone of moving, filling and compacting 14 tonnes of dirt in 2 days to help the construction. They've moved briefly in most parts of Armonía; helping Sr. Saul in the office, doing inventories, working on Summer Course preparation and giving classes, construction in Oaxaca, interacting with the AIMS students and, this week, running a special week of activities for the kids of the ladies at Santa Cruz. They have been an excellent group and have worked humbly and steadily despite some illnesses or the dreaded 'Armonía-fatigue'. The latter has been mainly seen as I watch them slowly dropping off in one of the famous 4 hour (or longer) meetings that are sometimes held here. There have been plenty of comical moments when we've been together – Rosemary trying hard not to tell everyone that she has many men when she's actually hungry, Heather having to change her name to Miriam for ease of pronunciation and the ladies' impressions of Fran's charismatic Argentinean accent. Banter. But their experience has clearly had an impact (hopefully positive) and they were able to leave on Sunday proud of what they have achieved.
Whilst they have been here, the groups have continued to come and I have been mainly based in Oaxaca. This has had the disadvantage that I'm not able to hold my usual English classes in Santa Cruz, or help out with the kids that I love so much there, but I have been able to take on new roles in the South of the country. It is nice to 'make up' for spending so much time up in Mexico City in the winter and spring, although it is much hotter here and I do have to live out of a bag all the time. Not literally of course. The construction has been moved forwards incredibly by two groups from Willow Creek PCA Florida and a recent visit by Twin Oaks PCA St. Louis led by Wes and Stephanie Vanderlugt, who are to be my successors. This last week we have not been directly supervised by the directors – Joaquín and I have been running everything, more or less successfully. We have completed a week without anyone going hungry or anyone getting ill and we only lost one visitor so we're confident we've done OK.
Twin Oaks has finished off filling the foundations and set a record of setting and concreting 4 columns for the second floor in just one afternoon. Which is impressive. But better has been the way in which they have interacted with the AIMS older brothers and sisters. These guys are mostly new to Armonía and form the hosting team; the new university entrants have gone to Mexico City and A-level students haven't returned yet from holidays back to their villages. All the new students had two weeks in a camp out at the worksite to see whether they fitted what Armonía is looking for (and whether they want to be with us) and now have a slightly better idea of what is required of them. The most obvious thing is their energy and enthusiasm. They are truly taking this opportunity with both hands and seeing that Armonía can help them in so many ways. In a recent teaching session, when asked whether they would be able to go to university without Armonía none of them put their hands up. Such is the chance they are being given, but it's so much more as they learn to live in community and to serve others in mutual love.
Mum commented when she was here how much she would like to have these guys as her students for their willingness. To hear Job (pronounced "hob") learning English phrases from the visitors – yesterday he was mixing cement, paused for a moment, pointed to a girl and announced to the whole team; "This is my wife. She is very beautiful." If only I could convey his accent – we laughed so much. Another (girl) visitor joined in; "But I thought I was your wife?". He paused for a moment and then pronounced: "I choose later. Please wait." Priceless. He has started copying me when I give instructions, his current favourite phrase being "OK guys; let's go" as he tries to move the group from one place to the other.
Mum and Dad have had a good two weeks in Armonía and I think it has helped them to understand some of the events of this year. It's been fun working with them – I haven't had to keep Dad in check too much (phew)! Actually he's been very useful in a plumbing capacity – tracking down leaks in Alheli – and sorting out a mess the work site plumber made of the black and grey water drainage. To have him come to me and say he'd sorted his tubes out was perhaps something I could have done without though. Mum has become something of a column preparation expert. The program didn't allow her time enough to teach sewing but she has faithfully prepared the bases, levelling them out ready to put the tubing over which forms the concrete. She did have a moment on the tamping machine, bringing the normally wild bouncing thing under strict control. It didn't dare mis-behave…
I would love to talk a little more about the Santa Cruz summer course but I really haven't been there at all. I've heard very little (except that it's going well) so I am unable to relay much. Nor will I be able to say much because I have a chance for a week's holiday/rest with Mum and Dad starting on Wednesday and then I have just a week left which will be spent into Oaxaca. My time is almost done and I'm increasingly looking ahead to the future, trying to deconstruct what I've learnt, attempting to understand what God wants for me in the years to come and planning for the many things coming up in the next few weeks. But that's for another newsletter.
I've put a whole load more photos up from the groups which have visited us here in Oaxaca so have a look at how things are progressing at: http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer
Thank you again for your summer news and birthday notes. I felt very blessed to have so many people remember me even when I've been away for so long.
So until 3 weeks' time,
God bless,
Chris
http://mexicanchris.blogspot.com/
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