Newsletter 11: Gaining the Vision of serving the poor

Well, here is the latest newsletter from México.  The summer is hotting up (both literally and figuratively) as we get to the final stages of planning group visits and the sun stays longer and longer overhead.  Regular rain punctuates the days, making planning my travel to and from the centres more interesting as I try to dodge the downpours!

Things have been a bit easier and better here recently.  Saul and Pilar reacted to my tired-induced lapse by shifting some of the house responsibilities around.  I now only cook breakfast for the university students on Mondays and Tuesdays – the others take turns to fill in the three days I now don't do.  Consequently I find myself in the interesting position of being able to talk about having a 2 hour lie-in… until 7am.  I never thought that I would put the words '2 hour lie-in' and 7am in the same sentence!  However, it is remarkable what an extra 6 hours sleep has made to my life and my work. 

So I have been motoring along in my new-found energy, finishing jobs which have been hanging over me left, right and centre.  Painting lamps in Casablanca (which really were hanging over me left, right and centre), preparing our roof for waterproofing, helping arrange group visits for June, sorting out drainpipes which revealed their state of repair when the rains came and the basketball court flooded while we were doing traditional dance practice (that is, the practice of traditional dance rather than a traditional, dance practice).  As someone who likes to work through lists, it has been very satisfying to be back on the case (finally!).

The most recent event in Armonía was the arrival of a Vision Trip.  This is a special type of visit where people come for about 4 or 5 days to see what Armonía does.  As the name suggests, we try to impart the vision of what we're doing here.  This means that the visitors don't actually do any work but we hope that they get catch the idea and take it back to create more supporters in their home country.  This is a great way to get the word out but they also generate income by staying in our accommodation.  However, the implication is that we need to show them as much as possible and this means a whistle-stop tour of everything. 

13 Americans came with Greg Holzhauer (one of the Armonía international board of advisors) and we went to Casablanca, Alheli, Santa Cruz, Jalalpa, Presidentes, Hornos, Betsy's house and other sites just on Saturday and Sunday morning.  They joined us at the Sunday service at Santa Cruz when we officially celebrated Joaquín's graduation.  It was quite moving to hear of his testimony of how God brought him to Armonía and later to God, and how through the ministry of Saul, Pilar and Armonía, he is now the only person in his tribe to have a degree.  Amazing.  He wants to study more and is going to return to Oaxaca to look after the students' residence there.

We hurtled down to Oaxaca where we spent a good 2 days in the students' residence, introducing the current scholars.  There were actually about 70 of us in total because prospective students and their parents were visiting.  They had travelled up to 12 hours to come and find out about Armonía so it seems our influence is spreading, mainly through word-of-mouth.  In total 22 students want to enter which will bring the total to somewhere near 40 (the capacity of the new residence building).  All were offered a bed for the night and all accepted, creating a few hours of manic blanket, mattress, sheet and pillow finding.  I and some of the staff ended up sleeping on the bed boards to allow the visitors some comfort.  Although I slept quite deeply after such a crazy day, the next morning, my back made it quite clear that it preferred a mattress on top of the bed boards!

It seems that the vision trip didn't just impact on the visitors because I had some great experiences as part of it and return to Mexico City really enthused by the vision of what they're doing here in Oaxaca.  I love spending time with the current students and when we were back in the house we spent a lot of time doing English because it's just so much easier than teaching over Skype.  I am starting to enjoy translating more and more and can almost do simultaneous Spanish-English.  ☺  Apart from excitement about what this project could achieve in this area, one of the most memorable events was going out to the Stone Soup Restaurant.  This serves fish soup (admittedly not my favourite) with shrimps (also not particularly high on my list of food to eat) but they heat the food with stones.  It's an old Chinotec (indigeous) method to heat food.  They would prepare everything; water, vegetables, the fish and the shrimp, and heat it gently on a stove in a fruit cask (I never worked out what fruit but it's a hard, hollowed-out cask about the size of a large coconut).  When the king would arrive for dinner after a hard day's rulin', they would drop a stone heated in a fire in the soup.  Cue much sizzling and bubbling, steam and vapour.  Wait a few minutes and you have your dinner ready to eat.  Definitely a multi-sensory experience.  Especially if you ask for one with chilli.

We visited what may be the largest tree in the world.  It measures a staggering 58m in circumference and just 42 in height.  Even Houghts would struggle to get his arms around this one.  To add to what is already a remarkable botanical feature, the tour guide was 8 years old.  He amused us with his English, shouting: "Alligator.  Can you see?  Can you see?  Can you see?" as he pointed out the various shapes which were apparently visible.  Emphasis on the 'apparently'!  And to get us to move: "Come on please!".  At the end he held out his hand and said: "Pencils, money or candy".  And then added: "Or dollars".  We learnt he could do the tour in Spanish, English, French, German, Flemmish and Italian.  Most impressive was the 6 year old who followed him round – "He's in training but doesn't know the tour yet" we were told – and he shared half the tip with him.

So I'm now sitting in the Armonía house on a quiet morning with beautiful blue sky outside, working on this in a gap between helping plan group visits and, reflecting on the last few weeks, life is good.  The calling I received to come here was clear and I am learning incredible things about how to walk alongside the poor.  One of my best friends asked me recently how I cope being surrounded by poverty but not being able to do much about it.  It was an interesting question and I haven't yet answered her directly.  Sometimes it's difficult to cope.  When I walk into Ana Maria's house in one of the poorest areas of Mexico City near the Jalalpa Community Centre and realise that my garden shed is better constructed than that, I am overwhelmed with sadness.  How can the world be so unequal and unfair?  But then I remember there is hope and the promise of justice because although it's right that I can't do much about it, I know the One who can.  The One who let us ruin what was a perfect world in our selfishness and who calls us to go out and serve depending fully on the strength He gives us in His great love for us.  We know for a fact that he loves us - he has already demonstrated that on the cross – and He calls us to give up our lives in love for our brothers and sisters too.  That's why it's clear to me that however worthy and useful they are, secular aid or development organisations cannot beat poverty because they are not willing to sacrifice.  Full-stop.  They are not willing to invest time, gifts, money, health or even their lives where there seems like there will be no return for them personally.  I see Saul and Pilar demonstrating the opposite here.  The Christian Gospel, the 'Good News', which I am utterly convinced is true and changes lives, calls me not to cope but to serve with a faith based on fact in the past and looking to the future.  That's what it means to deny myself, take up my cross and follow Him.  And God will do the rest.

With love and blessings,
Chris

Oración Matutina

In our Armonía hymnbooks we have a wide selection of songs which cover quite a few moods and settings. We've sung this one recently and it's become one of my favourites - a good one to hum when cooking up the breakfast at 5 in the morning. :)

Oración Matutina (Morning Prayer)

Te agradezco (I thank You)
Por el nuevo día de hoy, Señor (for the new day today Lord)
Por la gracia de dejarme aún vivir (for the grace of letting me live more)
Por el sol (for the sun)
Que me dejas otra vez mirar (that You've allowed me to see again)
Y el sonido del ambiente escuchar (and the sound of the environment that I hear).

Cada día (every day)
Al despertarme pienso en Ti, Señor (when I wake up I think about You, Lord)
Y te doy muchas gracias por tu amor (and I give You thanks for Your love)
Este día (this day)
Es una nueva oportunidad (is a new opportunity)
Que me das para hacer tu voluntad (that You are giving me to do Your will)

Quiero serte fiel (I want to be faithful to You)
En este día de hoy Señor (during this day, today, Lord)
Y te pido me, ayudes a triunfar (and I ask You to allow me to succeed)
Mi deseo es a mi prójimo siempre servir (my desire is to serve my neighbour)
Y tu Nombre con mi vida bendecir (and to bless Your Name with my life)

Gracias te doy Señor (I give You thanks Lord)
Ayúdame (Help me)
Quiero servirte sólo a Ti (I want to serve only You)
Ayúdame hoy (help me today)

Amen.

Newsletter 10: Quiet times and hard times

Dear friends,

It is such a long time since I last wrote to you back in March.  For this I apologise.  It's actually been 6 weeks and I've just read the last newsletter to remember what happened.  We left the unfolding story of Chris' adventure in Armonía at the climax of a busy period working all hours painting irritatingly small windows.  What would he do now that there wasn't much to do?  Would he all go [more] mad from lack of work?  Would he sleep for a week?

Well, if these were your questions, the answers would be 'different work', 'no' and 'no'.  We rested, yes, but the concept of time-off seems somewhat foreign to Armonía.  And for good reason because, like the police say about crime, poverty doesn't call in sick or take the day off.  I'll talk about it a bit later but I have come to a new realisation of just how hard it is to be poor.

So what has been going on since March 12?  The important news, Lynn, is that it has got hotter.  We now feel the burning burning burning sun and regularly hit 30 degrees.  However, the rainy season is now upon us and the daily showers cool the evening air (which I like).  Unfortunately, this does have the disagreeable spin-off of huge puddles of oily, mucky water in the streets and the occasional river of sewage when the sewers burst.  Mum will be pleased to know I have started to wash once a week instead of once a fortnight as a result!  [JOKE]  But I won't complain because I don't rust and I like it cool in the evenings.  And that's the weather; back to Chris in the studio…

The week after I last wrote saw the visit of the International Board of Directors.  They are a group of older Americans and 'British' (as Saul calls them) who act to advise the Cruzes on all matters Armonía.  They also bring lots of money.  ☺  My job as we visited all the projects was to stick close to them and translate, as well as give insight into what was going on.  This was made easier once I knew who they were (which made meeting them at the airport somewhat difficult), but we soon got along.  It turns out that the Doc from 'Back to the Future' is a board member going by the name of Simon Webley from Ditton, Kent.  It's the hair that gives it away.  We had a lot of fun together and having been with Armonía since the beginning, they were able to share with me many stories of Armonia's work in the past.  Stories of people who have been helped, amazing ways in which God has acted through Armonía in Mexico City and how a chocolate company once delivered 52 crates of chocolates for the Jalalpa community.  There was apparently a chocolate mountain in the centre because one crate contained 32 boxes which each contained over 100 individual sweets.  They swopped them for much more useful stuff and even used them to barter for petrol on a journey to Oaxaca.  Banter.

We visited Oaxaca where the students continue to study hard.  I thought of a new name on the journey: The AIMS Project (Armonía Indigenous Mexican Scholars' Project).  Quite pleased with that.  Also, I've been frequently writing about the project there in my correspondence with the visitors coming in the summer so I have a much better idea of what they are doing there.  In addition to giving educational opportunities for these very poor indigenous students, they are seeking to train them in creating a caring community where you learn to serve your peers in Christ.  This is why we have the 'hermano mayor' (older brother) scheme where certain students (that's me here in Alheli and others in Oaxaca) are responsible for running the house, cooking, organising cleaning and helping the others in their homework etc.  They are really growing in their love for God and one another through the Bible studies, training and input by Dani.  It was great to spend time with them, to do English lessons over the table rather than over Skype and to see the construction of the new dormitory buildings.  They've just finished the reinforcements for the foundations (I'll put some pictures up to show you just how much work it is) and have poured the concrete.  We should be done by July.

Back here in Casablanca, Nancy (the secretary) left to study pediatrics at university.  I can never remember which one is feet and which one children but I think it's the kids she's interested in.  We have a new secretary, Yolanda, who is definitely on the ball and has really settled in quickly.  By the time the groups start to arrive in mid-May, Saul wants her to be able to converse in English so I'm teaching her 2 hours a day.  This has made my English lessons something of a burden as I now teach 26 hours a week.  All the rest of the time I spend preparing or doing maintenance and there's not much time for anything else.

It's just as well then that Saul and Pilar are away travelling (some of you may have heard him preach at Eden recently) and so life in the office is much quieter.  Two weeks ago, I had a lovely week in the pool teaching swimming and rescuing drowning kids – now one of the thirteen children of the ladies at the centre can swim – and then I took more time off when Gareth and Chrissi visited as part of their grand Mexican tour. :) It was great to see them although it made me realise just how much English I have forgotten.

So lots of good things.  But it hasn't been plain sailing.  Last week, the ladies reached something of a crisis point and several of them were considering leaving.  Eli, Betsy and I were selling clothes at a market to generate money for the centre but the location is far away, and it makes for a very long day without good food or toilets.  To be honest, it was too much for Betsy and Eli to be selling out in the heat of the day and too much for the ladies left behind to manage the centre on their own.  And as the frustration and anger levels rose, I gained an insight into their lives.  Their Armonia 'allowance' isn't enough to live on so they have to work as well.  Before you exclaim 'why?', it is deliberate so that only people with a genuine interest to learn and serve come to work.  It gets raised later on.  Many of them are up at 6am, sorting out their house, getting their kids up and to school.  Then they come to Armonía and work to 6pm.  They go home, get the dinner on, study and play with their kids and then many of them do another 3-5 hours work.  They sell soap, intricate jellies, stone figurines; basically whatever they can get their hands on.  And early in the morning they sleep.  Until the alarm goes off at 6 and the cycle repeats.  Poverty is horrible.  Poverty is the culture within which they have to live because of a lack of opportunities.  Poverty is hard and relentless.  Without contact with Armonía, it is understandable why so many turn to drink or drugs to escape.  Thankfully we were able to change the timetable to make it easier.  But frankly I don't know how they do it.  Except for the grace and strength of God…

I too have had moments of doom and gloom.  With the extra burden of more students in Alheli I have found that if I don't get good rest at the weekend then I really lose the plot.  Last weekend was a good (bad?) example when things came to a head after I set a new record for a working day (5am to 3.30am) when there were some very urgent things to complete.  Obviously this doesn't count as resting and when Monday came I felt off the pace.  On Tuesday I took the whole day off after a bout of what can only be described as paranoia.  I felt very isolated, totally unmotivated and that I was just going through the motions in my relationships with God and people, and my work here.  Thankfully Dani was wise enough to let me stop and following a good day's thinking and reflecting, I hope I have set myself back on track.  I do need to be more careful about taking time out to read the Bible, pray and reflect on what I'm doing though and am considering a week away before the summer's madness begins.

Thankfully though, I'm much better now and I guess it was a good warning not to push myself too hard.  I do need to look after the old temple afterall.  Thank you for your prayers, thoughts, little emails, invites to weddings I can't attend and the like.  I hope this informs you a little bit more and I promise it won't be so long until the next email drops into your inbox with a satisfying 'ping' (or whatever sound you use).

Blessings,
Chris

Raining for England

So the rainy season has begun. I know this because of the wet patches on my ceiling. Somehow I think I might need to waterproof the roof this weekend before something has a little swim. And none of my things swim particularly strongly (least of all the laptop!).

But the rainy season means that each day at about 5pm, the clouds gather, the skies darken and we experience a Mexican ‘tormenta’. ‘Relámpago’ and ‘turenos’ respectively light the sky and scare the little kids. Tito and Rojo (the Armonía dogs) love the rain but hate the thunder. They scurry quickly into their doghouse; the storm achieving in seconds what we cannot do when we try to persuade them that sleeping on comfy blankets under a plastic roof is better than the flowerbed! Just thinking about it, there's got to be some joke in there about being in the doghouse when they won't go in the doghouse but I wouldn't think of writing it here. Although looking back on that sentence, I basically did do just that... Time to rein in the jokes and get back to the rain...

If I’m at the community centre, it become impossible to hold a conversation as the sound of the heavy rain on the metal roof drowns out all other sounds (think of the last time you were in a conservatory in a downpour). Yesterday the storm was accompanied by hail the size of small marbles that definitely hurt when they hit you. The regular rain (that is to say 'the fact that it rains a lot', rather than that we have 'regular' and 'irregular' rain here) makes me think of our green and pleasant land but the resulting floods on the roads and the fact that it’s dried up by the next morning reminds me that I’m in Mexico.
But hey, I’m not complaining because it cools the air for the night and I don’t rust.

(Word Alive Admin) * (Word Alive Admin) = Armonía admin

Everyone knows that organising students is a bit of a pain. And arranging things for Christians involves a lot of faff. So, as the event arrives, I wonder about the poor souls desperately trying to bash Christian students into order so that everyone arrives in Wales at the right time. I did it last year and remember it being good fun but hard work. Go get’em ACS Euromaster (as Fran would say).
But now, a new standard has arrived. Organising groups arriving at Armonía. It’s the word alive factor squared – Christians travelling to other countries where they will be hosted by an society not renown for its admin skills in a country that doesn’t have a word for ‘early’. I joke of course and probably bulldoze through some (many?) cultural sensitivity barriers but I feel like I have a new job to replace the word-alive-admin-shaped hole in my life.
It’s good fun being in charge of tracking who’s coming and where and when and how and what and waaahh! (Yes, I did just describe admin as fun). But the spreadsheet is growing as we expect almost 250 visitors here between June and September! And we need to make sure we don’t double-book beds or over book accommodations. Who’s picking whom up when? And did I mention that Saul and Pilar like to say hi and goodbye to every single group that comes – they are going to be doing a lot of travelling between Oaxaca and here this summer! In fact, just pondering what I have left to do, I think I had better go and do some more … :)

(For you Americans out there, Word Alive is a bit like Urbana but just 5000 people)

Photos from February and March

http://picasaweb.google.com/chrisprimmer/FebruaryAndMarch

Don't forget to keep and eye on www.armonia-uk.org.uk if you want to find out more about Armonia in general.

Boiler Watch

Still lacking a boiler so Gareth and Chrissi will have to enjoy the delights of fresh Mexican water :)
Note to Mayland - I was not complaining about the cold, just making a political point about how showering in the morning is clearly superior to the messed-up, twisted thinking of the 'eveningers'.
Having said that, I might start complaining about the heat here - phew it is hot!