I started to reply to James' comment on my last post about my week in Mexico, but my response got long enough that I'm just going to make it into its own post.

James asked, "Just as a devil's advocate thing (more out of curiosity than anything else), we have plenty of Habitat for Humanity efforts around here - why travel so far when you can build for people in the area?"

First, let me preface my answer by saying I've worked with Habitat for Humanity quite a few times and I think it's a fine organization. I think volunteer service needs to be a good fit for each individual if they're going to stick with it; some people will prefer Habitat, others will prefer international mission work, but both are needed. Plus, neither precludes participation in the other so it's certainly possible to support both.

That said, I've gotten this question before and it always struck me as odd until I realized most Americans really cannot imagine poverty as it exists in parts of Mexico. From what I've seen, there's no comparison between the standard of living, available opportunities, and assistance programs available to the poor in the US and to those in Mexico.

A typical home in the area of Reynosa in which I've worked extensively is made of scraps of wood, a dirt floor, and a roof that often leaks like a sieve. Can you imagine trying to sleep when it's cold, you can't stay dry, and your shack's floor has turned to mud? One family I built a house for several years ago had a shack cobbled together around an old mattress. In other words, if you were in the house, you were in the bed. There was a family of four living there.

Some of the "nicer" areas have a half-inch water pipe and spigot in the front yard. The worse areas have a single water spigot shared by dozens of families. In either case, the water is not purified (and it's a myth that Mexicans can drink unpurified water with impunity). Very few have any sort of indoor plumbing.

I know there are exceptions to any rule, but by and large these sorts of living conditions do not exist in the US today, while they are still very common in Mexico. The need and likewise the opportunity for dramatic improvement is much greater there than here. A group working with Faith Ministry can provide shelter and security for a family that has neither in essentially one week. That's a pretty incredible return on a relatively small investment of time and money.

Posted by JoshC at October 10, 2007 1:32 PM

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