The story is, that this is basically the only official that ever bothers Sr. Maureen. If he is not satisfied, he will turn her around, back over the bridge, and force her to go back towards Pharr about 25 miles, cross the border at the Pharr International Bridge, fill out a bunch of papers and perhaps pay some duty, then on the highway inside Mexico back to Neuvo Progresso. This whole process just adds a big loop and causes a lot of wasted time for no real reason. Everything that Sr. Maureen brings over to help the kids and their families is only of value to them and nothing else. Seems ridiculous that someone that is helping Mexican children and their families gets hassled like this for no real reason. As Sister Maureen said though it is basically only this one guy that causes problems.
Sister Maureen is in the process of getting some papers so that this will not happen again, but they are still not ready. After some negotiation and warnings from him, we are finally allowed to proceed on without doing the loop.
Just to show how silly this all is...We put our big suitcase in the back of the truck after the offical first stopped Sr. Maureen. He didn't care about the suitcase or even look inside. It could have been full of all sorts of contraband. Also, when Katie and I walk across the bridge pulling the suitcase and go right beside the checkpoint where you could virtually reach out and touch them...they don't care...we just walk right by...and could be taking anything...guns, food, drugs, anything in...but lets give Sister Maureen a hard time for helping the kids and families! What a joke!
Now that we're on our way...first stop...our little one Vickey's house...to see Vickey, her brother Jose Maria @Pancho Villa(the ham) her sister Maria, brother Jorge, Grandma, and Vickey's mom. Vickey's dad was also there but after greetings all around he disappeared. Lots of the men seem to do this as we discovered last year...but not all.
As we pulled up the kids came running to Sr. Maureen side of the truck. I got out the passenger side, walked around the back of the truck and as soon as I turned the corner Vickey came running at full speed, up into my arms, and started hugging and just wouldn't let go. She is just a sweetheart and obviously from the reception I got and then Katie with the same treatment next...missed us a lot as we did her. Can't describe to you the feeling...it is like the feeling you get when your own kids are small and are so glad to see you. I just whispered in her ear "Te Amo Vickey".
Because of the app I put on my smartphone, I was able to ask her if she likes schook, did she make new friends, tell her we missed her etc. etc. All of the kids got a big kick out of the phone speaking to them in Spanish. I was so glad it worked.
We gave the kids their presents, and we made sure we brought them the same kind of gum that we brought last year which was such a hit, it is in a plastic container in a roll which they can pull out a bit at a time. It was a big hit again this year. Katie and I bought a bag of 50 lollipops to give to all the kids not just Vickey and her siblings...and they were a big hit on the whole trip as you will see from some of the pictures.
Vickey has not really grown very much from last year, and is still cute as a button.
After a great visit and some cokes, we were off to the next destination.
Vickey
We lined up some additional sponsors during the winter so that kids can go to school, so we wanted to get to all the sponsors kids if we could to try and get some pictures for them. This program and some run by others are so successful at getting the kids in school, that the schools have to run two shifts to accommodate all the kids. That is tremendous, because without school they really have no chance at jobs later on or to better themselves in any way. So the next stop was Karily sponsored by Mikkilineni Durga who works with Katie. Durga is married with two children of her own.
This family had to move from Monterrey Mexico with basically only the clothes on their back due to the violence in that part of Mexico. They are much safer now but as you will see from the photos the living conditions are less than ideal(talk about an understatement). Mom just recently had a baby boy who was past term and now has pneumonia. When we got there mom was giving him oxygen from a little mask as without his lips would turn blue. Unfortunately mom will have to make a return trip to Monterrey as his doctors are there. Thanks to Durga's generosity...mom will have some extra funds as she get charged money for the baby's care.
Then we got to meet Karily and Libby! Both of these kids are extremely smart it is not hard to tell that within a few minutes. During the visit Kareely the eldest brought out her school bag which is extremely heavy full of all her books. She pulled out some of her exercise books and showed us her work. She is extremely neat and the work is outstanding! Then she show us her report card 9.8 out of 10 in all subjects and gave us a copy to take back to Durga. Just to show how smart she is...within a month or so of going to her new school she was already picking up some english from her teacher. She looked at us and said in very good english "so what did you do on the weekend?" You had to be there to totally appreciate the moment...this came out of nowhere! Not only that but she fully expected an answer! What a sweetheart! We were in a room at the front of the shack, with nothing but two beds...nothing else....but here are Kareely and her sister Libby, with smiles on their faces, bright and playful, and giving out hugs and Kareely so proud to be showing her excellent work.
Mom seems to be a great mom and we learned that she went all the way through high school. She seems genuinely warm and obviously gives as great care to her kids as she can.
Kareely
Now on to Libby...what can I say...she is adorable with a great personality, lively, has some mischievousness one can tell, playful and happy, and not to hard to tell she will take after her sister by being smart, and will likely do very well in school...trouble is? no sponsor. Well she did have no sponsor until Katie and I decided that we will sponsor her, so that she has a full chance to do as well as possible. She is just a little sweetheart, so she will get some goodies the next time we go, along with some more for Kareely. We hate to give something to one without having something no matter how small, for the other.
Here is a solo shot of Libby....
After leaving Karelly and Libby's house we were on to Juan and his family, who is sponsored by Rhiannon Orloff...who is Katie and my Dentist. She is an awesome Dentist! We had trouble finding Juan at first as they had moved but no one seemed to know that. Luckily one of Sr. Maureen's Mexican helpers came with us in the truck along with her new 8 month old who just kept looking at me with his big dark eyes...so cute! Rhiannon had a bag of goodies for Juan including school supplies, a nice new soccer ball, some shirts and other things...and of course a toothbrush...he had a great time going through his goodie bag. I can't get over how great all the mothers are and how they look after their kids so well.
Juan
Then we had to find Maria..she was not at home and after two attempts...finally got her cousin to hop on his bike and go and get her. she is sponsored by Srujana Reddy who also works with Katie. It was at the end of the day when we finally got to see her, and we knew that Ken and Vickey as well as Sister Maureen would probably want to get home, so we did not spend as much time, as we had to wait for her cousin to find her. We only managed to grab a few quick pictures, and Katie tried to get Maria to say cheese...but the smile did not come. She was just a little shy and it was all happening too fast for her.
I'm sure she will be less shy as time goes on.
Maria
Next it was on to Michelle and her family. Michelle is sponsored by my brother Paul and his wife Doreen. As you will see she is a cutie as well. The mud road to her house gets so bad sometimes when it rains that it becomes impassable. Mom is pretty with a great smile and we also got to meet some other family members. Michelle is small like Vickey. Doreen had given us a box of things for Michelle and you could tell she was delighted and thankful.
Michelle
Next it was on to Omar and his family. Omar was the little guy last year who changed his T shirt three times while we were at Vickey's. Omar lives across the street with his family and sisters. I mentioned last year that one of his sister's just dotes on him. He has a great smile. He is sponsored by an older lady who lives in our Condo building. Her name is Ruth and she is a hoot. Omar has been sending her messages and likewise from her end.
Omar
Here are some misc shots of our adventure yesterday...
Misc 2012 Mexico
We are looking forwared to our next trip...we have some more clothes to drop in the back of Sister Maureen's truck on Monday while she is at work at the Basilica in San Juan, and we also have to give her the money to sponsor Libby. We are also going to try and get some photos of our friend Terry and Arlene's little girl...Carla...who they sponsor on our next trip.
It was almost 6 by the time all was said and done...and Katie and I wandered back over the bridge...showed our passports to the US border guard with no problems, back in the car and off we went into the sunset. And when I say sunset...I mean it...as the sun went down it was bright orange and huge...it was beautiful!
And for us...Another great day in the Valley
more later....
0 comments:
Post a Comment