 |
| The mountain mist covers a world of darkness and light, sadness and joy |
When a
disaster strikes, the emotional centers of our brain flare up: we think— emergency! We forget there is an
emergency happening all the time, because we’ve grown accustomed to everyday
emergencies like disease and poverty and oppression.
-
MacAskill, William. Doing
Good Better: How Effective Altruism Can Help You Make a Difference (p. 60).
Penguin Publishing Group
 |
| The journey to a new future is not an easy one |
Life goes on in the mountains here in Mexico. There
are emergencies happening all the time, but there are lots of signs of hope
too. The peasant farmers are presently quite happy with the rainy season that
began in June. The question always is, though: Will it last? The rainy season is
supposed to continue to the month of October, but dry spells have not been
uncommon in recent years.
 |
| I love driving in the rain...and music from the Trinitarian Sisters of Mary, in Tijuana, is nice too |
July is the month when school vacations begin,
and I have been invited to many school graduation ceremonies. In a region that
has about 700 villages, I couldn’t accept all of the invitations. The
graduation ceremony at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain, in the
village of Potoichán, was a special occasion. Eighty students graduated this
year. A lot of tears flowed, but the pride of the parents was evident. Mission
Mexico partners with the Marist Brothers of Mexico in helping to offer quality
education to indigenous students from impoverished villages where no high
school exists.
 |
| Marist Brother Salvador Gonzalez (Cepillo) has been at the Champagnat High School of the Mountain since its founding in 2004 and is loved by all |
Abel Barrera, the director of the Tlachinollan
Human Rights Center of the Mountain (another partner of Mission Mexico), was
guest speaker at the closing ceremony of the CIESA High School in Tlapa. He encouraged
the students to be grateful for the sacrifice of their parents, to be proud to
be from the mountain of Guerrero, and to strive throughout their lives to help
create a society in which all people can live with dignity, justice, and hope. In
a way, he asked the students (using the words of the initial quote in this
blog) to not grow accustomed to the “everyday emergencies” of disease
and poverty and oppression that are so prevalent here.
 |
| Abel Barrera with Ita Meztli; Ita graduated with a 9.8 average |
It is always nice to see families actually
celebrating an achievement of a family member. So many sacrifices are involved
in educating children. There is an intense struggle going on in the whole
country of Mexico right now regarding an “educational reform” that was passed
as law in 2013 but has yet to be implemented. One Mexican intellectual, Adolfo
Gilly, suggests that implementing the “educational reform” would be “selling
the soul of the nation to Big Money” (La Jornada newspaper, June 22,
2016).
 |
| Two proud mothers at the kindergarten graduation in Xochitepec |
Mission Mexico will continue to accompany these
impoverished families as they struggle in so many different ways to create life
in a situation of so many challenges. Thanks go out to all of the Canadians who
support this valiant effort by these noble people. Your solidarity is making a
difference in lives here.
 |
| Mike and some friends in Tlacoapa |
 |
| The church in Xalatzala as it appears today |
PPS: Several people have asked me how my friend Edgar Peralta Silva is doing since his tragic fall on the mountainside almost two months ago (described in my blog on May 11, 2016). Edgar is staying at a brother's house in Mexico City and is still receiving therapy. He can sit up in bed now, but he still has no feeling below his waist. Hope never dies.
 |
| Edgar in his brother's house in Mexico City |
