Latest News from Andrew Green in Mexico

Hello everyone! 

Thought I´d leave something up on this site to keep you updated with how it´s going. We arrived ok last Tuesday, tired but in one piece. We had some training in Amextra Central Office (Amextra is Tearfund's partner charity operating in Mexico) then went off to live with local families on the Thursday. Our first task was checking some (battered, probably found in a dustbin) computers on Friday - they want to hold a program of computer classes.

We are staying in Chalco, a neighbouring village to Lomas de San Isidro, where we work. Chalco is comparatively rich, but still lacks purified water. And the drainage system in the whole city is so flimsy that they have to put soiled toilet paper in the bin. When we arrived, I wondered why we weren´t staying where we were working - but then we actually went there. Lomas is a shanty town. Most of the houses are tiny, and have corrugated iron roofs, and the roads aren´t much more than dirt tracks.

Mexico as a country has the worst inequality in the world, and you can see that in the city centre quite clearly. You can go to an expensive clothes shop on the main street, and walk 50 yards down a side alley to a massively cheap Mexican restaurant.

One of the most touching, uplifting stories I´ve heard so far is about the rejuvenation of the community we're staying in, Chalco. Our host recounted on Tuesday that 20 years ago, when Amextra first started, Chalco was just like Lomas. There were no drainage systems, people got sick because of the huge amount of pollution in the air, there was hardly any education for the children. Now the situation has improved greatly and they don´t have any of the problems that they used to have. I can only pray this for Lomas. But, if it happens,it will take a lot of time.

Please pray for the project - at the moment, the greatest problem we have is with the language. And please pray for Lomas, as it needs God´s help.

Andrew