Milpillas

The house in Mexico does a few outreach programs. Our principal outreach program is to Milpillas, a garbage dump in a neighboring town. Father Phil, our current priest, discovered that there were families living in the dump digging through trash to make a living and the children weren't in school. Father Phil asked all the children at our house if they would be willing to invite the children from Milpillas to attend classes at our school. The children unanimously said yes, except for the youngest children who didn't want to give up the extra treats they would have to give up.

The program has been very successful. One of the Milpillas students has just graduated from the university and another student left for the university this year. Although the garbage dump has closed, we currently have 89 students from Milpillas attending our school.

I went to Milpillas today. Despite all my time in Mexico, I was still shocked by the experience. The people have built their homes on top of garbage. The homes, although many would not use the word home, are built out of sheet metal, plastic, wood, cardboard and whatever else has been salvaged from the dump. There is garbage everywhere and the children walk around barefoot with dirt on their legs and bodies. We met a 16-year-old mother. She used to attend school with our kids, but has since dropped out and has a 1-month-old to care for. The smell was not as bad as I imagined, but I am sure it was much worse when the dump was open and one could smell the garbage from the main highway.

Trekking along to look at the houses, we walked over garbage - abandoned shoes, candy wrappers, plastic bottles and much that was unidentifiable already in the later stages of decay. While walking along, I couldn't help but think that this experience is a daily reality for many people across Mexico and the rest of the world. People are shocked that I have chosen to give up a year of my life to live in an orphanage, an orphanage that has clean drinking water, hot showers, electricity, television, wireless Internet and a guaranteed four meals a day (to name a few of our amenities). In January, I will move back to the states. I will move back to air conditioning, a car that takes me wherever I want and all the opportunity in the world. I wish I could show everyone I know that all the opportunity in the world is not available to everyone in the world. I hope I always remember the lessons I have learned this year and I don't take for granted the blessings I have been given. It is easy to be caught up in our own personal problems and materialism, but I hope people remember, even in the current economic crisis, we are still very lucky.