This is Rosa Elva. She lives in Anapra, a community on the outskirts of Juarez, with her husband and two teenage boys. She lives in a house that her husband made out of palettes and cardboard. Her family has lived in this house for six months. There are holes in the walls of her house. 'Rosa tries to cover the holes where the cold air blows in between the fragile walls, all the while trying to make what little groceries they can buy last. To heat their house, they use a wood heater that is placed in the bathroom, which also gives a little light during bath time and serves as a stove when they don't have any money left to buy gas [to cook]. 'The fuel we have right now was collected from a demolished building downtown and if we see anything in the street, or here or there, we collect it' says Rosa, while she shows the tank of water in the bathroom which freezes at night.
'For Christmas we would like to build rooms with good material, but we don't have money. My husband works just three days as a bus driver and well, [Christmas] dinner, we would like tamales but how can we buy or make them...' (Article from El Diario 10/7/10)
This morning I checked my Facebook before I headed to the office. I wasn't expecting to be greeted with a message from my friend Kiri. She and I interned together here at Casas por Cristo in the summers of 2006 and 2007. Kiri has a huge heart for the Mexican people! In her message she linked this article featuring Rosa on the front page of a Juarez newspaper's online edition. It turns out that yesterday, as Rosa was collecting cardboard to add to the outside of her house, she was approached by a reporter. The picture painted by this reporter in his article is that of thousands of families across the border. It is that of thousands of mothers trying to provide for their children; that of thousands of fathers working as much as they can to put food on the table.
This morning Tony and I crossed the border to deliver some groceries and a little bit of hope to Rosa and her family. We took rice and beans, oil and caldo, tortillas and candy, a few sweaters and some fixings to make Christmas tamales. We showed up on her doorstep, delivering not just groceries but rather good news and hope for a brighter future. We directed her to a local pastor who could get her started on the application process to receive a new home!
Walking away from her house this afternoon I was filled with hope, hope for Rosa's family and hope for that community. How exciting to see God start a new chapter in their life. What a blessing to be part of an answer to their Christmas story!
Can you imagine the story Rosa had when her husband arrived home from work today?
-Alexis Martin
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