Local Church Group Ventures into Dangerous Juarez on Humanitarian Mission

On Oct. 22 a team of Novato volunteers returned from Ciudad Juarez, Mexico,  after having built a house for a poor family living there. Seven members of the worked with Missions Ministries, a 20-year-old Christian organization based in Denver to build the house.

Since the eruption of the violence associated the drug cartels in Juarez in 2009, the number of Missions Ministries’ construction teams has dropped 70 percent from 52 teams per year to 16. The Presbyterian Church of Novato has sent 10 teams to Juarez over the past 11 years. A team normally comprises 10 to 12 volunteers, but this year only seven were able to make it from Novato. They were team leader Don Foster, his wife Nancy Foster, Pastor Kent Webber, his wife Lisa Webber, Gary Pierce, Phil Dougherty and Janet Locke.  

Many following the drug wars in the news wonder why the Novatoans would have put themselves in harms way. In 2010, 3,000 people were murdered by drug cartels in Juarez. 

As worrisome as the statistics are, Don Foster said that the team was safe.

“Since the drug wars broke out three years ago, the number of groups traveling to the Juarez area to help the poor has dropped 85 percent," he said. "The need is now greater than ever. We crossed the border by car at Santa Teresa, N.M., bypassing the city of Juarez, and went to Colonia Esperanza, where we stayed in a facility surrounded by 12-foot concrete block walls.”

The volunteers left the facility each day in a van to go to the work-site on dusty, unpaved roads. Along the way, they passed bleak landscapes that made Afghanistan look prosperous. Skinny dogs scratched themselves listlessly in the middle of the road, houses made of shipping pallets were interspersed with nicer ones made of cinder blocks, and open water barrels sat in front yards awaiting deliveries from a water truck. (There is no running water in this area.)

The van had the name Missions Ministries emblazoned on the side. People along the side of the road waved thankfully to the gringos, knowing why they had come. Many walls in the area were tagged, but not the walls of the Missions Ministries facility. Even the local teenage hoodlums appreciate the good that comes from it.

In addition to building homes, Missions Ministries has built a teen center, libraries and kindergarten.  It also has a medical clinic with a dental office and optical center that are staffed by qualified volunteers who sometimes come down with construction crews.  Missions Ministries provides the only medical care the local people receive. The Presbyterian Church of Novato has provided medical services in past years, but lacked the medical volunteers to do so this year.

Critics might ask why the Novato group isn’t helping poor people in the United States.

“We are!" Pastor Webber said. "We give 25 percent of our church budget to charity, dividing it between local, national and world organizations.” 

Yet the need is greatest in Juarez. Lisa Webber, a head nurse at UC San Francisco Medical Center, added, “We have social safety nets in the United States, but the poor in Juarez freeze to death in the winter.” 

The altitude in Juarez is 4,700 feet, and snow is not uncommon. The pallet houses have dirt floors and insulation, if any, is merely newspaper stuffed between the opposing slats of wood on the pallets. The exterior may be covered with cardboard, tarps, or scraps of plywood.

The most vulnerable are the infants and elderly. Many families do not name their children until they are six months old because it is less painful to say that they lost a boy or a girl than a named baby.

As winter months close in, Missions Ministries gives a high priority for a free home to families with young children or elderly parents. 

The family is required to purchase a 99-year leasehold on the property (typically costing $4,000) from either the Mexican government or from another person who has already purchased the leasehold. The average daily wage is about 46 pesos, or $4, and Mexican banks do not offer mortgages for home loans. It is hard for families to come up with enough money for a house after the property has been secured. Worse, the Mexican government has a history of confiscating property that has not been built upon within two years of purchase.

That is one of the reasons that the team from the Presbyterian Church of Novato is so committed to helping the poor families of the colonias.

A board of five local pastors and Leo Pineda, Missions Ministries’ director of Mexican operations, meets regularly to decide which families in the community are the most in need of a Missions Ministries home. Each house is 12 by 36 feet with three rooms built on a concrete slab. It is insulated, has double-paned windows with screens, and is sealed to keep the dust and cold wind out. Most importantly, it provides a safe and healthy environment in which to live. 

The home built a few weeks ago by the Novato team was a free gift to a family of seven that had been renting space in the center of Juarez for $100. The family included: 65-year-old grandfather, Pedro, who sells used clothing; his 64-year-old wife and grandmother, Elvira; their 32-year-old daughter, Flor, who works in a factory; Flor’s 7-year-old daughter, Hanna Judith; the grandparents' 27-year-old son, Pedro, who works in a factory; Pedro’s 22-year-old wife; and Pedro’s 3-year-old daughter.

The two Pedros were busy at their jobs during the house building, but grandmother Elvira, her daughter-in-law and a 16-year-old nephew, Juan Carlos, showed up each day to hammer and paint. When the keys of the house were presented to Elvira, she sobbed with gratitude and the volunteers’ eyes misted up in tender empathy.

The poverty in this area is so pervasive that many families cannot afford enough to eat regularly. After completing the house, the PCN team went to a local church where they prepared and served a simple meal to more than 100 members of the community. The team was invited to return later to attend the church's evening service. When they returned they were warmly greeted and thanked by the community for all that they had done in the colonia during their short visit. 

ARE YOU INTERESTED?

The Novato team has already committed to returning next year and welcomes other volunteers who wish to join them. They leave on a Wednesday and return the following Saturday. Interested individuals can contact the Presbyterian Church of Novato office at 415-897-6152 or Missions Ministries at 303-771-3789. Donations to Missions Ministries, a 501(c)(3), tax-exempt, nonprofit organization, can be made through their website or by sending a check to Missions Ministries 7501 Village Square Dr. #205, Castle Rock, CO 80108.