January 201 - Misión México

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Greetings to all from us all at Misión México
From the Heart:
Probably at the moment of commencing this newsletter wasn’t good timing due to
the fact that I had just arrived home after one and a half days of travelling from
Australia to Mexico. Though, I do feel that sometimes it is important to write a type
of testimony, something from the heart, so that you can share the highs and lows of
living in this strange but amazing place called Misión México.
Being greeted at the airport in Tapachula, after 4 weeks in Australia, by Alan and
three of the children from the refuge, was a delight after the long haul through three
different countries.
Little Marli wasn’t too sure of who I was for a few moments but soon warmed to me
after a few encouraging words. Delmar and Maria Esther were as sweet and loving as
always. On our journey in the big, white van to the refuge, we discussed all the ‘ups
and downs’ of the refuge for the last four weeks. There seemed to be more down’s
than up’s which was a little depressing to hear.
I guess, due to the amount of children that we have, it is inevitable to have numerous
problems, as with any ‘normal’ family, parents suffer the moods swings, lack of
enthusiasm and occasional bad manners of an average of three children in a
household.
Considering that this is multiplied by 15 we are bound to feel the pressure and
disappointment of misbehavior, and also lack of participation, especially from the
older kids when one of us is away.
Alan was under a lot of pressure with everything that is involved with running a
household like this; from administration, home and school issues, to building the
construction out at the beach property; a huge responsibility trying to balancing
everything.
The volunteers also do a marvelous job of putting up with some moody, hormonal,
often disrespectful kids, and seriously need a medal after staying here for a month
or more!
After the long journey, I really wasn’t ready to face all the negatives, but wanted to
hear what had been happening. It wasn’t long before I was in tears, wondering what
we are doing.
NOV
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2013
After a visit just short of four weeks with our children and grandchildren, feeling that
there wasn’t enough time spent, for this grandmother of 11, with each family, let alone
getting acquainted with our new granddaughters, and then on leaving Oz, looking into
the teary eyes of our youngest daughter and granddaughter as I was about to board
the plane, emotionally I think it was a little too soon to hear about the troubles we face
dealing with these kids.
It’s been a crazy time over the last few months, or, has it been more crazy than normal?
Then again, what is normal? How does one define ‘normal’? Is caring for 50 kids
normal?
I would say that it is certainly far from ‘normal’, and maybe just a bit crazy, but that is
what we do, we care for around 50 children on a daily basis, trying to cater for their
every need, which is almost impossible, but we try.
Of course, we couldn’t do this work on our own; we need the help of volunteers and
supporters; it is definitely a team effort. Obviously there is a huge responsibility on
our shoulders, but it would be an impossible task without the help of the wonderful
dedicated team behind us.
When Alan and I were younger, people thought 6 kids were a lot and we were certainly
considered ‘different’, and maybe just a little strange for the 20th century. Now in the
21st century, we are trying to raise around 50 children from various circumstances of
need, and at times it is very heavy going!
After arriving ‘home’ and crying on Alan’s shoulder, he remarked that we should try and
focus on the positive, not the negative. But, didn’t he just pour out all his frustrations on
a tired, worn traveler? Yes he did; Alan needed to vent his disappointments from over
the last four weeks and I, in my curiosity, needed to hear it all; truthfully, in retrospect,
not very good timing.
After taking some natural sleeping pills, I crashed for the night and woke at about 11am
the next morning feeling much more apt to facing the problems of the household.
To my surprise, it didn’t seem half as bad as the previous night, all seemed calm and
there didn’t seem to be any ‘mountains’ that we as a team, couldn’t climb over together.
Seeing the children again renewed the conviction in my heart that I needed to feel,
as to why we are here. It wasn’t intended to be easy, as each child has suffered terrible
acts against them and come with so much emotional baggage; but each one of these
special kids is unique, and is gradually changing, and this is the reward of doing
this work.
Seeing the children grow and change is awesome, and as I have said before, it is slow
going, and we certainly won’t see change overnight, but it will, and is, happening! We
are here to help these children on their journey; to love and nurture, to educate and
guide, to be a part of their experience in a positive way. Of course, we may not see the
end result, but we are part of their journey, and that is the awesome reality of doing this
work; that we are helping them work towards self-confidence, self-worth, to believe in
themselves and to dream of a better future!
It’s an incredible journey!!
The Future
The very next day after arriving in Mexico, visitors started arriving; an amazing team of
supporters of Misión México.
Deborah Grossman, Mara Milosevic, Steven Marks, Stefan Hunt and Campbell Brown
arrived ready to brainstorm and put into place some plans to help Misión México into
the next stage.
It was incredible to have a team here who were so enthusiastic that it was contagious;
spirits were lifted and energy renewed. Exciting times were in front of us, especially
with the continued work on the building project for Mission Surf; a vital area of growth
for Misión México.
A short follow up DVD on the progress of Misión México and Missionsurf will be
completed by April 2013 which will enable you all to view ‘close up’ the growth that
has been happening here and what still needs to be accomplished to reach the goals
of Misión México.
Home
Just after the final visitor left, I fell sick with a vomiting virus and ended up in bed
for a day. I guess I could have pulled myself through to get involved reluctantly with
the morning chores but decided not to spread the germs and stayed in my room.
What an amazing thing to do, to take a forced ‘time out’ and look at things from a
different perspective. While trying to cope with a dehydration headache, I lay on my
bed and listened to the morning routine unfold. Amazingly, with very few volunteers,
the morning routine fell into place without too many problems.
Little Marli would pop her little Dora face back into the room every so often to call,
‘Mamá, mamá,’ and then commence her jibber-jabber conversation with miming
antics to explain a point; it was just adorable and very uplifting. At one stage Marli
disappeared and a few minutes later, returned with a recent addition to the Misión
México family, 2 year old Jacqui to say hello. (a name invented because of a lack of
being able to pronounce her indigenous spelt name). Marli, has changed so much in
the few months that we have had her; from the thin, malnourished, lethargic, timid, little
girl, to a healthy, confident, chatter-box in such a short time, is simply amazing.
Festive Season
The Christmas season was here and the elves had been working hard to make Misión
México’s Christmas another magical time for all who live here. What an effort though,
as all the presents had to be fairly equal or jealously sets in. These kids are like kids
anywhere, but the only difference here is that we have a lot more with the ‘middle child’
syndrome!
While I was in Australia in November, I walked the isles of the department stores and
also ‘opportunity shops’ to find bargains for Christmas presents and also dolls clothes
(as I certainly don’t have time to make any), to surprise the children. A plan to help
some of our younger girls develop a nurturing nature was in place, hence the dolls,
cradles, and dolls clothes.
Our biggest problem though, was finding something special for the older kids to go
into their stockings (bags). The older they get the harder it is to find just the right
thing at an economical price, and considering that we have about 30 kids older than
13 years, it was a hard task to fulfill. Not only did we have to make it magical, we also
had to be magicians!!!
Well, as always, after a lot of hard work, sorting through donations, organizing,
checking, adding the small stocking fillers to each bag, Santa’s helpers sat exhausted,
yet satisfied. Job well done, Santa would be proud!
With some anxious moments leading up to Christmas wondering whether we had
enough for each child, we actually achieved the impossible, well, at least we thought
so!!
Christmas Eve left us in a seriously exhausted state, and I wondered if we could
manage to get through the entire evening, as in Mexico, a ‘fiesta’ is held on the eve of
the 24th. After forcing ourselves to continue, the evening unfolded with plays, dancing,
singing and much laughter. We finally managed to get to bed by 1am only to wake at
6am ready to face another day.
Christmas Day was everything that we were hoping for; the magic was there once
again, and each and every child experienced a very special time, which of course, will
be those magical memories for them in the future.
A big Thank You to all our wonderful volunteers for all their hard work and dedication
that helped make the festive season all that it was meant to be.
Also, we would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all those who sent donations and
items for gifts for the children, without your support the Christmas stockings would
have been very simple and the magic of Christmas would not have been as evident as
it was.
So, to all of you, THANK YOU so much
from the bottom of our hearts.
Misión México wishes you much
LOVE, LIFE and HOPE for 2013.
From Pam, Alan and todos los Niños