A note on Oaxaca from AIL
Director Dave Miller…
As I live and
serve in Mexico, I have come
to see human existence as a
stool supported by three
legs of health. One leg is
spiritual, one economic, and
one physical. If you take
away any one of those legs,
the stool collapses. If any
one leg is under, or over
developed, the stool does
not function properly.
Have you ever
watched someone try to sit
on a three-legged stool when
the legs are uneven? This is
what I experienced in 2006
when I walked into a small
village outside of Oaxaca
City and had my world turned
upside down.
I have worked
in Oaxaca since 1999 and
have been to some pretty
poor areas. This particular
village was not
significantly worse than any
other, but it was there,
standing on the dirt roads,
looking at a tin walled
school and sitting with
families unable to afford to
feed their kids that
something changed.
I decided I
needed an education. As I
listened to people, I began
to hear a familiar refrain.
In many areas of Oaxaca,
people live without
something most of us from
the United States take for
granted. Hope.
Not the
eternal hope that comes from
the Gospel. The hope for
tomorrow. The hope for
dinner that night. The hope
for something better.
Seemingly
forever mired in
unchangeable circumstances,
many of the people I talked
to had given up. No matter
what they did, their kids
still had to attend classes
taught by untrained teachers
in corrugated tin rooms.
Every morning
they got up wondering if
they could scrounge up
enough pesos to buy
tortillas to feed their
families. They would pray
that if their kids got sick,
God would heal them, because
there was no doctor in the
village and even if there
was a doctor, they could not
afford to take their
children. Their stool was
uneven and not functioning
properly!
Oaxaca is the
second poorest state in
Mexico. A majority of the
poorest cities in the
country lie within her
boundaries. It is
indigenous, rooted in
tradition, and ignored by
the power structures within
the government.
It is also a
place where you and I can
make a difference if we are
willing to think outside
of the standard short-term
mission box and invest
in the lives of the people,
learn from them, and work
together on some solutions.
This is what
Adventures in Life is doing
in Oaxaca. Together with
local leaders, we are trying
to find real life practical
solutions to some of the
seemingly intractable
problems that are robbing
people of their hopes and
dreams for not only today,
but for tomorrow and
eternity.
We are trying
to fix a broken three-legged
stool. Can you help?
Oaxaca Men’s Ministry info
Oaxaca men’s Ministry
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