On May 1st 2014, Joselo and I traveled with Jhonny Roberts to one of the communities of the pastors & leaders involved in the UNEV-MOTE-Bethel classes. Jhonny will be visiting each of the students in this class in the next month to get to know them, their communities and the projects they are working on for the class. Joselo and I are planning to join him as often as we can.
On this trip we went to El Valiente to visit with Yadaris Medina. We had actually been to her community before on a class field trip. She is the woman I wrote about last month who has caves in her backyard. Yadaris is a strong leader in this community and in her church. She started a women's foundation in her community and has been working in social justice issues for as long as she can remember.
Yadaris is a passionate woman, and she has a big heart for those in her community who are trapped by poverty and living in very difficult circumstances. From our discussion with her, we learned that there are many in her community who find themselves in pretty hopeless situations - single mothers raising several children alone and without an income, children abused physically and sexually, young people who are unable to get to school or to the university because of transportation challenges or because they don't have a birth certificate, elderly living alone and many people out of work.
Though her community is considered part of Santo Domingo, it is a very remote community. The roads are terrible and no public transportation travels through there. Every time someone decides to leave the community to look for work or study or for any reason at all has a big challenge ahead of them. Yadaris has not allowed this to stop her. She does what it takes to get to class each week, even if it means making the long trek back to her home in the dark.
Not everyone in her community is able to do this.
As I mentioned Yadaris is one of the students in the Practical Theology we've been asked to help with. As part of this class, students are challenged immediately to "put into practice" the things they are learning about in their classes.
One of the ways Yadaris is reflecting the love and compassion of Christ is by recruiting people from her church to assist a woman named Elva who lives in her community and frequently visits her church. Elva is a widow with 6 daughters. Elva's husband recently died of AIDS, and Elva is HIV positive. Elva's two eldest daughters had to get married though they are very young simply because she couldn't support them. Elva is not able to afford any of the medication for her illness. She and her family truly live one day at a time.
Yadaris has watched this woman go through some very hard times and knows that Elva doesn't have an easy road ahead. Yadaris decided to demonstrate compassion by recruiting a team from her church to help raise funds and make some repairs on Elva's home. Yadaris quoted Isaiah 1:17 in our conversation,
"The beams of our house are cedars; our rafters are firs."
I am reminded of the parable Jesus tells in Matthew 25, when he says,
"Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me."
In the next few weeks, Yadaris will continue to plan and prepare for the reconstruction of Elva's home. She is working with members of her church to raise the money needed for the repairs. Elva is very excited. This will be a great opportunity for the members of Yadaris' church to work together to demonstrate the love of Christ to someone in need right in their community.
FELIX
We were through with our interview and Yadaris was helping us find the exit of the community when we came to the home of an elderly man named Felix. Yadaris was happy to see that he was home and wanted to take the opportunity to introduce us to Felix.
Yadaris called and Felix came from the woods. He had been back in the trees looking for Yuca (a vegetable that grows underground).
As we talked, Felix let us know that he's not sure exactly how old he is but that he's lived in the community of El Valiente for about 30 years. Felix has a wife and children, but they do not live with him nor has he seen them for several years.
This is Felix's home.
Felix seems to be a very kind man with a gentle spirit. He laughs a lot and has his eyes twinkle a bit when he smiles. I only spent a few minutes with him, but it was easy to like him right away.
Felix seems like a happy man, but I am imagine that underneath the tough outer shell there is a man who has suffered more than we can imagine - who has been hungry, felt hopeless and alone.
I left this community very burdened by what I had seen. I've been to many impoverished communities and seen some very poor living conditions, but this truly broke my heart and left me in awe. The question continues to rattle through my mind: how does Felix live in that home - alone?
I saw Yadaris modeling Christ to this man in beautiful ways--taking the time to visit him, laughing with him, demonstrating concern for him, offering to wash his clothes, asking if he'd eaten that day, sharing the little food she had with her and giving him 50 pesos ($1.25) from her pocket.
We talked to Yadaris about the best way to work with this man going forward. In talking to this man, it occurred to me that the answer may not be to go in immediately, knock everything down, take a few days to build him a new home and be on our way. Though that is what we might be tempted to do, I wonder how that would affect Felix.
This is about people, not projects. It's about doing things WITH not FOR. Working together takes time and relationship. In our short conversation with Felix, he talked about the things he's planning to do to fix up his house--the wood he's already collected. I'd love to see us take some time to work with Felix to help him clean up and make the necessary repairs on his home, to get to know him more, to share the Gospel with him, to find out more about his life and maybe somehow to restore joy, dignity and purpose to his life. Please join me in praying for Felix.
JUST BEGINNING
As I left the community, I also had to remind myself this was just TWO people, Elva and Felix, in ONE of the communities of ONE of the students in this class. How many more stories like this will we find as we continue to visit these students?
If you'd like to give towards the reconstruction of Felix's home or another project like this, please contact me at kristinwolford@yahoo.com or 320-497-2064.
