Helen and I first met the
children of Solidaridad in 2003 when the children at the
Chapel by the Sea raised money at Vacation Bible School to
be used to buy shoes for poor children in Mexico. Enrique
took us to a shoe store near the market in Ciudad Valles.
He had a list of about 30 children and their shoe sizes. We
bought school shoes for them and I paid for the shoes using
the money from the children in Florida.
We did this
again last year when Helen and I were at Solidaridad with
our niece, Abi Kloetzli, to help with VBS there in Mexico.
That time I forked over money to pay for 70 pairs of shoes
as well as school uniforms.
This year
when we went to Mexico we again had money with us from the
children at the Chapel and out adult Sunday School class to
buy new shoes for the children at Solidaridad. As you know
the trip this year didn't go exactly as we had planned.
The one day
we spent with Enrique we gave him money to continue the
breakfast program into December. (Lord willing Helen and I
will get back down there sometime before that.) We also
gave him money to use to buy the shoes. I hated to miss the
excitement of the shoe buying and distribution, but I knew
that Enrique was capable of doing it without us.
The way it
worked in 2004 was that Enrique made a list of all the
children and their shoe sizes. We then went to the shoe
store with the list and waited while the proprietor and his
helpers located 70 shoes in the right sizes and I paid for
them. However, when we gave the shoes to the children the
next day, about 20% didn't fit. This wasn't surprising
since the sizes were all guesses as far as I could tell.
I was
wondering how Enrique would do it this year without my
"assistance." He sent an email after the second day of VBS
at Solidaridad to tell me what was happening. This year he
is taking the children with him to the shoe store. The
first day he took 19 children from what he calls class 4 and
the next day he took 22 children from class 3. I'm not sure
what the classes are, but you could think in terms of school
classes and probably be close. One thing for certain, they
would all be about the same age. He said that he was
expecting to do this with 95 children during the week.
Praise the Lord for giving us the opportunity to have an
impact on the lives of these children.
Taking the
children to the shoe store is a wonderful idea. I'm certain
this is a new experience for every one of these poor kids.
My only question is, how did he get them there? Did they
all pile in the combi? This is a possibility. Remember
that in Mexico they don't worry about child seats and
seatbelts. Helen's theory is that he did it in shifts.
Enrique will
have a receipt for every shoe when we see him in a couple of
months.
Next I'm
going to tell you a story about culture.
