kyle`s blog

engagement photos...

2006-01-15T16:12:00.000-06:00

pictures from the hike at starved rock state park, utica, illinois.

homecoming...

2005-07-26T22:27:00.000-05:00

i arrived here in atlanta last night without any trouble. the trip to and from mexico seems to get shorter/ faster every time i make it... here are some photos from my last couple weeks and then below are some final reflections on my time in mexico and what (i hope) i got accomplished.

so, 6 months in mexico have passed. it's unbelievable, really. i will first reflect on the work that i did and a summary of the educational plans that are in place for the children of casa hogar. then i will record some thoughts on what i've learned, the ways i've changed during this time, what i think about all of this, etc... so i have left mexico with two main plans in place (or, perhaps better said, that will continue to be put into place), one for the more short-term (next 2 or 3 years) and one for the longer term.

the plan for the short-term includes hiring an educational consultant (priscila rojas will be this person for at least the next 5 or 6 months) to work part-time, continuing to present the older children with the options that they have once they are to leave the home (these options include going to live with a host family in puebla while they continue in high school/college, going back to live with family members if it's a good situation and if they can continue in school, or living in other homes around mexico that are specifically for youth/young adults). this educational consultant will also continue to look for tutors for the younger children still living in the home and other ways to help them catch up in school.

the plan for the long-term is to use an unoccupied space in downtown puebla that is owned by the methodist church of mexico as an 'extension' of casa hogar for the older children. they would move here at the age of 13 or 14 to continue middle and high school and possibly even college. this plan is contingent upon the approval of the methodist church of mexico, and the educational consultant will continue to pursue this option with the bishop and cabinet of the church.

so what do i think about all of this... hmm. i have learned a lot about bureaucracy, both positives and negatives, over the last 6 months. things in mexico just take a long time to get done, and things are confounded even more when the people in charge of making the decisions that ultimately determine the well-being of the home and the children (i.e. the higher-ups in the church) don't seem to care a great deal about the home. but the work continues and i believe with all of my being that there is a reason this home is still in existence 25 years after its founding, even with a history filled with problems and roadblocks. there are signs of positives coming from the home and from the children, and this is what keeps me (and the rest of the many american churches and individuals) coming back again and again. when i look back to the first summer i spent at the home, 3 years ago, i am amazed at how much progress has been made. so the work is slow, but it continues...

so thank you all for your thoughts, prayers, support, and interest in the children's home and in what i've been doing. to close, here is an excerpt from a journal entry i wrote on the bus just after leaving the home and the children:

"...my hope is that over the past 6 months, I have truly accomplished something. So GOODBYE Neri, Cesar, Luis Angel, Rogelio, Javier, Jose Luis, Jesus, Octavio, Arturo, Juan Pablo, Pedro, Juan, Alfredo. GOODBYE Soledad, Angelica, Naama, Sofia, Isabel, Basemat, Raquel, Karla, Alicia, Lupita, Jasmin, Fernanda. I hope my time with you has been worthwhile. I hope you've learned as much from me as I have from you. I hope you ALL escape the poverty that you came from and the poverty that is creeping along outside the Casa walls, waiting to try to snatch you up again. I hope you make it."

brief july update and graduation photos

2005-07-08T17:05:00.000-05:00

things are winding down really fast, a little too fast. i've run into a little trouble trying to get all of the educational plan approved officially by the church here in mexico, but i am confident that the work will go on after i leave. priscila rojas, a good friend from puebla who is also currently the methodist church volunteer coordinator for mission teams to this region of mexico, is going to take over for me once i leave and continue pushing to make sure the work that i have started continues. i am very confident in her ability to continue everything... neri, the oldest boy, is now signed up for his new technical high school (he did GREAT on the admission exam) and has a host family to live with in puebla, so it's exciting to have him all situated for this upcoming year. he is the only youth from the casa hogar to leave this year...

below is a link to pictures from the kids' graduation about a week ago...

june comes to a close...

2005-06-27T20:15:00.000-05:00

... and i have but a month left. i spent the last week with my parents and melissa, and at the bottom of this entry there is a set of some of the pictures from our travels to mexico city, puebla, serdan, and querétaro together... things are coming to an end and i'm working out the final details of the educational plan for the transition of the older children to living with host families in puebla while they continue in school. the oldest boy at the casa, neri, passed the entrance exam with very high marks to a high school where he will receive a nationally-recognized technical degree as well as a high school degree in 3 years. he will start at his new school in august. so things are moving along, and it's good to have something tangible as a result of this work, to know that neri will be able to continue in school while living with a family in puebla. this is a short update, i will write more later. but for now, enjoy these photos!

pictures and update

2005-06-11T16:09:00.000-05:00

it' s been a little bit since i've last written. there are some pictures down below, one set from a trip to el pico de orizaba ('citlaltepetl', for those of you wanting to practice your nahuatl language - it's the highest mountain in mexico at just over 16,000 feet. we rode up about half of the mountain in the back of pick-up trucks, which was quite a ride, and then hiked for about an hour til we got to the snow and had to turn back) and the other set from two clown shows here at the local high school and then at the casa hogar, featuring benjamin and isaac, two friends from puebla...

things are going well here, it´s hard to believe i have less than a month and a half left. but i have finished the final recommendations and am currently looking for someone from mexico to take over for me part-time when i leave (to be sure that this plan is actually put into place and that it becomes sustainable) as well as looking for host families in puebla that will take in the youth from the casa hogar once they leave so that they can continue studying in high school and possibly in college. those are the two big tasks left on my plate, and i think i´ve found someone, priscila rojas from puebla, who is interested in taking over the educational consultant position when i leave...

also see below (the previous entry) for more photos of when charley spencer's team was here from chattanooga, tennessee, last week.

and if you aren't done blogging yet, check out my brother bryan's blog, complete with new updates from his time in the congo. it's really interesting!

photos from work team

2005-06-01T10:50:00.000-05:00

below is a link to the blog of signal crest umc's work team that is here this first week of june. there are pictures (LOTS) and updates.

http://www.mexicomission2005.blogspot.com

work, adoption, immigration, and more

2005-05-23T09:43:00.000-05:00

a lot´s been going on here in mexico since i last wrote (this may get long, i apologize). i have finished the ´final recommendations´ for the educational plan of the casa hogar kids and for the next two months will be working to make this plan a reality (as well as hire someone from puebla part-time to continue the work once i leave). on thursday of last week, i met with the bishop of the southeast conference of the methodist church in mexico to get his approval for the plan. on friday, i went with neri (the oldest boy here) to register him for his new technical high school in puebla.

(photos from mother´s day celebration at the kids´ school...)

and on saturday i went with priscila rojas to la palmilla, veracruz, to talk with the grandmother of two of the girls here about the possibility of them being adopted by the family in atlanta who is already adopting another of the girls here. priscila was planning on going to la palmilla for an event of the methodist church, and she asked if i wanted to come along to get to talk with the grandmother and see what she was thinking about the adoption (she had been here in february to talk with the girls and with the family from atlanta, but we hadn´t heard much from her since). so we arrived in la palmilla without much of an idea of where to find this lady - thankfully one of the women at the church knew her and was going to take us to see her, when we ran into the grandmother´s former pastor (who now lives 3 or 4 hours away and just happened to be in town for the church event), who said that he would take us to see her. as it turns out, he was very instrumental in getting the girls to the casa hogar because he knew that the grandmother just wasn´t able to take care of them anymore and they were becoming more and more rebellious, and he is very much in favor of the adoption because he doesn´t see much of a future for the girls if they move back in with grandmother (which is what they´re thinking about). we talked with her and one of her daughters (who has 2 young boys and said that she would have loved to have had such an opportunity to go to the us) for a good 2 hours or so, and at the end of that time, 3 women from her current church came to talk with us and just encourage her to think more about this opportunity for the girls, to have a mom and a dad and to be able to continue school through high school and even college. and she seems interested in going to visit the family´s house in atlanta with the girls just to see for herself what their situation would be and make a more informed decision. plus, the girls will probably be in contact more with their grandmother if they go to the u.s. than they have been here at the casa hogar (the family has promised at least yearly visits as well as weekly conversations)... it was interesting to be there, sitting with 8 or 9 mexican people, from different backgrounds and different social classes, all talking favorably about immigrating to the u.s. they all had family members who have crossed the border illegally - the grandmother has lost contact with quite a few family members who can´t just visit whenever they want. and they all expressed what a great opportunity this would be for the girls. obviously, adoption is not the best option for all of the kids at the casa hogar; however, looking at what these 2 girls' futures could be - in la palmilla versus in the u.s., they´ll be much better off having a mom and a dad, getting to continue school, not living in poverty, etc... so we´ll see what happens from here after the grandmother gets to talk more with the girls.

pictures from puebla festivities and la palmilla, veracruz

home

2005-05-08T19:52:00.000-05:00

back in serdan now after i had the chance to go home for about a week and half for a bit of a break from everything here... it was a good (but very short!) trip, but it´s also good to be back here again with the kids. it feels very normal to be back as well, like i just picked up right where i left off, which is comforting. below are pictures from a cinco de mayo parade i went to in puebla the day after i got back to mexico (i´m not going to tell you what day it was, hopefully you can figure it out). in case some of you are rusty on your mexican history, cinco de mayo is NOT mexico´s independence day (that´s sept 16, 1810), but rather a celebration of a battle fought and won in puebla against the french on may 5, 1862...

april photos

2005-04-21T13:19:00.000-05:00

here are some individual photos of all the kids, as well as some photos from a couple fiestas in puebla and from the governor of puebla´s speech at a local high school. enjoy!

adoption

2005-04-21T08:54:00.000-05:00

for the past 8 or 9 months, a couple from the us has been in the process of adopting one of the older girls, 12 years old, from the casa hogar. it has been interesting to see how this process has worked (slowly!) and i wanted to write some of my thoughts on adoption from a place like the casa hogar... at first, when i heard about what was going on, i have to admit that i was extremely hesitant - this couple that neither the directors of the casa hogar nor the americans who help out here knew very well wanted to completely uproot a 12 year old girl from everything that she knows and put her in a totally new environment, culture, language, etc etc. but as i have gotten to know the couple (they have been down here twice since i´ve been here, about 2 weeks total - the second time their two children, 9 and 14 years old, came with them) and see how the girl responds to them, i have come to see that this is the opportunity of a lifetime for her. sure, it will be an incredibly difficult transition period for a couple years, with the cultural and language barriers compounded by the fact that she is about to hit her teenage years; however, when all is said and done, she will now have a family that loves her dearly - which she has never had - as well as many opportunities that she probably would never have had spending her entire childhood in a casa hogar. her mom left her here about 7 years ago, and hasn´t visited since. for children like her, adoption seems a great option - not just adoption from the us, but also adoption within mexico so that, more than anything else, these children can have a family. the casa hogar is a great place, but there really is no substitute for having a family to call your own...

long time comin

2005-04-07T09:56:00.000-05:00

it´s been a while since i´ve written. but i went the other day with the director to pick out a computer so that we could get the internet here, which makes this blogging much easier. all from the comfort of the casa... i have a couple new sets of pictures, one of the kids just below and further down in this entry pics of layne´s visit here.

the options for the older children are becoming clearer, and i think it really is going to be possible to set up a transition plan (that can sustain changes in the administration as well) to ensure the continuing education of these children. also the current directors have done a good job of trying to get more involved in the community and getting the community more involved in the life of the casa. DIF, the government family services agency, has offered to provide a doctor and/ or nurses and a psychologist for the children here. they are also looking into providing teachers to tutor the children after school, as many of the kids are behind in school. the DIF representatives here in Serdán have been very impressed with the work that the current directors are doing and are looking at sending more children here... so below are pictures from a week-long visit from my brother layne - we went to puebla, stayed here in the casa for a few days, and spent a few days in mexico city (which included seeing the us v. mexico soccer game in the estadio azteca... 110,000 crazy screaming fans)...

march pictures

2005-03-24T13:00:00.000-06:00

march has meant more traveling, this time to visit 2 casa hogars in monterrey and one in tlaxiaco, oaxaca. below are photos, many from monterrey and some from various fiestas in and around puebla... i will hopefully write more soon! but for now i will leave you all with these pictures.

el norte...

2005-03-07T12:22:00.000-06:00

i`ve been thinking a lot about immigration recently. after reading crossing over by ruben martinez (a great book, by the way. i recommed it to all of you!) and talking with some of the kids here in the casa, the immigration bug seems to have penetrated into all parts of mexico. martinez writes about cherán, a small town in michoacán, and i am living in a small town far, far from the border. yet seemingly everyone has family or at least knows someone who has tried to cross the border or who`s living in the u.s. or who´s planning to cross soon. angelica´s mom is there - in nevada - apparently to never be back again. javier´s sister is planning her crossing near matamoros (she´s from acatzingo, a small town close to serdan). cesar and luis angel´s cousin crossed the unforgiving arizona desert - and luckily survived. rogelio´s mom was caught once by la migra, fingerprinted, released, and then crossed again successfully. ¨if they catch you a second time, they send you to jail,¨ rogelio tells me. before this year, i hadn`t given much thought to how illegal immigration and the ideal of the american ¨dream¨ were touching the lives of even the children here... i wonder how many of these kids will try to cross illegally. i am fairly certain that at least some will. maybe cesar. or juan. or javier. or raquel. or isabel. or even naama. who will try? will it be worth it? is that the future that some of the kids are working towards? hard questions. but what is both exciting and terrifying is that i have the opportunity to play a role in the future that awaits these children. by (hopefully!) providing them with other options that include a good education and training for a career, maybe they will be content enough with their lives here to not put themselves in danger just to work on a farm or in a meat factory or at walmart for horrific pay and even worse treatment by their bosses. that´s the hope at least...

casa hogar mama paulita

2005-02-23T12:23:00.000-06:00

i had a chance to spend a week at the casa hogar ´mama paulita´ in ciudad mante, near tampico in northeastern mexico. i was there to meet with the directors, talk with the children and staff, see how they do things, and also to interpret for a work team that was there from wisconsin. it was an incredible week! click on the picture for more photos...

travels

2005-02-14T10:58:00.000-06:00

so here i am, two weeks later and getting settled into life a la mexicana. things are going well thus far, i have been travelling quite a bit and will probably be doing so for the next month or so. after 14 hours or so on the bus, mike feely and i made it to colima the first week that i was here to check out a children´s home there that has only been in existence for about 12 years but has already grown to house almost 100 kids in 5 different buildings. they have done so, it seems, by rallying support in their community and by having a supportive church that provides volunteers, raises money, and is quite simply involved in the lives of the children and staff there. tonight, i am headed to ciudad mante to another casa hogar (¨mama paulita´s¨) both to meet and talk with the directors there and also to interpret for a team that is coming down from the u.s. i am looking at another all night bus ride with such quality films as ´crossroads´ and ´the lizzie mcguire movie´ playing late into the night... i have felt very much at home in the casa hogar in the week or so that i have actually been here, which has been encouraging. and from talking with the directors, it seems that, while my main focus will still be on the transition plans for the children when they leave, another big part of my job will simply be a liaison between the directors and everyone else involved in the life of the casa hogar, including the amigos de la familia, the methodist church in mexico, and others...

viva mexico!!!

2005-01-29T22:03:00.000-06:00

so i'm off to mexico on monday for a 6 month stay at the'casa hogar, la familia' children's home in ciudad serdan, puebla... about 6 months ago, i was looking for some direction as to what i wanted to do upon finishing school in december. i thought that i wanted to spend some time abroad, preferably in latin america, but i knew neither where i wanted to go nor what exactly i wanted to do. my degree is in applied child studies, and i knew that i wanted to work with children in some capacity. i had worked in nashville with a couple different organizations who worked specifically with hispanic children and families, including the vanderbilt center for child development and ayudando ninos. so i searched many websites and contacted quite a few people to no avail and was getting a bit frustrated as october approached and i had no job lined up and no real great prospects either. it was at that time, around mid-october that i got a call from mike feely, the pastor at my former church in chattanooga, who approached me with the idea of working for a short time as an 'educational consultant' to the casa hogar, where i had worked during two previous summers... fast forward 3 months to late january - everything is now in place and i will be going to mexico to do research and to network with interested parties in order to find the best options for the children once they are old enough to leave the home, whether that be college, high school, trade school, finding a job, whatever. there has been no consistent transition plan in place before this. i will also be meeting with the schools and teachers in serdan to make sure that the children are receiving all of the services they need to get a quality education. so that, in a nutshell, is where i will be and what i'll be doing over the next 6 months. an exciting, but challenging, time lies ahead of me...