Spring Break Journal Entry 3

Dia tres.

Ahh Good day! En la manana I went for a run around the town of Xicotepec with some high school girls on the trip. This was an awful run because I hate mornings. I went with the urban planning students from UofI to interview Jacobo Dominguez, an artist in the community. He has a great vision to begin an art school for the people unable to attend school. He wants to promote the culture through art and teach people to make are and sell it (Aprende, produce y vende). He wants to bring the culture of Xicotepec out through his art. He also talked about how he felt that migration is natural, but politics have made it a problem. His art is crazy. It is of mythological creatures made out of tissue paper.

After this we rode in the back of trucks to Jose Ignacio's office. He is a notary with a law degree. He talked about property ownership and how there are many ways to get the rights of the land. He talked about the issues in the city of Xicotepec. There's a bypass currently being built which will largely hurt the city's economy. He said there are a lot of issues with political corruption. "One cannot have values if they don't have the mental capacity to conceive them," he said. One interesting thing about these interviews was that since the Mexicans didn't speak English extremely well, we had a few of our students translate for them. It was difficult and exhausting to try to understand their Spanish and then have to hear it in English.

After lunch we all went to an orphanage in a nearby town. We each gave a child a pair of shoes, and they were so happy. The orphanage was lovely; it had large grounds, many toys, and the building was beautiful. Apparently it was an awful place 2 years ago, and the children were abused. They would cry and cling to the Americans when they were leaving. Now the kids look very happy. One 4-year-old girl, Esmeralda, kept holding my hand and showing me all of her things. She was extremely chatting, and I became pretty excited because I could understand a lot of the things she said! The teenage boys flocked to Heather & I because of our hair. We took many photos with them which was pretty amusing. The girls at the orphanage flocked to the college men on the trip and were a fit of giggles. We learned that many children there come from abusive families. Esmeralda's parents burned her with cigarettes. Another's parents tried to bury her when she was only a baby. These were heart-breaking stories.

Dinner at the convent was great as usual, and we walked to an Internet cafe down the street to check our e-mail. It was only about 20 cents to use the computers for about half an hour. A group of small chicos came over and started talking to us. They were adorable, and it was fun to talk to them. Today I began to appreciate my own life more and really valuing the work we were doing here. I am very happy to be here.