My 14-year-old son Kostik is obsessed with sports cars -- virtual sports cars, since my husband and I both drive minivans. But as Kostik approaches driving age, I've grown more concerned about his obsession. So I decided my son needed a reality check: I signed us both up for a trip to build homes for the destitute living on a Mexico dump. After all, 2.7 billion people -- that is almost half the world's population -- live on less than $2 per day. Sports car? They would consider themselves fortunate to own a bicycle!

In July, Kostik and I joined 110 youth and 14 leaders headed by overnight bus from Garden Valley, Texas to the border town of Matamoros, Mexico. I was assigned the task of documenting the trip and posting daily web updates for the parents.

We partnered with Paul Gonzalez, head of S.O.S. Ministries, not only to build homes, but also to give the youth a taste of ultimate deprivation: Paul took us to the city dump to distribute lemonade to those who rummage through the pungent trash to make a living. These people not only find and resell recyclable plastic, cardboard, and metal; sometimes they dig up lunch. Children often help their parents increase their meager earnings by foraging with them. Thus these children are discouraged from going to school, and with no education, they perpetuate the cycle of poverty.

Although walking through heaps of putrid trash to get photos is not the way my coworkers spend their vacations, I felt blessed to be there. While they didn't offer me any food, the people in the dump were welcoming, and I learned yet again to be thankful for my privileged life in a home with running water, electricity, and a flushing toilet, plus a pantry stocked with food -- luxuries these people don't have.

The teens were deeply affected, too. On the bus back to our hotel, they were quiet, lost in thought.

"This could have been any one of us," noted Josh, "but by the grace of God, we were born elsewhere. We could have been the ones going to the dump every day!"

Jessica spoke up. "I feel so spoiled. I don't even want to go back to America with all its materialism. People there complain over the littlest stuff. These people get excited about trash coming!"

Team leader Brad shared, "Your friends and family won't completely understand what you experienced here today. We've been ungrateful for the simple things that we have. Lock this in your memory and return to it often."

How did all this affect my son?

He signed up to build homes for the needy in Tijuana over Christmas break.

Comments (16) | Permalink