Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 24, 1998)
By Lindsay Young Senior staff writer TIJUANA, Mexico - Families huddled together outside their ramshackle houses, watch ing as dozens of Americans emerged frorr vans parked on the dusty roads. The children ran to their mothers and grand mothers, not understanding why the strangers had come to their home. The adults knew why, and smiled. They were about to get a new home - a three-room house made of sturdy wood a strong roof and painted the color of their liking. For them, it would be like winning the lottery, the Rev. Bill Steinbauer told the group of 46 builders before they left from Lincoln. Steinbauer, the head pastor at the University Lutheran Chapel, helped lead the builders from Nebraska. Most were UNL or Concordia University students, though some were Lincoln area residents. During a trip Aug. 7-14, they constructed three homes for families in the area called El Pipila in Tijuana. The participants signed up vol untarily through the University Lutheran Chapel. For the seventh year straight, the group was participating in mission work with Baja Christian Ministries, which focuses on building houses for those who need them in the Baja Peninsula. The families’ old homes, made of a mixture of blankets, cardboard and makeshift wood were often one room, and had little separating them from the next home. Inside one, where 10 people lived was one bed a couch, an old refrigerator, a stove and other things scattered throughout - all on one-half of the house, which wasn’t more than five or six feet wide. This side had a large opening, which went from the front of the house through to the back. Thousands of people live this way in this city on the Baja Peninsula, just across the border from one of the world’s richest nations. Thousands live worse off - in the city dump, where, if a group of people even had a home, its floors and walls were created by garbage, old sheets and cardboard. More than 50 percent of the city’s inhabitants are classified as homeless by Baja Christian Ministries. Gateway of broken hope Tijuana is the largest city in the Baja Peninsula. With 2.1 million people currently, it is estimated the city grows by nearly 20,000 people every month, according to information provided by Baja Christian Ministries. People from South and Central America travel there hoping to cross the border between Mexico and the United States. However, most of their dreams never become real, and many families are forced to remain here, too broke to return home. According to Baja Christian Ministries, it is estimated that about 1,000 to 1,500 people illegal ly cross the border here each night The city also has about 2,000 foreign-owned factories. But the hopes for work in these factories are scattered because there are not enough jobs to go around. Even when work is found, the average salary is only about $35 a week for six 10-hour workdays. As a result these people end up in cardboard or crate shelters in squatter colonies of 100,000 or more people. Baja Christian Ministries provides the build ing materials and expertise to build small houses for these people. The group goes through a lengthy screening process to ensure that people who apply for a house own the land and don’t own other houses, Steinbauer said. In the past, he said, houses have been built, then either taken apart and sold for parts or rented to other families. Groups who build a house through Baja LEFT: CHAD HAMILTON, a fifth-year construction management major at UNL, nails together the frame of a roof. Hamilton was the foreman for this house, which is now home to 10 people. Right: Ted Reinker, a high school student, and a neighbor use leftover building materials to create a garage for the boy’s toy trucks. Reinker and his sister, Amber, a junior physics major, were part of the group’s 46 builders. Nebraskans construct dreams for needy families in Mexico Story and photos by Lindsay Young A WORK CREW from Lincoln raises the first wall of a three-room house in Tijuana, Mexico. About 15 workers worked at each of the three houses during a weeklong trip in August, and ail hous es were in the same neighborhood. Top: Each of the houses built by Lincoln-area residents and a group of UNL and Concordia University students had three rooms and three windows. The house costs $3,500, which pays for all supplies and preliminary work done on it. Christian Ministries pay $3,500 for supplies and preliminary work on the house, such as pouring concrete for the house’s foundation. The Lincoln chapel group’s goal was to build a house, as an act of God’s love, Steinbauer said. The group also wanted to engage the children and families in ways to create friendships, and, Steinbauer hoped, at the end of the week, share the Christian faith with them. One way they did that, since many in the group didn’t speak Spanish, was to hand out Bibles and pamphlets that were written in Spanish. Without words “It’s amazing how close we became with the adults and children in a matter of four days,” Venita Steinbauer of Lincoln said. “Especially considering most of us didn’t speak their language. “We got to know them through smiles, ges tures, play and work.” The group of 46 workers - more than double last year’s crew - was divided into three work groups, with about 15 workers at each site. A majority of the workers concentrated on building. Others spent time playing with the children. After the first day, children would come run ning when they saw the vans park, knowing there would be people to play with or a space where they could help build the house - holding up tape, sweeping out sawdust or carrying tools. The chapel group brought toys across the bor der for the children. They seemed to enjoy playing with bubbles the most, but most any toy, such as plastic action figures or coloring books, satisfied them. For most children, the toys were completely new. Adelle Garske, the youngest in the work group at age 7, spent all her time interacting with the chil dren. She said she was impressed by how polite everyone was, though there was a language barrier. Adelle’s family accompanied her on the trip. Her father, John, and mother Diana, along with Andrew, 14, and Alissa, 11, all of Seward, worked at the building sites. Concordia student Rebekah Hervert worked on a house now owned by a man named Jesus and his grandchildren Manuel, Beto and Fani. At the end of the f nal work day, Aug. 12, both the workers’ and the families’ eyes were filled with tears. “Our tears were a sign of our love for both Jesus Christ and Grandpa Jesus and his fam ily,” Hervert said. The workers and families dedicated the homes and blessed them with a prayer. As the workers walked slowly out of the com pleted or nearly completed houses on the final day of construction, they talked about their mixed emotions. “The family was our friend even though we didn’t speak their language,” said Ruth Rohnke, administrative assistant at the University Lutheran Chapel and Lincoln resident Jorge’s stoiy Some said they had mixed emotions - happy because the family had a new home, but sad because they didn’t know what would happen to the families after they left. Molly Egley, a UNL junior communications major, befriended one boy, Jorge, who was 10. Jorge lived next door to the house where Egley worked. “He was really big into helpmg our group with the house,” Egley said. “He would follow me around and help me with whatever I was doing.” That first day, Egley said, Jorge told her he wanted to be an architect. “On the way home that day I started crying because I could see this boy had so much poten tial,” she said. “I just knew then that there might never be a chance for that potential to be developed.” Jorge continued to help the crew working at _ his neighbor’s new house. ■ Eelev said Joree stuck out from the other children because of his excitement for helping. “This kid was smart,” she said. Jorge told Egley about the president of Mexico and what he was looking forward to in school that year. “I just wanted to take him home with me and help him,” she said. “I wish I had the resources to help him become an architect.” Rohnke said many builders had the same feel ings. “You wonder what kind of life they’re going to have.”