In front of one of the Casas por Cristo houses.
What the land looks like around Juarez
The organization that I did this with was called Casas por Cristo, or Houses for Christ. It was through my church. The goal of the whole trip was not about spreading christianity as much as it was just about giving someone or a family a place to live. The family that we ended up building for was living in a bus at the time and they had 3 children. Many of these families that were outside of downtown Juarez were living in busses and making do with what they had.
My family drove down to El Paso TX and then met up with the group we were to go with. We crossed the border together in the morning and by noon, we had laid the foundation with quick set concrete. Our meals were all done on site from food we had brought from the US. The dinners were supplied by the local church and was also from food we had brought from the US.
On the second day, the family that we were building for insisted on making us tacos. They did so, and the brave people from the group including myself ate them. They seemed to have been made from cut up hot dog and some sort of salsa. No one got sick, and I am thankful that I tried them. They were simple... Very very simple! I am sorry to say that that is the only authentic Mexican food that I had down there.
Overall, the experience was great. The things that I will always take away from this are the pictures of all of the people living in broken down busses, cars, and cardboard houses. It really was an eye opener for me to see the conditions in which people very close to US soils live. I now see why people cross the border so much and why some may even risk their lives by doing so.
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