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June 6, 2005 
VOL.
43, NO. 11Oakland,
CA
Katy Wackerman’s friends didn’t understand
why she would want to build houses and bathrooms for poor people in Tijuana,
Mexico, when she could be spending a spring vacation chilling at a posh
beach resort.
Wackerman acknowledged that the Mexico adventure did sound “pretty
miserable. There’s rain, dirt, wind storms, bugs and an overabundance
of undesirable smells.”
But the veteran of three previous house-building projects wanted to again
be part of the annual Easter Week construction crew of 90 young people
and adults from St. Agnes Parish in Concord.
“I knew it wouldn’t be like high school. This year I wouldn’t
be going for the social aspect, but solely for the purpose of doing something
good,” she said.
So she cancelled work shifts, rescheduled mandatory clinic time in her
Sacramento State nursing program and endured flak from a teacher who told
her the trip would not count as an excusable absence.
Wackerman’s determination to return to the building program is proof
of “its impact on teenagers and how it changes their lives,”
said Emily Walton, 29, a 10-year veteran of the Tijuana trip.
Walton is the daughter of Donna and Jack Walton, coordinators for the
house-building project which the parish has been sponsoring since 1995.
Each year, the group receives its specific assignments from local Oblate
Fathers. Most of the time, the group builds houses, but this year, besides
doing a bedroom addition for one family, they helped to construct several
cinder block bathrooms and install washbasins, showers and toilets for
individual families. This work was possible because a water and sewage
system is being built in the area.
The St. Agnes team works in groups with specific duties, said Donna Walton.
“The kids do the building and also run a little vacation Bible school
for the neighborhood kids. The adults cook and supervise construction.”
A total of 50 high schoolers, eight college students and 32 adults participated
in the 2005 trip.
They came away with strong memories of how the lack of a livable wage
and the absence of basic services in some parts of the city force Tijuana
families to live in squalor and filth.
Wackerman called the poverty “mind-blowing” after she saw
one- or two-room houses made from old garage doors and scraps of wood.
Bathrooms were little more than a rickety wooden enclosure over a hole
in the ground.
Her heart turned over in sorrow when “I saw a little girl mopping
the inside of her house with the muddy water from a puddle in the road.”
Donna Walton understands “why people risk being illegal immigrants.
The wages are so low in Tijuana and they are much higher right across
the border, yet the cost of living is about the same.”
Walton and her husband are long-time witnesses to Mexico’s poverty.
Before Tijuana, the couple lived in Mexico City for two years where they
taught at the American School. Their daughter and son, 10 and 12 at the
time, learned some
valuable lessons.
“I had never seen anyone living in shacks and selling things on
the streets,” remembers Emily Walton, now a member of the St. Agnes
building supervisory team. She recalls becoming an avid doll collector
because she saw street vendors selling them. “I wanted my mother
to buy the dolls so the people would have money,” she said.
Sarah Bishop, a 17-year-old student at Carondelet High in Concord, returned
to Tijuana for the second building stint.. “It has changed my life,”
she said. “I now see the raw beauty that is in the world…
the beauty that lies behind the garbage, foreign language and unsanitary
living conditions. I see people for who they are, not what they have or
don’t have.”
Jenny Perham, 17 and a Northgate High School student, joined her family
for the trip this year, her fourth time as part of the Tijuana project.
“Going to Mexico has always been one of the best weeks of the year
for me,” she said.
She likes the feeling of accomplishment that comes from the actual construction
work, but she experiences a deeper level of satisfaction as well.
“Living in the middle of a Mexican town has allowed me to see that
not everyone lives like we do in America and that people can be happy
without material possessions.”
Katy Wackerman too, observed families who have “next to nothing”
when it comes to materialistic objects, but they have the type of close-knit
relationships that many people in our society have lost in the chaos of
modern day living They have a faith that is overwhelmingly strong, and
a work ethic that puts many Americans to shame.”
Despite their poverty, the people’s generosity thrived. Wackerman
recalls, “the first day on our site, Señora Sanchez was cooking
inside her house and these amazing aromas filled the air. Before long,
her children started bringing out paper plates for all of us – some
15 plus adults and students. I stood there in horror as I realized that
while this family was making a sacrifice to thank us for our work, we
could eat the food and risk getting sick with a whole week of work ahead
of us. My heart broke as we expressed our thanks and then had to throw
the full plates of food into a trash bag when the family wasn’t
looking.”
The
St. Agnes Parish crew is busy at work building wall frames for houses
in the southeast Tijuana neighborhood of La Morita.
Erika
Carcelin uses her carpentry skills during the Easter Week Mexico project,
which draws volunteers not only from St. Agnes, but also from the entire
northern California area.
These
teen workers take a quick pause in their work of placing chicken wire
on the side of a house.
This
trio of builders begins to see some of the fruits of their labors —
wall frames for a new house. Three years ago, volunteers built a satellite
chapel for St. Agnes’ sister parish of San Eugenio.
A
mom holds her little girl as she stands with three of the volunteers who
worked on her home. This year’s beneficiaries either got a room
home addition or a new bathroom.
Many
of Tijuana’s poor residents have to cope with graffiti-pocked makeshift
outhouses like this one.
