A U.S. Colonia and a Baby

I was with a mission group on the American side of the border and was speaking with an 18-year old mother about her children. She has three; the youngest is one-month old. Perhaps she answered a little too quickly when I inquired about the health of the children. Perhaps there was some body language that made me suspicious that she was not being truthful. Often, when we are helping people, they are reluctant to ask for more help. In any case, I did not believe her when she said that the children were all doing well.

I repeated the question and she repeated her answer, “The children are all in good health.”

I tried another approach and asked, “When was the last time the baby saw a doctor? Let’s see – he is one month old . . .” That did the trick. She broke eye contact, glanced at the ground and said, “Well, he has diarrhea and is not eating very well. But I took him to the doctor and the doctor sent me home. He would not see the baby because I have no insurance.”

Further conversation revealed that there has been three days diarrhea and very little eating. When I examined the baby, he looked healthy and had a good loud cry. Babies cry. However, after several minutes of watching this baby cry I realized that the baby formed no tears. These were classic causes and signs of dehydration.
The hospital admitted the little guy for severe dehydration caused by a viral infection The doctor began intravenous drips and treatment for the virus. All is fine. The baby and mom (and dad) all spent the night at the hospital and the infant was released 24-hours later.

Long-ago I stopped questioning why we are at a certain place at a certain time. I have not been in a U.S. colonia since 2001, and yet I explored this one with a mission group. I continue to be amazed that God uses somebody as unworthy as me. I wonder what could be accomplished if He used a good person, with language skills, building skills or even medical skills. But I will not spend much time wondering about His choices. I will reflect on the needs in the colonias, not only in Mexico, but also in the U.S.

Tomorrow – back to Acuña.

Armed and Dangerous

Just when I thought I had seen the worst of poorly prepared mission trips, I was invited to a meeting of a church school that organized a mission trip to Eagle Pass, Texas.

Two Catholic Schools in Houston will have children from the 7th through 12th grades travel to Eagle Pass and repair homes damaged in a hail-storm. The teens will also run a Vacation Bible School for the poor. No training or preparation was offered prior to the mission trip. No workshop is offered to explain the spirit of mission or the purpose of mission. No workshop is offered to provide the students with the agenda. In fact, the agenda is not really solid and the one of the adult organizers said that everyone will see the plan as it happens.

One assertive member of the organizing team owns a security company and will provide several guards free of charge. All will be in plain clothes and 'some will be armed and ready' according to the owner of the company. He went on to explain that they will bring a 'crash vehicle' that will crash into any vehicle trying to harm the teens. He also provided some information about his credentials. He has 'some experience' in a small sheriff's office and training in protection. He is licensed by Texas (as are all rent-a-cops in Texas). He recently protected a woman visiting Houston that is listed as a target by Muslim terrorists. He told us that the armed men will not brandish their weapons, which is a good thing. Brandishing a firearm is not only in bad taste but it is also a crime in Texas.

When a few of the students that will participate in the trip arrived at the meeting, the security officer advised them that, "If something goes down, look for me and my men. We will all wear the same type of ball cap. Also, we will turn on our Kel-Lites if something goes down. Just go towards the light."

For those that do not know (like the students) a Kel-Light is a brand of flashlight that is popular in law-enforcement. The fact that this security officer could not bring himself to say 'flashlight' spoke volumes.

As I started to recover from the shock of an armed teen mission trip to a town that only experienced 4-robberies during an entire year, I was jolted again. The pastor of the church approved of the inclusion of guns on a mission trip for teens.