Norris Family News

Abarrotes Cornelius

The Abarrotes Cornelius is open for business! It is common in Mexico, along any road, to see store fronts labeled “Abarrotes” (“General Store”). Usually there is a name or adjective associated to distinguish one abarrotes from the next, i.e. Abarrotes Julia, Abarrotes San Agustin. In more affluent areas, these are freshly and brightly painted, and truly have a variety of things to sell. In poor neighborhoods they are just as frequent, but they are more often people’s homes with rough homemade signs and less variety within. I have seen posters, dolls, hair clips and elastics, plastic jewelry, snacks, maybe diapers, or drinks in one room homes to help bolster the family income. Once when we were visiting with a tragically poor family in front of their very rough shelter and admiring their chickens an obviously struggling young woman (diabetic, with several fingers amputated) came across and cheerfully but almost without communication passed a small coin into the hand of our hostess and received a diaper. There you have it, economics at work.

Here at the House of Cornelius we now have our own abarrotes. The Wolcotts and Harts have been interested in the idea in the past, but of course it was hard to add another project with so few bodies and so much work already on campus. The home schooling Dads, Mike and Thaine, were determined to make it happen. The home schooling Moms were supportive in theory, but at least this Mom was only up for lying on the sidelines weakly waving a banner to cheer on the efforts. The kids were beside themselves with enthusiasm. The idea is that people on teams often need bug spray, sunscreen, film, a Coke, gum and have no transportation, or worse yet, they may not have the opportunity to eat the various Mexican treats and delicacies that we know! It is only fair that people have the chance to sample really good jalapeno chips and a Coke product called Manzana Lift which is a bubbly apple drink. Also, Mexicans are not afraid of sugar and have some fun treats. Some of the treats are a genuine cross-cultural experience. Below is genuine photo-documentation of Thaine doing some product testing. Behold the tamarind and chile bubble gum! (Photo-journalism by Erika)

Fine photography is also being sold; pictures of perfect peppers at the outdoor market, a donkey with a cart parked right behind a car in downtown Juarez, the message of the whitewashed rocks on the hill overlooking the city, “Ciudad Juarez; la biblia es la verdad, leela” (“City of Juarez; the Bible is the truth, read it.”) Each word is maintained by a different church in Juarez, and once a year they all go up and repaint and adjust their rocks. The kids might sell some of their own crafts, and neat toys and crafts from Juarez will be available.

I must confess that I raised my eyebrows with some disbelief when lumber was purchased 10 days before a team was to arrive. A wall was to be built to divide one existing room into two useful spaces; one for the store, one for supplies of the various teams as they come through (balloons, clothes, towels, music equipment, etc.) I was encouraging of the wall-building but didn’t believe we could have an operational store in time for the first team of the season. Thaine put in several good days of effort with the guys and various hammer-swinging kids, a whole group went shopping in two countries to stock the store, then Thaine left for Colorado to come down with the team. Ah, I thought, it was a great start. But, Mike got right in there virtually alone and established the shelves, put the chip-holding clips on the wall (which Thaine rescued off a street in El Paso weeks ago, where they lay trying to puncture some tire. “They’ll be perfect for the abarrotes,” he said, and threw them in the back of the van.) Mike developed a business strategy and trained his oldest child to run the cash box (eventually other older kids will be trained, too.) I was very surprised and pleased to see the Abarrotes Cornelius open the very first day that the first team was with us! The walls aren’t painted bright colors yet, but there are walls and a door that locks, and a sturdy countertop. By the evening of the second day, Mexican music blared from the store, and the place was quite lively. People, mostly kids from the team, have been very supportive. Probably 25% of the profits the first day was from staff kids, who, having previously forgotten about money due to general lack of economic opportunity on campus, suddenly were raiding their life savings just so they could go in the beloved abarrotes. Oh, the excitement of it all!

--Erika