A few nights ago we got the call that there was a donation of meat, and all able bodied were to report to Muzzy to help load it into the refrigerator and freezer. Thaine, the boys, and our guest David Wolcott dutifully suited up against the mosquitos which are VERY fierce these days, and marched off. They returned shortly with a small tale of woe. A mere 10 boxes of pork bellies had been donated. They were leaking blood tinged fluids everywhere. It was rather gross. I was impressed when I went to the walk-in refrigerator today and was greeted by a soggy pile of boxes which had sagged and spilled right across the path of traffic, with a bloody puddle ½ inch deep and 4x5 FEET across. What a mess. At home, we theorized about how in the world to clean up this health hazard. Thaine vetoed the wet-dry vac, we had some rough ideas of what to do. Since there’s virtually no one left on campus, all of them caught up in the New Orleans tragedy, we thought we would be the ones for sure to tackle this puddle of doom
Wednesday is the day for the food-box ministry, or dispensa. Two hours before the dispensa was to start, Thaine found two women waiting outside Muzzy and had difficulty understanding what all the issues were. I was able to help over the phone. They had WALKED ALL DAY to sign up for the dispensa and arrived early. They were politely asking if they might at least get a ride to the border crossing after they got their food. Like taking 6 miles off their trek home makes much difference! He assured them we could help out. Thaine gave them some cold water and they were happy to wait until 4P. Georgia Baca, fearless founder of the campus, arrived 1.5 hours later and the ladies asked if there was anything they could do to help. Georgia told them it wouldn’t be pleasant, but they were willing workers. They all got gloves, bagged up “buche” (pig stomachs), and as they were experts in the handling and cooking thereof, they were able to inspect and smell the bellies and tell us they were all fine. Meanwhile, Georgia is in the background wielding a mop and meaning business. Daniel was there to help with the dispensa (I’m trying to always take one kid to help and get trained in some of the jobs). Georgia at one point had Daniel get some big bags and had him standing in the middle of it all, cheerfully holding bags as she filled them with gross soggy boxes. And this is our most squeamish child. I was really proud of him. The people coming for food boxes mostly were very excited to get a double bagged (!) portion of buche. I hear it is very good in menudo, and I’m willing to eat it, just don’t want to fix it.
The point is, these two Mexican ladies worked really hard when they didn’t even know what food they might be given. They got signed up to come monthly in the future. They were escorted to their very doorsteps by car by Thaine and Jose Luis (our chief Mexican staff person and translator) with quite a lot of food. The boxes were very well-laden for everyone this week (all donated items, we never know what will be in there) whether they opted for buche or not, but these ladies took an abundance back. They might be very needy if they were willing to walk all day not even knowing what they would get. Mind you, they were very neatly dressed and immaculately groomed. I always feel like a frump when I meet people like this.
I thought this was a lovely example of a happy ending after a donation I was not very thankful for. And guess what! There’s more buche in the freezer for next week’s dispensa! Next time it will thaw in a plastic bucket….
-- Erika