January in Mexico City

Hello Everyone!

Although it now January 2012, I need to take you back a few weeks to catch up on what we've been doing.

December was busy for us as we had an International team, mainly from the USA, who came to work with us and the charity we are working with for a week. Lucy had the week off school to work with us too.

The Americans came from Buffalo, New York; Fairfield, Ohio; Dalla, Texas; Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; Spencer, Iowa and Rochester, Michigan. They all arrived on the Saturday and we spent the day collecting them from the airport and taking them to the hotel.

OSI (the charity we work with) have used this hotel for many years and get a special rate. We went to the hotel for the week too, because we move all our office equipment there so that we can do admin in the evening after we have been out in the daytime with the team.

On the Sunday we show the team a bit of Mexico City and they have a chance to go the market to buy gifts. In the afternoon we talk with them about what they will do during the week ahead. They will either work in the optical, dental, medical, children's or hair and beauty area. Some of them have certain skills that make it obvious where they will work (i.e. a nurse) but others have no particular skills and so we gave them a short lesson showing them what they need to know.

Sometimes the team brings supplies with them that we can use - toothbrushes, toothpaste, eye glasses, medicines, toys etc. We sort these into bags to take with us during the week.

This year we worked with three different churches on the outskirts of Mexico City. The people in the church advertise that we are coming so that the poor people in their area can come and receive free medical care. Of course, because it was near Christmas, we also took Christmas gifts with us that we had sorted into different age groups and genders,and wrapped. We also took bags of groceries with us to give away.



It was a very exciting week and they were so thankful to be given presents.

In one church that we were in was a lady who had a growth on the roof of her mouth. It was about the same size as her tongue. She had been to several Mexican doctors who weren't sure what to do about it and wanted her to go into hospital to have it removed. She couldn't do this as she had no money to pay for it. One of the Americans on our team was a dentist - not just an ordinary dentist but one who had specialized in surgery and reconstruction. He actually came from Ghana originally, trained in the UK and now lives in the USA. When he saw her, he told her he would be able to remove it and that it wouldn't cost her anything. He performed the surgery and she was amazed! Her family teased her because her speech had been affected and they said she was now talking in a posh voice!! It was a good day!!

We saw over 800 people while the team was here - it was a very good week!

For Christmas we were lucky enough to be invited, by some friends, to spend the time with them in North Carolina. We had a really good time. They have lived in the States for 11 years but used to live in Lordswood where the eldest two children, Bethany and Abigail, were pupils at Oakwood Infant and Junior School! This is the first time we have spent Christmas with them since they moved. The area they live in is called Cary and is very much like Lordswood - lots of trees and walks, although the houses are much bigger and there is a lot more space!

Christmas in Mexico is not so much about the things that you get but more about the Christmas story. The children don't actually get presents until January 6th, which they call 'The Day of the Kings'. This is the day they remember the kings bringing presents to baby Jesus. They also have a special cake called 'Rosca de Reyes', that they eat on this day. Hidden inside the cake are little figures of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph. Everyone cuts their own piece of cake and, if they find one of the hidden figures, there is a big celebration. Those people then have to bring the figure back to the person who brought the cake on February 2nd for another party - a fiesta! This is to mark the day that Jesus was presented at the temple. The Mexicans eat food called 'tamales' and drink 'atole' on this day. Most of their celebrations are based around the catholic calendar because it is a catholic country and they also enjoy getting together as families and friends.

We are enjoying the Mexican winter with temperatures during the day between 70 - 75 degrees fahrenheit!

That's it for now, we will write again soon,

Hilary and Lucy