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LOS TOROS OBSERVATIONS
Espanol - Va
May 2008 Mission - Feelings Don's Reflection Katie's Reflection Abel & Alexander
The Word – The Gospel - Abel and Alexander........... By Deacon Don Kabara I
think it was Friday afternoon; we were in Los Toros walking down a street and
with us was “Abel” who is seventeen, has some medical problems and is
developmentally disabled – cannot read or write and has a low function level.
I love Abel and think with some teaching and training he could function at a
higher level. As we continued down the street Annarede called out to us to come
in her house to see her grandson Alexander. Alexander is about fifteen years
old, has Cerebral Palsy or some other severe neurological disease; he of course
cannot walk, talk, eat by himself, etc.; but has these big beautiful pleading
eyes. She took us into a room where he was lying on a bed curled up. As can be
expected visitors are shocked at the sight of a human so disabled and mottled.
One does not know how to react, what to say, what to do and one can get very
uncomfortable in a situation like this. Abel pushed his way into the small room
to see what was going on, took one look at Alexander and immediately lay down on
the bed next to Alexander, kissed him on the cheek and cuddled up to him and
gave him a long hug. Abel
had immediate compassion and true solidarity with Alexander; both of them suffer
with severe disabilities both suffer physical pain and both struggle with life.
The cognitive ability of Abel is quite limited; how did he perceive and
understand and then know how to react to Alexander? That is a question for
another time. The
question I propose is why do people committed to the Gospel of Jesus Christ
hesitate to embrace those who are suffering? Of course now I embrace people like
Alexander, but it took me years to get to the point of feeling comfortable to do
that. Georges Bernanos, “Diary of a Country Priest”, once said
(sarcastically): “God does not choose the same ones to keep his word as
to fulfill it”. Why do we miss that interior meaning of the word? Are
we so focused on the theology that we fail to see the true spiritual meaning?
Are the characteristics of “perception and understanding”
demonstrated by Jesus so hidden in our theology that we fail to focus on it? Are
the “compassion and solidarity” of Jesus so obscured by our search
for rank and ecclesiology that we fail to live them? Is the “non-violent
standard” set by Jesus that ambiguous in the gospels that we miss it? Yes
“the word” is scared and holy and we gravely need it to gain a
theological and philosophical perspective. But do we at times fail to put it
into a true historical perspective to gain significance for today? Do we too
much seek a static “truth” and miss a dynamic “meaning”?
Do we intellectualize the word to the point that it fails to affect our
heart and the practical work of implementation? “The
kingdom of God consists especially in making the world a better place. Only
in this way will I be able to discover what the kingdom of God means”
– Edward Schillebeeckx. “Our Father…………………..”
The
Marriage Encounter people have a saying; “Feelings are not good nor bad, they
just are”. Go to Los Toros and if you are perceptive you will recognize the “feelings” that exist in the community. Go to your bible and turn to the Prophets and you will recognize the deep feelings they experienced and how they placed God in the middle of those deep feelings. Every single time I return from Los Toros I reflect on my experience and I feel depressed; but it usually does not last too long. For me depression is a feeling of hopelessness combined with a little anxiety for the future. Depression is a normal reaction to a visit to the Third World and all of its poverty and suffering. Anybody with the least bit of sensitivity will be affected by the extreme conditions in the third world; people living in houses with dirt floors, lack of resources for medical care, poor communication, inadequate education, lack of opportunity and political corruption make for a very difficult life. These negatives can overwhelm you. On the other hand there are many generous people waiting to support the poor and there are leaders within the poor communities ready to organize and work with others to overcome the difficulties that they all face. The human spirit reflects courage and a positive attitude that “we can overcome” the suffering and find happiness in our lives. A large part of our solidarity with the poor is to accept their feelings and help them to work through those feelings to find a positive solution to their problems. Feelings and emotions are an integral part of life and there is no avoiding of this dimension of human existence. This is what you can expect when you join in solidarity with suffering people: first of all there is a feeling of “fear” that they will not survive, and there is “anxiety” about the future. There is “confusion” and people fail to communicate facts accurately. There is “anger” that they are stuck in such a terrible situation, they strike out to blame others and though you may be innocent you might become the target of their anger. And then there is “jealously” because someone else was helped and they did not get the help they needed. These feelings are all part of the human makeup – they are not good nor bad, they just are. It is important to recognize them, understand them and try to help people that have them to work through them and use them to grow into a better person capable of solving some of life’s problems and finding some contentment on this earth. As we read our bibles and turn to the Prophets it is important to recognize not just the situation that they expose but also the feelings involved with the situation and how they transcend that situation and those feelings through their relationship with God – their faith! As we journey to Los Toros and work in a situation of poverty and suffering it is important to recognize not just the situation but also the feelings of the people involved with the situation and how they can transcend that situation and those feelings through our mutual relationship with God – our faith!
Don's Reflection I went to Los Toros with an extra $600.00 in my pocket. When I left a number of people had predicted that my ailing 97 year old father, who recently had an “event” (heart attack?) would not make it for much longer. The $600.00 was to buy a ticket home for his funeral. Some people in Los Toros knew before I left that my father was seriously ill but I did not tell them how serious nor did I say much when I got there. Andres is about 70 years old and lives in a dilapidated house near one of the discos with his son Vladimir. It is a two room house with a dirt floor, when it rains the water literally runs in the back door and out the front door. It is a mud hole, the kitchen, a separate building, is even worse; the situation is really bad. Yet Andres still works in the fields and struggles to keep his life and the life of his son together. I had not yet seen Andres on this trip; in fact it is almost a year since I last spoke with him. As I walked past his house on a rainy afternoon thinking to myself, “how can they live in that place?” out runs Andres, he embraces me and says; "I heard your father has been ill and that you were worried, I hope that God helps him to get better”. I was walking around Los Toros with a lot of buried anxiety about my father’s situation, for some reason a lot of that anxiety left me after my encounter with Andres. The gospels of Jesus Christ have many instances of Jesus healing people, John’s Gospel does not have as many as the others, but John has the story of the “woman at the well”. I always saw that woman as a person with a lot of anxiety and saw the action of Jesus during their encounter as an action of healing some of her anxiety. Andres literally ran through the mud in the rain to meet me and express his concern not just about my father, but also about my anxiety. He brought the same healing to me that Jesus brought to the woman in Samaria (John 4). They have a fancy term for this reflection, it is called “theological reflection” and Father Steve talked about it in his homily of June 8th. The term may be a bit intimidating to some people but the point is very valid in that it is important as people of faith that we recognize Jesus as a person and a God that enters into our lives. Andres seized the moment to become a bit like Christ and brought a little healing to me; he only spoke about 15 words to me, but the encounter was timely and significant. When I returned from Los Toros I went to visit my father, he was out of his bed on his knees trying to figure out how to disassemble his new wheelchair so it would fit into a car so he could be taken out for a ride and visit the new chapel they built in Poland, WI! .............As my sister says, “Go figure…..”!
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Another year has come and gone, and I find myself once again returning from Los Toros. This year’s trip back to Los Toros was just as fulfilling as the previous year and filled with many smiles and laughs. One of the things I love the most about Los Toros is among the poverty and suffering, through the good and bad times, the faces of the young and old, God is present throughout Los Toros each and every moment of every day. When going to Los Toros, it is hard to escape a touch of culture shock. We go from having the luxury of indoor pluming to a lovely outhouse, and from clean sanitary water from our faucets to huge jugs of purified water that was bought specially for us. But despite these slight alterations to our everyday living, there is still one thing that remains constant no matter where we go. That one constant has always been God. Even though the people continue to struggle with poverty, I can walk down the dirt and gravel roads of Los Toros and sees God’s presence in the faces of each and every person within the community. It is easy to get caught up in the stressful moments, like having 300 little kids show up for a dental hygiene program, or an overflow of students wanting to participate in our English and computer classes and not having enough open computers for them all, or even just dealing with the obvious language barriers that exist. But during these moments of stress and anxiety, something or someone will enter my life at the perfect time that will calm me down and put things back into perspective. Whether that is the smiling faces of the little kids, Olga’s bear hugs that are guaranteed to put a smile on your face, an inside joke about a red ramada with Don and the gang, or Bimbo’s unending hospitality and hour long conversations. Throughout each one of these instances, I can see God’s grace mirrored through the people of Los Toros. Personally, I have only had the opportunity to go to Los Toros twice now, but each time I have grown in my faith and as an individual. It never seems like we are down there for a long enough time to truly accomplish the things that we want to. It was hard making the transition from a mission trip like work camp, where you can physically see the impact that you have made on the lives of the people you have helped, to the Los Toros mission trip. The Los Toros mission trip was different, because we were not entering the community and rebuilding their homes or re-thatching their thatched roofs. Instead, our goal was to empower the people of Los Toros and give them the encouragement to take control and responsibility of their own life. When
we taught our English and computer classes, I felt like there were two
reasons for having the classes. The obvious reason for teaching the
classes was the education aspect of it all. Personally, I feel like the
real reason we were down there teaching these classes, was to spread the
message that education is important and can be fun at the same time. Each
one of us was practicing what we preached in terms of, being hands on with
the children, motivating them to continue learning, and expanding their
minds and imaginations. Just in the short time that we were down there, we
were exposed to children who truly had the desire to learn. Although we
may not have a finished house to look at the end of our trip, one day I
hope to see one of the students who came to our classes become the I think that these mission trips down to Los Toros will continue to be an eye opening experience for me, but I can truly walk away from the experience confident in knowing that I have in some way contributed to the empowerment of the people of Los Toros. The relationships that I developed with certain people throughout the community last year has continued to grow, and new relationships have been formed this year. I believe that I have proved to the community that I am committed and passionate about helping them anyway that I can. The action of going back to Los Toros a second time, has spoken louder then any words I could ever speak, and in turn has blessed me with new friendships and relationships. I continue to pray that if it is according to God’s will for me, I will continue to have the opportunity to travel down to Los Toros and continue helping the community.
Don's Infamous "Rojo Enramada" (note Passport required to enter)
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For More Information about the Los Toros Mission Committee...... Please
contact:
mailto:lostorosmission@lostorosmission.com
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