A Temporary Shelter - Lactea
Four years ago, there were as many as 200 women and children attending to the Lactea feeding station in one of the poorest, most depressing squatter areas. The brother in charge became ill and the site was abandoned. Then, temporarily, Cabo English Church was able to use a nearby lot to resume a feeding/ministry program.
Around six weeks ago, our friends Tony and Lupe Hernandez, who are on staff at Cabo English Church and are in charge of directing the church's eleven feeding stations, came to me with a request. They asked me to come see the condition of this feeding station. They meet every Tuesday morning in a dry, dusty lot with no water, no power and not enough seating. The only building for us to use is a storage shed and the only shade (at the time) was along the eve of the storage building and along the eve of a neighboring house. My first time there was for Children's Day, which is a national holiday. There were around 100 women and children in attendance that day.
The lot this feeding station is now on, owned by Cabo English Church, is scheduled to be plowed within the year—with no more of a specific time schedule than that—so a permanent feeding station (including a kitchen) cannot be constructed. Since the church has a document with 'right to use' (this is Ehido land, which is Mexican Indian land, which can only be leased but not sold), the church is guaranteed the equivalent of a double lot in the new location the government is moving the squatter residents (who have paperwork) to. Tony and Lupe know that breaking the continuity of a kitchen in the area by waiting for the new lot would loose the familiarity the station has with the area residents. With this in mind, I went home that day burdened to at least get some temporary shade up at the station.
Richard volunteered to work with Tony and they are currently erecting a metal roof that can be transferred to the new lot whenever the move happens. Meanwhile, someone donated a small portable tent to Feeding Los Cabos Kids, which gave us a little shade.
One precious story, which I couldn't take a picture of since I was on one corner of the tent, was when we had to move the tent a few feet as we were setting up for the day. The children had already grabbed their plastic chairs and somehow managed to line up nicely (and I might add quickly) under the little available shade. As we moved the tent, they picked up the arms of their chairs—while still sitting in them and moved with more order than I've ever seen adults move. I think it might have been their desire to not lose out on an inch of the shade in the 100 degree summer sun! It was a precious sight seeing them move together, keeping out of the sun's heat.