Global Mission Stories
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For more than ten years now, a community center operated by AMEXTRA has served this neighborhood in the Valle de Chalco. AMEXTRA--the Mexican Association for Rural and Urban Transformation--is a community-based development organization, supported in part by the ELCA. As such, AMEXTRA has not entered the Tlapizahuac community with answers. "We are there to listen," says Alejandra, director of the community center. "The people know what their needs are and we are there to work together with them." |
At its core, the Tlapizahuac center operates as a daycare center. More than 50 young children bring life to the place while their parents (often single mothers) now have the chance to work knowing their children are safe, fed and cared for.
| The cacophony of sound that
fills the community center each day is not limited to these pre-schoolers laughing,
playing and learning. On any given day, there may be karate, English, and folk dance
lessons, often happening simultaneously. "It's a busy place," Alejandra says,
"but we love it. We miss all the children during vacation time." Building up community is important for AMEXTRA. Alejandra explains the work of AMEXTRA is starting in a nearby shanty town: "We don't just go in and offer our services. We've been there for over a year now, just listening and talking and building trust. Only recently did we bring in a mobile dental clinic and offer hair cuts." |
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"We can't go in and just make everything 'right' by other standards," she says, referring to AMEXTRA’s biblical focus from Romans 12:1-2: "...Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds." "We must be transformed...together," she says, "according to the needs and gifts we all bring."
The daycare center is just an example of this. Single mothers from the community banded together to address what they felt was one of their community’s most serious needs: young children were being left alone all day, often strapped to furniture, while their parents left for work. With fifty percent of the children malnourished and 60 percent living in single-parent homes, the next generation was in grave danger.
The key is for people to develop self-esteem and pride in their work. Sustainability is also important. While the daycare center and other AMEXTRA projects offer much-needed services, users are expected to pay even a small fee, giving them a sense of giving something for what they get. In turn, many of those who have benefitted from these projects come to work for AMEXTRA.
One project that has emerged from the work of the center is a recycled paper project. A small group of women collect used paper from the neighborhood, shred and soak it, and make new paper. The cards, stationary and notebooks produced have been sold through many church groups in the United States (there is not much of a local market for such "artsy" paper).
 This man engages in one of many micro-credit enterprises, creating "pictures" with colored dried grass. |
A more recent program in which AMEXTRA is engaged in this community is micro credit. This is not just about providing start-up funds for small enterprises. Applicants must form a "support" group in which planning and accountability takes place. They are required to save, manage their money and plan. They are thus empowered to escape the bondage of poverty; the exclusion from access to formal financial services.
AMEXTRA's work continues in eight regions of southern Mexico. Empowered by the knowledge of their worth both to God and to the community, all AMEXTRA leaders and participants work to transform their surroundings into an environment favorable for the development of the human potential and spiritual calling of all people.
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