June 27, 2008

Mission trip challenges teens’ views on immigration, poverty

Theresa Laurence, Tennessee Register

A mission trip to a Mexican border town with the diocese’s Catholic Youth Office earlier this month was “probably the most life changing experience I could have asked for,” said Ann Goodrich, one of the 15 teen participants.

Goodrich, along with her fellow travelers, had her views on immigration and poverty challenged, and her faith strengthened during the week long trip.

Driving into Tijuana, Mexico, from San Diego, Calif., where the group had arrived by plane, the stark contrast between corporate American prosperity and rural Mexican poverty quickly emerged. Right across the border, “everything changed,” said Goodrich, a rising senior at Father Ryan High School.

Thomas Ritter, a fellow mission trip participant and 2008 Father Ryan graduate, said that after spending a week in a poor Mexican village, “it’s very easy to understand why immigrants come over the border.” 

Crossing back into the U.S. on their way to the San Diego airport, the group had to wait in line for nearly two hours at the border patrol station. “I was so nervous and I knew for sure we were getting back in,” said Goodrich. “I can’t imagine just hoping you can get in,” she said.

Kevin Edwards, the CYO trip leader, said that the mission was not intended to be a political one, but to “encounter the face of God through the people of Mexico.” Given the nature and location of the trip, the participants couldn’t help but confront and discuss poverty and immigration head on.

Having all her creature comforts stripped away, it was indeed “so much easier to find your faith down there,” Goodrich said. “It’s hard to see where God is in our daily lives with so much superficial stuff.”

During the trip, the group worked nearly 10 hours a day building a simple two-room home for a 66-year-old woman, a leader in her village and “grandmother to the community,” Edwards said. The group camped out in tents at a nearby secure site and cooked all their own meals.

This was the first time the Diocese of Nashville Catholic Youth Office has taken a mission trip to Mexico, and Edwards said it was an “awesome experience” that he hopes to repeat in the future. The group “learned a great amount from the Mexican people,” Edwards said. “We were inspired by their faith.”

Ritter said he initially decided to go on the trip because he was “interested in seeing how others live and experiencing a different culture.” It turned out to be “a lot more powerful experience than I thought it would be,” he said.

Almost all of the people the CYO group encountered live in dire poverty, and “it really touched me that they were so nice and kind,” Ritter said.

Despite the language and cultural barrier, the group developed a relationship with the homeowner, Flor Cisneros, and when it was time to leave, “it was a very emotional goodbye,” Ritter said. “It felt like more than building a house. We forged a new friendship with someone miles apart and so different from us.”

The mission trip, Goodrich said, “inspired me to help out in my own community.” She and others in the group also plan to share their stories and photos in parishes and schools around the diocese “to help people gain a new perspective on things,” she said.

Photo 1: Fifteen teenagers from the Diocese of Nashville recently went on a mission trip to rural Mexico, where they built a house for Flor Cisneros, pictured with the group, front row, right. The teens developed a relationship with Cisneros, “a grandmother to the community,” and said it was an emotional good-bye at the end of the week.

Photo 2: On a recent mission trip to a village outside Tijuana, Mexico, 15 teenagers from the Diocese of Nashville and their chaperones worked 10 hours a day to build a two-room house for a woman in the community. The group plans to share their stories with schools and parishes around the diocese to tell what they learned about immigration, poverty and faith.