Lady Maairy in Mexico
For this life changing experience I’m indebted to local schoolgirl Charlie Potter and the Mitford Youth Group’s overseas trip to Ensenada, Baja California in the west of Mexico. The teenagers and myself were to become handymen (or handysheep in my case) on a building project for under-privileged families run by international volunteer movement ‘Youth with a Mission’.
1st August - Despite by now becoming a seasoned air traveler, we arrived after a very long journey, and very, very jet lagged! Here I am trying to relax and drink my way through the local produce. Ensenada is the largest city in this part of Mexico but it doesn’t look much like Newcastle. We were shown round the house of the family we were going to help and it was hard to believe that 6 people were living in such a small space, to be honest I’ve seen better equipped sheep sheds!
4th August- Today was the first day of the two day house build. We did a lot of hammering, cutting wood and painting. I have never worked so hard – it’s very difficult holding a saw or a hammer (is there such a thing as a ‘hoof-hammer’?) with only 2 digits! I’m so tired - this is definitely not a sunbathing trip! I really found my vocation at painting – although rolling in the tray and then on the boards may not be in every decorating text book! I also helped Charlie paint the sign for the front door with the new family’s surname
August 6th - We visited a drug rehab centre and played with the children of the women who live there. It was very, very, hot with temperatures in the mid 30’s. We had to keep topping up our water-bottles – and our sun-cream!
August 8th From Charlie and her friends’ fund raising activities the group had paid for equipment and material for a covered area to be used for meals for the centre. We cleared scrub and stones, laid concrete and put up walls, altogether more back-breaking work than this heat would allow.
August 9th At last a day of fun with activities such as football, hair braiding and a photo workshop where I tried to allow as many as possible to have their picture taken with me.
August 10th Time to head for home again. Mexico is a beautiful country but the trip showed everyone how lucky they were compared to the people living in poverty around the world. A life changing experience for all concerned and I’m very grateful that they took one little sheep along with them.
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