Enjoying the Journey: THE MEXICO MOST OF US DON'T SEE

As I have mentioned in previous blog posts, we frequently cross over the bridge about 10 miles from here to go to the town of Progreso, where tens of thousands of Winter Texans do their shopping, go to the dentist, buy from the pharmacies, and get a bite to eat. Progreso is one of the few border towns that is relatively safe, with no incidents there for several years. As I understand it, there is only one road into Progreso from the Mexico side and it is controlled by the Mexican army, who have a checkpoint there and carefully screen all who come in. As a result, the town has been able to set up a nice little main street that attracts those from the US and is a fun place to visit. Tom and I have gone there five or six times and really enjoy going. The people could not be nicer and depend so much on the tourists to help them to eke out a living for the 5-6 months that tourism is good.
Our Spanish class recently got to take a tour of the area outside of Progresso, behind the scenes, so to speak. Over the years the Winter Texans have contributed monies to fund a clinic there that was founded by an American woman named Mabel. Having worked there once with the Red Cross after hurricane Buleah, she was struck by the poverty on the other side of the border and spent the rest of her life there trying to make things better for the people. I have included a picture of the gravesite of her and her sister. She started a free clinic that since her death has been funded by Winter Texans. There they do free dental clinics, medical clinics and eyeglass clinics. There are local doctors that work there as well as having help from people here in the parks that provide assistance, such as nurses and construction workers, etc. The winter Texans have helped in the schools and have even built quite a number of small homes for the people who have been living in homes with no doors, windows or floors. The poverty is striking and reminded me a lot of some of the living conditions I saw on my trips to Sri Lanka. And this is only a mile from the US border. What a difference on the other side of the river.
So we loaded up the van with school supplies, fruit, toys and games and miscellaneous items for those that we would meet. We went to the clinic, which is equipped with all that is needed to do what they do, although the equipment appears to be rather old, by our standards, but in good working condition. We then went to visit a school with one row for each grade, 1-4. The kids were so pleased to see us and recited their multiplication tables for us and read for us. We took a tour of some of the "colonias" or small housing developments, where we saw the homes that the people live in, and were so saddened by the conditions. It is not hard to imagine why many are willing to take the risk to cross the river in search of a better life. Many will never see anything better than what they have now. But as in Sri Lanka, the people were all smiling, waving and so nice to us. And the kids were kids just like anywhere else, playing happily with the little that they have, not really realizing what they don't have. I have included a picture of the basketbll hoop that is their playground.
There are people here in this park that spend countless house during their winter vacation serving and working in these neighborhoods trying to help where they can.
I have included some pictures of our trip...I am so glad that we got to go. And I am glad that there are people on this side of the border than care about those on the other side. I know that their efforts are not in vain.