Have my cloak, and my Ipod too?

My first thoughts on my recent mission trip to Mexico were about poverty issues, and just how complex the issues were. Nicole and I spent a week with Dave, Chelle, Molly, and Mary in Tlacolula and San Baltazar, cities outside of Oaxaca. It was a week of mind blowing stories for both of us. At San Baltazar, we met people on the other side of the immigration "debate"; people that were deported from the states after paying coyotes thousands of dollars to sneak across the border. In fact, we met people that worked at the Noah's Bagels and Cheesecake Factory restaurants in Santa Monica.... and these people were in San Baltazar, a town of a couple thousand in one of the poorest areas of Oaxaca, the second poorest state in Mexico.

The fact of the matter is this: there are no jobs in San Baltazar... and when US tariff/ subsidy policies drove Mexican farmers out of business, the situation was just exacerbated and the injustice of US foreign policy regarding our neighbors to the south was brought out into the light. It was wild, San Baltazar doesn't have a radio station, they have loudspeakers on tops of buildings. And on those loudspeakers, they had announcements about when the next "trip" up north was going to happen and where to meet the coyotes. Wild. But it gets worse.

In areas like San Baltazar, there is a big problem with pedophilia and dysfunctional sexuality as well. 30 year old men marrying 14 or 15 year old girls... fathers sexually abusing their children or leaving their 20 year old wives for 15 year old girls. And that is without even talking about the educational/ employment disparities between men and women.

That's what makes what Dave and his partners in Oaxaca are trying to do that much more exciting. In an area where there are no jobs and often no hope, we spent a week teaching the women of San Baltazar sewing techniques with the intention of providing them tools to potentially earn incomes/ provide clothes for their children and families. (Along with that came the farming/ harvesting aspect of AIL's ministry in Oaxaca, which I will touch on in a later entry).

It's after a week in Oaxaca dealing with those sorts of issues that I lost my IPod in Mexico City. The night before Nicole and I left for home, I realized that my IPod was missing... and after scouring our room I realized that it was not in my bag, or Nicole's bag, or under the bed, or behind the nightstand...anywhere. After going down to the front desk, the woman behind the desk stated that only the cleaning person has keys to the rooms; so they were the only other person with access to our room.

The next afternoon, as Nicole and I were waiting for our taxi to the airport, the cleaning person was wrapping up her shift and walking around the same lobby that we were sitting in.... and that's when I had my inner dialogue as to whether to confront her about my IPod, which at that point I was 93.25% sure she had taken. But I didn't. I thought of the previous week and a half in Oaxaca... I thought of the obvious lack of employment opportunities even in Mexico City. I thought of how she could very well (should?) lose her job for stealing my IPod.... then I thought of how she would then be added to the numbers of unemployed. I actually visualized her being one of those annoying music box performers that plague the city. And it just didn't seem worth it anymore to claim justice for myself; her job was more important than my IPod.

Reflecting now, I feel like I understand more now about what Jesus was talking about when he said to give your shirt as well when your neighbor sues you for your coat. Sometimes, getting justice for yourself is just not worth it.