rockdale80
04-04-2005, 05:10 PM
Was this your group?
Aggie group spends Spring Break building homes for families
By MARI SAUGIER
Special to The Eagle
JUAREZ, Mexico — As a stinging cloud of dust blew through the street, Maria de la Luz Landeros bent slightly to shield her eyes and the infant in her arms.
The 23-year-old mother went inside to get out of the wind. The dirt floor coated her feet in the perpetual dust of dry Juarez.
When Maria and her husband, Alejandro de Dios, found out their application for a new home had been accepted, they sent a message to the Texas A&M University students who would build it: “Thank you very much and I hope God will multiply it all back to you so that you can help others in need.”
This March, 142 students with the group Aggies in Mission gave up Spring Break plans of sandy beaches, parties and relaxation to pay their way on a 13-hour bus ride to Juarez — a city known for its poverty and crime — to build houses for six impoverished families.
Aggies in Mission started five years ago with 20 participants. In conjunction with Amor Ministries, Aggies in Mission puts together house-building teams of 18 to 25 students. Each house — a cement floor, tarpaper and stucco walls, a slanted roof — is built in three days.
“ Our goal is to share Christ’s love through service,” said Brad Gaultney, a senior at A&M and vice president of Aggies in Mission. “Not only does it fill a great need with an underprivileged people, but it spiritually renews the trip participants themselves.”
Alejandro works in a doctor’s office, making less than $60 a week. Until nine months ago, the Landeros de Dios family lived with his parents. Alejandro built the one-room home he and Maria lived in with their three young children.
Old “se vende” (“for sale”) signs, forklift pallets and tarpaper make up the walls and roof. All the houses in the neighborhood look the same.
The neighbors use old mattress springs for a fence and hold it erect with rusting barbed wire. The scrap-yard fence stretches down the street.
“ The family had plywood with a vinyl sign to keep the water out for the door,” said Noel Bundick, an A&M junior on the trip for the first time. “I was like, whoa. These people really eat and sleep in here. It was really eye-opening.”
The first day of building began with setting the foundation 5 feet from the original home and constructing the walls. On day two, the Aggies discovered they had built one of the walls too long; it stuck a foot off the foundation.
“ I just definitely knew God was going to take care of it,” said Madison Presenza, an A&M sophomore. “I was worried about it, but I knew it would all be OK in the end.”
The group sawed off the extra inches, replaced the studs and added it to the completed walls just after lunchtime. By the end of the second day, the walls and roof were finished, tarpapered and firmly on the foundation. Chicken wire and stucco were added to the frame the third day, and the windows and door were installed.
The Aggies prayed with the Landeros de Dios family, gave them the keys to their new home and quietly filed out. As Maria rocked her newborn and looked out her new window, she began to cry. She had a real floor.
Christi Richmond, a freshman at A&M, built a house in Juarez with Amor Ministries during high school and decided to do it again with Aggies in Mission. But she did not expect the impact the experience had on her.
“ The father was crying the last day when we dedicated the house,” she said. “The family’s gratitude was definitely what moved me the most.”
Despite the media coverage Juarez has gotten over the past decade for the disappearance and murders of hundreds of young women, most of the Aggies were not worried.
“ I came in spite of it,” said Brian Kendall, an A&M junior. “I’m not afraid of being abducted. I felt really safe. I never felt in danger or in fear of my life.”
Gaultney said he was contacted by 20 concerned parents before the trip, but he assured them conditions were safe. The Americans who have been abducted usually were out after dark and were drinking and partying.
“ It’s like any major city,” Gaultney said. “The crime rate is the same as if you were going into downtown Houston.”
After busing from College Station to El Paso, the Aggies rented vans and drove to Juarez with Amor staff. Amor Ministries maintains a campsite surrounded by a 10-foot fence topped with barbed wire in a secluded area with a 24-hour guard. Participants were out of the campground only during daylight and constantly stayed in groups of at least 18 to ensure safety.
The Aggies endured hard labor, no running water and weather so cold it left ice on their tents, but in the end, all six houses were built.
“ I had cement from head to toe afterwards, but it felt really good to know I was doing something that would impact this family,” Bundick said. “I’ll definitely be back — with a warmer sleeping bag.”
Aggie group spends Spring Break building homes for families
By MARI SAUGIER
Special to The Eagle
JUAREZ, Mexico — As a stinging cloud of dust blew through the street, Maria de la Luz Landeros bent slightly to shield her eyes and the infant in her arms.
The 23-year-old mother went inside to get out of the wind. The dirt floor coated her feet in the perpetual dust of dry Juarez.
When Maria and her husband, Alejandro de Dios, found out their application for a new home had been accepted, they sent a message to the Texas A&M University students who would build it: “Thank you very much and I hope God will multiply it all back to you so that you can help others in need.”
This March, 142 students with the group Aggies in Mission gave up Spring Break plans of sandy beaches, parties and relaxation to pay their way on a 13-hour bus ride to Juarez — a city known for its poverty and crime — to build houses for six impoverished families.
Aggies in Mission started five years ago with 20 participants. In conjunction with Amor Ministries, Aggies in Mission puts together house-building teams of 18 to 25 students. Each house — a cement floor, tarpaper and stucco walls, a slanted roof — is built in three days.
“ Our goal is to share Christ’s love through service,” said Brad Gaultney, a senior at A&M and vice president of Aggies in Mission. “Not only does it fill a great need with an underprivileged people, but it spiritually renews the trip participants themselves.”
Alejandro works in a doctor’s office, making less than $60 a week. Until nine months ago, the Landeros de Dios family lived with his parents. Alejandro built the one-room home he and Maria lived in with their three young children.
Old “se vende” (“for sale”) signs, forklift pallets and tarpaper make up the walls and roof. All the houses in the neighborhood look the same.
The neighbors use old mattress springs for a fence and hold it erect with rusting barbed wire. The scrap-yard fence stretches down the street.
“ The family had plywood with a vinyl sign to keep the water out for the door,” said Noel Bundick, an A&M junior on the trip for the first time. “I was like, whoa. These people really eat and sleep in here. It was really eye-opening.”
The first day of building began with setting the foundation 5 feet from the original home and constructing the walls. On day two, the Aggies discovered they had built one of the walls too long; it stuck a foot off the foundation.
“ I just definitely knew God was going to take care of it,” said Madison Presenza, an A&M sophomore. “I was worried about it, but I knew it would all be OK in the end.”
The group sawed off the extra inches, replaced the studs and added it to the completed walls just after lunchtime. By the end of the second day, the walls and roof were finished, tarpapered and firmly on the foundation. Chicken wire and stucco were added to the frame the third day, and the windows and door were installed.
The Aggies prayed with the Landeros de Dios family, gave them the keys to their new home and quietly filed out. As Maria rocked her newborn and looked out her new window, she began to cry. She had a real floor.
Christi Richmond, a freshman at A&M, built a house in Juarez with Amor Ministries during high school and decided to do it again with Aggies in Mission. But she did not expect the impact the experience had on her.
“ The father was crying the last day when we dedicated the house,” she said. “The family’s gratitude was definitely what moved me the most.”
Despite the media coverage Juarez has gotten over the past decade for the disappearance and murders of hundreds of young women, most of the Aggies were not worried.
“ I came in spite of it,” said Brian Kendall, an A&M junior. “I’m not afraid of being abducted. I felt really safe. I never felt in danger or in fear of my life.”
Gaultney said he was contacted by 20 concerned parents before the trip, but he assured them conditions were safe. The Americans who have been abducted usually were out after dark and were drinking and partying.
“ It’s like any major city,” Gaultney said. “The crime rate is the same as if you were going into downtown Houston.”
After busing from College Station to El Paso, the Aggies rented vans and drove to Juarez with Amor staff. Amor Ministries maintains a campsite surrounded by a 10-foot fence topped with barbed wire in a secluded area with a 24-hour guard. Participants were out of the campground only during daylight and constantly stayed in groups of at least 18 to ensure safety.
The Aggies endured hard labor, no running water and weather so cold it left ice on their tents, but in the end, all six houses were built.
“ I had cement from head to toe afterwards, but it felt really good to know I was doing something that would impact this family,” Bundick said. “I’ll definitely be back — with a warmer sleeping bag.”