McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — A group of 150 faith-based volunteers from North Texas traveled south of the border in the days before Thanksgiving and built several homes for the poor in Reynosa, Mexico.
The group built eight homes in a poor subdivision, known as a colonia, that lacks electricity, sewage hookups and running water.
Dr. Elizabeth Coronado, a gynecologist from Dallas, and her husband, Adrian Martinez, and their three children were among the missionaries from Dallas Bible Church who spent several days painting, sawing and roofing for people they had never met.
They spoke with Border Report on Wednesday as they were heading back north and said this was the most meaningful family experience they could ever have imagined.
“The area where they spent four days working “is essentially the city dump area of Reynosa that has developed into a colonia of mostly squatters and migrants, who often don’t have appropriate shelter,” Coronado said.
Martinez described where the families live as “shacks” with one room, no bathrooms and maybe a plank of wood on the ground.
When they left, however, the families had new homes — like the one they built with the sweat and dedication of Coronado, Martinez, their twin children Eric and Emily, 17, and son Elliot, 12.
“Truly a from-the-ground-up experience: Houses, roofs, windows, everything brand new for this under-privileged family. But it’s been such a great experience just to go through and do this for this family,” Martinez said.
Martinez is in financial services. And his wife is a busy surgeon specializing in women’s care. Between the children’s cheerleading practices and football games, they don’t have a lot of down time.
But they said they made the time on this short break from school to come and see the border for themselves, and help the people in Mexico. And Coronado says their family is taking lasting memories and lessons from this week on the border that she hopes will stay with her children.
“The investment for us raising teenagers in today’s society, and those teenagers being surrounded by privileged, often entitled, other kids. The message was we can believe what we want to, as far as politics or religion, but what we can all agree on is that we’re here to serve others. This is where we landed as a family,” Coronado said. “It shows love to serve others. So that’s what we chose to do with our Thanksgiving.”
The mission trip was organized by a nonprofit based in New Braunfels, Texas, that has been taking faith-based groups to the border for several decades.
They traveled together, crossed the border together, ate together and lodged together and Coronado said she felt safe.
Although Reynosa is a dangerous border town where rival drug cartels frequently fight in the streets, she said they felt “insulated” and didn’t worry.
The week they were there, three highways leading west, south and north from Reynosa, were shut down briefly due to gun battles between armed civilians and Mexican military.
“Our radius of travel was quite tight, and we felt safe at all times. We were never in the colonia after dark. We packed up and left about 4:30 every afternoon, so it felt really safe to us,” she said.
Professional engineers and builders were part of the group and they helped to ensure the construction was solid.
Neither Coronado nor Martinez have any building experience but they said it was easy to follow along and they did what they could — like paint boards. Coronado also was on hand to give medical attention and said she bandaged up some minor injuries.
Their children helped entertain neighborhood children by playing with them and passing out rubber bracelets with Bible verses on it.
Emily Coronado, 17, left, was among 150 faith-based volunteers who helped build homes for families in Reynosa, Mexico, the week before Thanksgiving. (Photos Courtesy Elizabeth Coronado/Adrian Martinez)
The streets are hard to walk on, however, they say. It’s very dusty and rocks and debris clutter the area.
“It was a rough neighborhood. The streets are dirt. They’re on the other side of the levee, so they’re on the side of the levee that that faces the Rio Grande. So when it floods, which is rare, it floods this area, and then there’s a large levee that, which is a pile of dirt that you cross over to get into the actual town. So the roads are dirt, lots of trash in the streets, lots of rocks, and really just four-by-four vehicles, kind of coming through,” she said. “The places that we were building do not have plumbing or electricity.”
Monday was Coronado’s 49th birthday and she says she’s already planning the possibility of returning next year.
“I think I might be spending my 50th birthday here again, because it was pretty great and the kids really enjoyed it,” she said.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
