The Power of a Minga: Reflections on Mexico

It's been almost two whole months since I came back from Mexico and though my battle marks from rolling down an Arizona desert are almost gone (thanks God for vitamin E, Aloe Vera & Shea Butter), I still reflect on that experience ever so often. One thing that will stick with me is just how strong the sense of community is, especially as it relates to how community groups are organized. In my Caribbean context (or maybe Jamaican) I am accustomed to many of the community groups receiving some amount of funding from  the government or government initiatives. (Or maybe I'm speaking from ignorance of my own society...hmm...feel free to interject here and help me out). Back to Mexico...I was incredibly surprised at the number of rehabilitation centres that were self-sustaining and run entirely on the goodwill of the community itself, receiving no government funding.

We visited a rehabilitation centre for recovering and rehabilitated drug and alcohol abusers; a women's community garden; a migrant resource centre for repatriated migrants and a shelter/holding centre for migrants awaiting deportation to other states in Mexico and other South American countries like Guatemala and Honduras. All of these community groups are sustained by volunteers and church groups who give freely of their resources and of their time to plant gardens, cook, build etc, whatever is needed, whatever it takes.

Take the rehab centre for example, it's self sustaining in that the rehabilitated members who do not want to go back home or who have no home are allowed to go out and work and the income that is brought in is used to care for all the members of the 'group home'. I thought...wow...asombroso (awesome)!

Now to define Minga, it's a Hispanic term that means communal work and a word I've come to appreciate very much. Other communal cultures have other words to depict this coming together. "Ubuntu", for example is a South African philosophy based on the display of sincere warmth and care to strangers and members of a community. (Kudos to my African sista for introducing me to this concept). I'm sure there must be a word for it in Guyana as well as I remember being well fed walking from house to house doing research (more in a next post).

Goes to show the power that comes from us pooling our collective resources, time and energy instead of waiting for some big relief fund to come and make a difference in our societies. Note to self.

After a dig & build for a women's community group  in  Agua Prieta, Mexico, 2013

~Love God,Live life,One Enkounter at a Time~