Supper with Ernie

June 30

After coming back from the mall, I hung around a bit in the convent. The NMDers who I met yesterday went out after somewhere after I left. I heard noises and went out and saw a guy who introduced himself as Ernie who was moving some desks into the building. I gave him a hand and we moved in a few that were evidently ordered. Ernie works for a company that replaces tires, and during his spare time volunteers in a group called PCIC (Pima County Interfaith Coalition). PCIC is a coalition mostly of different churches in the area that come together to work on projects that serve the needs of people around them. Some parts of Tucson are very poor. The Coalition includes Catholics, Luterans and Methodists. Occasionally there are some Muslim and Jewish groups that work in some initiatives as well.

After I helped Ernie move, he offered to take us for supper. We went to a delicious Mexican restaurant called Marriacchi. I have to say that people who associate Mexican food with chains like Taco Bell or TexMex are really missing out. I had some tripe soup called sopa de menudo. Ernie had soup with al bondigas- meatballs. It was extremely filling and tasty, and the cilantro they gave to sprinkle on the soup and the limes we squeezed into it gave it an amazing taste. I wanted to pay for the food but Ernie insisted he would, so I just left a tip.

Cool thing I learned about Mexico- Cinco de Mayo is actually not a celebration of Mexico’s independence. Rather, it celebrates the defeat of one of greatest conquerors of the 19th century, Napoleon Bonaparte. French troops invaded Mexico and stayed there for a while, but resistance eventually drove them out. Interestingly, before they left the French showed the Mexicans how to make bread- la pan. Previous to their invasion, people would eat only tortillas, made by Aboriginal Mexicans. The French brought in bread. Unfortunately in addition to bread, Napoleon’s armies also brought in occupation and consequently were driven out, never to return. La pan stayed.

During that supper, I met an amazing guy. Ernie is an American citizen who was born and raised in the United States, but his parents are Mexican. He is also a Christ follower, and his care for victims of injustice is testimony to his faith in the Saviour he talks about. Ernie is Catholic, and early in his life met people in his church who showed him that being a Christian is an everyday thing, not something you do once a week on Sunday- an ill that unfortunately infects Christians in every denomination and church group; whether Catholic or Mennonite or Evangelical or Lutheran or any other. As Ernie pointed out, “you have to see the face of Jesus in everyone. If you don’t help the poor He will say I won’t let you into my Kingdom”. Ernie’s grandmother is from Nogales, she ministered to kids in the area through her church, and as Ernie testifies, whenever someone who was hungry knocked on her door she would invite him or her in and eat with them.

We both know there are churches in all denominations who do not use the talents God gave them to reach out to the poor and believe that worship is something you do once a week through merely a service or music. I think of Isaiah 58:5-12 where God told the Israelites through his prophet Isaiah that He couldn’t care less about their fasting if it wasn’t accompanied by helping people provide for their physical needs and opposing injustice. Of course, these things must be accompanied by faith in God and acceptance of the cross. There is no salvation without Christ and belief in Him and His death and glorious resurrection. Our works cannot save us. However, they are the fruit of faith- if we do not reach out to witness to and live out the Gospel, our faith is dead.

Ernie and I have some theological differences (which are not going to be discussed on this blog) but we both believe that Jesus Christ is the only Saviour and Lord and that faith in Him must include reaching out to the world around us. He has done a lot more of that throughout his life than I have however.

Ernie talked about some of the reasons that cause millions of people in Mexico to seek to enter the United States illegally. Mexico has always been poorer than the United States, and there were always people trying to cross into the US to look for jobs that would pay more than back home. However, after NAFTA was passed, the numbers skyrocketed. In addition to corn farmers being made to lose their farms and only sources of income after not being allowed to export their corn anymore, the coffee industry was hit very hard as well. Increased competition drove down the prices Mexican coffee farmers could charge, and it became all but impossible for many to make a profit. Family businesses in both cases were hit the hardest.

Unemployed people began flocking to Northern Mexico and began looking for work in maquiladoras- companies in many cases owned by American businesses that would make products in Mexico for use in the States. The workers in these factories were paid a bit higher than Mexican minimum wage, but not enough to survive. Ernie told me that in some families both husband and wife work and yet that still leaves barely enough to pay the bills and get food on the table. As the maquiladoras expanded, the population of cities across the border grew increasingly.

They were around already as Ernie was a child and growing up on the American side of Nogales.
“Everyday I saw trains coming across with cars. They were good- they gave people jobs. But they were for lower wages”.

Many people began emigrating as they realized that the maquiladoras were not enough to help sustain their families. Also, as cheaper labour was found in Asia, some companies began to leave Mexico and moving to China where people could be paid even less. Ernie argues that the US should open its borders to Mexican workers. “We messed up their economy with NAFTA. If we pass NAFTA, we should open the borders”. I’m not sure where I stand on that issue, and to be honest I don’t know enough about it yet to argue either for or against such a proposal. I think though that it is wrong to punish people for trying to survive poverty, in particular if it was forced upon them.

I’ll let Ernie have the last word. As I was getting out of the car after he drove me back to the convent he asked me a simple question.

“If your kids were hungry and the only way you could feed them was crossing across the border to look for a job, what would you do?”