The Nicaraguan Cohort
of Missioners has been working together through the book Geography of Grace. A
central point of the book is that the grace of God pools up—is most evident—in
the lowest, most needy places. Today we
and the Cohort visited one of those places.
La Limonada is a barrio, some would say slum, in Guatemala City. At the outskirts of La Limonada we were met
by Tita who would spend the next few hours walking through the barrio with us.
Once a wooded ravine,
green and natural, it is now gray and dense with the poorest of the poor of the
city. Over a period of many years the
ravine was occupied by squatters seeking refuge from war and displacement, and
now it is a labyrinth of simple cinder block homes, built wherever one could
find space. The shape of the home is
dictated by the shapes of the homes that surround it. Now the only open spaces in the ravine are
the pathways that wind in labyrinth fashion among the tiny homes. Often so narrow that a motorcycle and a
pedestrian cannot pass side by side, the “streets” twist and turn erratically,
passing by the doors of homes and workshops every few meters, ultimately ending
at the front door of the last home on the street.
La Limonada is home to
thousands of people. It is also home to
much crime and violence. As we walked by
one tiny church, Tita pointed out the bullet holes from some distant gang
fight, still evident in the front wall.
We visited and prayed at one home where a young man lay in his bed, still
suffering from a bullet wound he received 5 years ago. Violence, like the
shortage of physical resources, is a fact of life in La Limonada.
But more about Tita, our
guide for the day. She is a Guatemalan
with a heart as big as all of La Limonada.
She focuses not on what La Limonada doesn’t have, but rather on what La
Limonada does have. Walking with her in
La Limonada is like walking with a rock star, only better. Children ran up to her on the street shouting
“Mama Tita! Mama Tita!” She had a hug
for everyone, and even “cool” teenagers let down their guard for a moment to
give her a hug. People would greet her
in their doorways, and within moments Tita would be inside their homes, encouraging them and praying
with them and for their problems. We
walked into homes where residents were making shopping bags or teaching others
to make beautiful slippers, all to sell in the market. It is so obvious that she loves the people of
La Limonada, and they love her in return.
A movie was made in
2010 about the work of Tita and others in La Limomada. It is called Reparando and available for rent or purchase here: http://www.amazon.com/Reparando-Scott-Owen-Moore/dp/B00EWGYL8A. Walking through the barrio today, the people
we once saw only in the movie came became very real to us. We had our picture taken with a smiling Guis,
the once solitary man whose life, through the love of Tita and others, has undergone
profound changes. We stood and prayed in
his room with Vitalino, the old bed-ridden man, cared for by his neighbors for
7 years now, whose birthday party was shown in the film. It was humbling to walk and pray side-by-side
with those who have poured out so much love into La Limonada. Today we saw that the grace of God does
indeed pool up in the lowest places, bringing change and hope to what was once
considered hopeless and unchangeable.
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