Some months ago a van pulled up to the Lord’s Food Bank in
Juarez, Mexico, and out piled a group of people. We had never seen these people
before, not have we ever had a group like this one — all of them were blind
except the driver. They had come looking
for help and told us their story.
When the violence associated with the drug wars in Mexico erupted
in Juarez, many companies and businesses either moved out of town or had to
close down due to the severe economic crises that this chaos brought. One of
the small factories that was forced out of business was the one that employed
these blind people. “All of us lost our jobs when the factory shut down,” one
woman said. “It’s hard enough for an able-bodied person to try and find work in
this economy, but for us who can’t see?! It is impossible.” One of the men
shared, “I want to work and provide for my family, but no one wants to hire a
blind man.”
As we spoke with them
some more, it turned out that they all lived in very different parts of town.
Juarez is a huge, sprawling city, and some of these people lived very far from
the Food Bank. We try to focus on the needs of the people who live in the
general area of the Food Bank location, but we could see that this was a very
pressing case. These poor folks had gone all over looking for help, but had
been repeatedly turned away.
As we discussed the problem,
Juan, the friend who had driven the group in his van, offered, “Why don’t you
deliver the groceries each week to my house, and then they can come and pick
them up. That way, you don’t have to drive all over town.” Everyone agreed to
this solution.
So that is what we do.
Every Friday we take bags of food to Juan’s house and one way or another, the
blind people get there to pick them up.
“We can’t thank you or
God enough for helping us in this way,” Maria expressed recently. “May God
bless you for coming to our aid!”