Tecate Building Community Project

I. Overview

The Tecate Building Community is the name of a people-to-people home build project for youth and other groups from the United States in Tecate, Mexico, a town on the U.S./Mexican border, approximately 40 miles east of San Diego, California. For the last eight years, youth groups from Washington and Arizona have built homes for low-income families in Tecate, a community of about 50,000 inhabitants.

The Tecate Building Community's goal is to strengthen families through the work of the community. Each summer Tecate families supported by youth groups from the United States,, have built homes for low-income families.

More than just having the satisfaction of helping, these youth volunteers have an experience that allows them a more fluid integration in the community and gives them the possibility of getting to know people and interact in another culture. They discover that along with the cultural differences that there are many aspects that they have in common and that unite them. This kind of program offers support and hope for the future with greater understanding between nations. Borders between countries do not exist when there is a desire to make a better tomorrow for all.

The Tecate Building Community provides an environment for interaction, cross-cultural cooperation and understanding for groups of young people from the United States and families in Mexico. For youth from the United States, the Community and Home Build, allows them to experience a different culture while being involved in one of the most important community development projects–building a family’s first home.

In 1998, the first home was built with families that were familiar with the philosophy of Habitat for Humanity, which had worked in the area from 1992 to 1996. That seed which was planted by Habitat for Humanity created such enthusiasm that the home building continued even without the organization’s sponsorship. Other groups have stepped in and supported the program so that additional low-income families can benefit.

Our program objective is clear—we want to help families develop their sense of community through helping each other. We do this through their participation in the building of homes. The construction activity also allows us to create parallel activities: families that have previously received help in building their home, help the next families build their neighbors and also work alongside the youth volunteers. The families engage in cultural activities with the youth groups and share their regional culture and history through dance, foods and music. In addition, the families invite the youth volunteers to visit their places of employment and their children’s schools which allow the teenagers to develop a sense of what their community life is.

II. Tecate, the Community:

Tecate is a border city in the state of Baja California, Mexico about 40 miles from the city of San Diego, California. The city of Tecate was founded on October 12, 1892, (according to the National Birth of Cities established by the Administration of Mayor Mr. Ruben Adame).

The area of Tecate is a semi-desert environment where rainfall is scarce. The major industry in Tecate has been for many years the Cerveceria Tecate (Tecate Beer Brewery). In 1994, when the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was signed, many companies from the United States and Asia were became established in Tecate. As a result, many families from other parts of the interior of the Mexican republic came to settle in search of work and a better life. The urban area of Tecate multiplied and the last census estimates that the population in 2005 is 60,000 inhabitants.

Since Tecate is in a semi-desert type of environment, it rarely rains therefore can be quite dusty. Water is scarce, although swimming pools are available in the area for groups to use for a modest fee. The areas of the home build are usually on the outskirts of the main town, where new settlements are being developed.

III. Major Activities:

The construction of a modest family home serves as the foundation of this community exchange experience. Families are identified through their communities as in need of housing. They are then interviewed and selected based on a review of their family income and needs. Since this project provides the construction labor and resources only, the family chosen must own the land where the house will be built. However, the families lack the financial resources to begin to build. Before, during and after the home build, the family must actively participate in the construction of their home as well as contribute to the youth group experience. One of the most common ways for the family to become involved with the group outside of home construction is during the evening meal and “fiestas,” which on most occasions, the family prepares for the group.

Groups construct two homes every summer

During the previous winter months, the Tecate Building Community Program Coordinator identifies two qualified families who live in the same neighborhood in which we worked last summer and who have building lots within walking distance. The families need to own the lots and the husband and wife need to be on the title. Families fulfilling these two main criteria are then selected based on need.

IV. Group Accommodations:

All groups will need to arrange for car/van rentals from San Diego to Tecate. The Tecate Building Community Coordinator locates and reserves a camp-like accommodation in the Tecate area. The groups need to have vehicles to transport themselves from the camp to the home build site. Most camp accommodations are modest and consist of dorm-like facilities with a group kitchen. The visiting group brings air mattresses, sleeping bags, provides for their food for breakfast and lunch and other personal items and activities.

V. Preparing for the Tecate Building Community Project

It is advisable for groups to start planning for this experience 6-8 months in advance. Please contact Pastor Paul about what groups usually fundraise for their stay and building materials.

Jorge Mario Cordon is an Architect with studies of Masters Degree from National University of Mexico UNAM and has a number of years coordinating home building projects for low-income families in Mexico. A former operations director for Habitat for Humanity, San Diego/Tijuana, he supervised the construction of one hundred homes in Tijuana and fifty in Tecate over a two year period. During the past several years, he has assisted several of these groups to continue to work in Tecate on home build projects during the summer. Jorge has also worked in community developments projects in Central America for many years.

The kids are still talking about our journey to Tecate and can’t wait to come back.

Last week in Tecate was a life changing experience that we will never forget! We wanted to think you for giving us all the opportunities that you did! Like dancing, we may not have been very good, but it was so fun! We made so many new friends and we will always remember them! Maybe we will have the chance to come see them again. We will always be thankful to have had this experience! Thank you so much! Adios! Hasta Luego!

Swimwear (girls, one piece suits or wear a T-shirt over your suit while in Tecate!) Some churches require one piece suits.

As potential drivers, each one of you will need your driver license and two additional forms of I.D.

Credit cards-- these will not be charged on, but are needed to take the vans over the border

Advice from previous groups say that ground transportation is an expensive part of the project. Pastor Paul advises to begin negotiations with the various car rental companies early. You can have significant savings but you’ll need to know the number of participants from your church.

Also, in the past, one church has arranged for two adults to drive their own church van and utility trailer to San Diego. This is done in order to “pre-ship” tools, sleeping bags and all the other bulky/heavy items which were hard to take on the airplane. If you have tools or other items which were hard to handle on the airplanes, and want to send them down on in another groups trailer, please let Pastor Paul know.

Sunday early afternoon: Buy the week’s food supply at Costco. Eat a large late lunch or early dinner. You can purchase sandwich supplies and eat at my home or go to an inexpensive buffet. Some groups have bought pizzas at Costco. There are a number of American and inexpensive Chinese food buffets in Chula Vista.

On I-5 take Palomar St. exit. Go on Palomar St. toward east. On Broadway turn left and one block after on Oxford St. turn left again. Costco is ½ block past Oxford (before Moss).

Go 2 miles on Palomar St. toward east. You will pass Broadway, Third Ave., and after you pass Hilltop Dr. next street on your left is Cuyamaca Ave. (As you turn, be careful about oncoming traffic at the top of Palomar Street.) My address is: 1274 Cuyamaca Ave. Chula Vista, CA. 91911. Ph: (619) 426-0801. cell phone (619) 370-9018.

X. The week's schedule:

Sunday at 4.00 pm

4:00 pm We meet at the my house to have a brief welcome meeting, see a video and ready to go to Tecate.

Sunday Night we will meet the families at the site and ready to enjoy our first Mexican dinner with all the families. This welcome activity is very important because all the families attend since are not at school or work.

8:00 am we meet at the site with the families and we go to see the previous houses in order to see their improvements. 8:45 am we give instructions and set all the crews. Noon we have a 45 minutes for lunch and work until 3:30 cleaning the site and tools. At 4:00 pm. we share a dinner prepared by the homeowners and some of the youth. At 5:30 pm, go and play soccer with the kids in the community. After go to swim and relax at Quintas Campestres.

Could be ok start early and finish early (6 am -2pm) 4:00 pm dinner. After dinner a meeting with the new home owners and have their testimony and questions. At 5:30 pm go and play soccer with the kids in the community. Afterwards, go swim and relax at Quintas Campestres.

Work day as usual and at 4:00 pm we share dinner with the families. After dinner we go to Quintas Campestres , swim and relax.

7:00 pm: Community Cultural Activities: Mexican dances & Music, poetry, etc. Afterwards a stop at the panaderia (bakery) to taste the best Mexican bread in Tecate!

Work Day an a normal to 2 pm. If the group is interested, this afternoon we can visit an orphanage to play soccer with the kids. At 3:30 we can come back to Quintas Campestres for swim and relax. At 6:00 pm we are going to have a convivio (party) with the homeowners (dinner, music and dancing) at the building site.

We have to pack, clean the bedrooms and leave the houses because our contract with Quintas Campestres is from Sunday night to Friday morning. Those are weekend houses and need to be ready. We have to pack and load the vans. A possible trip to Rosarito, Ensenada or some other spot in San Diego.

The planning for the project should begin early in the year prior to arrival. For more information please, contact to Pastor Paul Freese, Coordinator of the Youth Groups at Celebration Lutheran Church in Puyallup,Washington. Paul@celebrationlutheranchurch.org ; 2500 Shaw Road, Puyallup, WA 98372 Ph: (253) 848-1098

Or contact to Jorge Mario Cordon for more information at email address: acordon@cox.net

Jorge Mario Cordon is an Architect with Studies of Masters Degree from Architecture School of National Autonomous University of Mexico UNAM and has a number of years coordinating home building projects for low income families in Mexico. A former Operations Director for Habitat for Humanity, San Diego-Tijuana, he supervised the construction of one hundred fifty homes in Tijuana and fifty homes in Tecate from 1992 to 1995. Since 1998 started Building Community Project for Lutheran Youth Program every summer at Tecate Baja California.

Previously, Jorge Mario worked in community development Projects in 1995 in Tijuana with the Presbyterian Church. In 1983 he worked in the state of Oaxaca with Baptist Church Housing Project, In1985, after the earthquake in Mexico City, he worked with the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and as a Director in Central America with Caritas Italy International in the Mayan highland area building 1,200 homes after a major earthquake in 1976.

The volunteer youth groups that want to participate in the program organize themselves in their own communities to gather the resources needed for the home construction and living expenses in Tecate. They then travel to Tecate to undertake their community integration during the week. The type of construction work that each volunteer youth group undertakes depends on the stage in which the previous group completed of the home building project.

The identification of potential families that could benefit from the program is done by the community via visits that conducted throughout the previous year. Each family completes a socio-economic study to collect information of their situation to prioritize which family has the most immediate need for better shelter. The number of families selected is determined by the number of volunteer youth groups and the amount of program funds they are able to raise.

1) Each family needs to own their lot which they can prove by a bill of sale which also has the name and signature of the wife in order to help ensure the legal rights of the family unit.

2) The family should have young children of school age since this age of child must have the help of their parents to serve as a base for their health and education

3) The lot should have access to be able to deliver building materials and have access to electricity and water to aid in the home construction

4) The family must agree to help in the future construction of a neighbor’s home as a means to return the help that they have received.

5) The family must be willing and actively participate in other community activities that are needed such as the improvement of the school, playground and street cleanup.

Lucio Rodriquez is the father and the head of the household. He was born in Aomes, Sinaloa on September 30, 1959. He has worked for the last 7 years ago in the Amuemex factpru which make wood furniture. He gets $68 dollars a week and works from 6 am to 4 pm. The mother’s name is Elvira Cobian and was born in La Cucaracha, Nayarit on May 17, 1963. She has worked for the last 2 years ago as a janitor at US-German owned factory --CoproDuch which makes microchips. She earns about $80 dollars a week and her schedule is from 7 am to 5 pm. Their son is Lucio Rodriguez and was born in Tecate on June 24, 1990.

Domingo Zacarias Marquez is the head of the household. He was born in San Pedro Paracho, Michoacan on Feb 14, 1948. Like many residents of Tecate, he currently works in a US-owned factory (maquiladora). Micaela Magana Lazaro, is the mother and she was born in Paracho, Michoacan on October 11, 1953. She works at home as a housewife. They have four daughters Margarita 25 years old, Silvia 20 years old, Azucena 18 years old and Angelita 17 years old. None of the daughters is currently working since their past employer, a US owned factory moved to another location.

Domingo’s mother, Josefina Marquez Estrada, is 82 years old and as of one year ago, lives with them after suffering a broken hip in a car accident. Josefina just speaks Tarasco and a little Spanish. The Zacarias Magana family moved to Tecate, Baja California 10 years ago looking for work.

Father: Alder Sojo (1985) He was born in Tepic Nayarit. He works as a Taxi driver and also is at University. He will start to be a teacher at school teaching Mexican History. He loves to be an actor in the Theater. Mother: Cecilia Avila (1985), she was born in Tijuana Baja California. She works at a factory. Cecilia and Alder like to dance Mexican Folk dance. Daughters: Mayam (2 years old) and Quetzal (4 months), both girls were born in Tecate BC.

The name of the father is Efrain Blancarte was born in Jalisco and works as a taxi driver. The name of the wife is Esmeralda Cisneros was born in Jalisco and use to be a factory worker. Because health problems Esmeralda stops working and now is just taking care of the kids. Their children are Cesar (14), Juan (10) were born in Jalisco and Lisbeth ( 8) was born in Tecate.

Joaquin Hernandez Romo, the father was born in Tapatitlan, state of Jalisco in 1959. Juana Carmona Gonzalez, the mother was born in Jalostitlan, also in Jalisco in 1960. They have five children. The oldest is Jose Guadalupe who was born in 1979 in Jalostitlan. He currently lives in La Paz, Baja California. Luis Alberto was born in Ensenada in 1982. He lives in California. Then there are the twins, Juan Luis y Jose Manual were born in 1988 in Ensenada. Finally, their only daughter, Maria Guadalupe was born on July 31, 1995. She is nine years old.

Joaquin Hernandez Romo works as a delivery person for a building supply store. Juana Carmona Gonzalez is a homemaker. They met in the town of Dona Juana in 1978 in the town park. In the towns in Mexico and other countries in Latin America, there is the old tradition of meeting in the park. The young people walk around the park; the young men in one direction and the young women in the other. If one teen likes another, they give them a flower and if the other person receives it, they walk together in another circuit around the park. The couple arrived in Tecate thirteen years ago. They have lived in their current location for five years.

Julian Reyes Mijares is the father and was born in Durango in 1970. The mother is Martina Reyes Acosta and was born in Durango in 1967. They have six children. They are: Nelva Yadira Reyes Reyes who was born 17 years ago (6/16/87), Jose Martin who was born 14 years ago (10/17/90), Christian Ulises was born in Tecate 11 years ago (12/3/93), Alonso was born in Tecate nine years ago (7/22/95). Arianet was born in Tecate seven years ago (5/29/97) and the youngest, Karen Guadalupe who was born four years ago (3/3/00).

Julian Reyes Mijares works as a night watchman. Martina Reyes Acosta works in a maquiladora (assembly) company that makes electrical transformers. Both parents have lived in Tecate for 16 years. They came to Tecate in search of work. Currently, the house where they live is in very bad condition. They do not have electricity or water. The roof leaks so they have to have a tub to catch the water inside the house. This year they were able to lay a cement floor.As the two parents work, the children are at home under the care of Jose Martin. The eldest girl, Nelva is married and lives with her husband and child. Three years ago, Caren, the youngest girl was involved in an accident in the home. Her mother cooks over an open fire and uses gasoline to start it. During a moment when her mother wasn’t watching, Caren got a hold of the gasoline bottle and threw it in the fire. She received serious burns on her face, arm and chest. She has scar tissue and we are trying to get her into the Shriner's Hospital in Los Angeles for evaluation.

Miguel is the father and Martha Elena is the mother. They have four children, three boys and one girl. Hector Javier is five years old, Sonia Guadalupe is seven, Jesus Carlos is 10 and Francisco Alejandro is 14. Miguel is a day laborer and Martha is a seamstress. Miguel was born in Tecate and Martha Elena in Mexicali. They have been residing in Tecate for four years and came to be able to work.

Jose Luis is the father and Maria Guadalupe is the mother. They have three children, two boys and one girl. Christian Alejandro is twelve years old. Maria Isabel is nine and Jose Luis is 6 years of age. Jose Luis mother, Mercedes Quiroa Perez also lives with them and helps take care of the children while their parents work. Jose Luis works as a highway worker and Maria Guadalupe works in a factory that manufactures decorative pins for golf tournaments. Jose Luis was born in Ciudad Obregon, Sonora and Maria Guadalupe was born in Puebla, in the state of Puebla. They have lived in Tecate for nine years and came there looking for a better life.

Humberto Garcia is the father and he was born in Veracruz and the mother, Juana Hesca was born in Veracruz . They have three kids. The older one Humberto Garcia Huesca was born in Veracruz in 1985. Norma nacio en Puebla, Puebla in 1989 and the younger one, Luis nacio en Puebla, Puebla in 1992. Humberto, Dona Juana and Humberto Jr are working for the same company-- Hudson from Ontario California which produces medical devices needed throat surgery. Dona Juana is a Supervisor. In 1998 the family migrated to Tecate and bought their lot in 5,000 dollars.

Mario Andrade,the father was born in Sinaloa in January 19, 1979 and the mother, Xochitl was born in Ensenada, Baja California in 1979. They get married in Tecate in 1999. They have twoo kids, Luis Mario who was born in Tijuana, Baja California in 11/29/2001. Edwin Andrade Ozuna was born in Tecate Baja California 3/11/2005. Mario is working in a Sodas Company Penafiel from Mexico as a driver.

Daniel and Gregoria are the parents of three girls: Claudia who is seven, Rosa Eulalia who is five and Daniela who is thirteen months old. Daniel works as a potter in a factory that supplies Home Depot with ceramic planters, outdoor fireplaces known as “chimeneas” (Mexican chimneys) and other ceramic decorative items. Gregoria is a homemaker. Both parents were born in the state of Oaxaca. They came to Tecate looking for work

Maurillo and Veronica are the parents. They have two children, a boy and a girl. Mario Jose is 4 years old and Dulce Abigail is 2 years old. Maurillo is a potter at the same factory where Daniel works. Veronica is a homemaker. Their property is filled with large rocks and boulders which will need to be broken up by dynamite, drills and pick axes. Both parents were born in the same town –Chimalhuacan, in the state of Mexico. They came to Tecate four years ago looking to the north for their future.

Felipe and Maria Teresa have two children, a boy and a girl, Alfonso who was born in 1988 and Jaqueline, born in 1995. Rubi (was born 2004). Felipe works as a day laborer and Maria Teresa in a plastic mold factory. Both Felipe and Maria Teresa are from the state of Mexico. They have been living in Tecate for three years.

Groups construct two homes every summer

VII. GROUP SIZE

X. The week's schedule:

Sunday at 4.00 pm