Try to imagine what it would be like if two foreigners showed up on your doorstep with a translator in tow and told you they were going to complete your renovation project for you.
That's just what happened to Nacho, a factory worker in the city of San Luis, Mexico, about 20 minutes south of Yuma, Ariz. Nacho knew the translator, Roger Tores, because he is the brother of one of his neighbours. Still, it must have been a bit of a shocker when St. Albert snowbirds John and Jeanne Mackenzie arrived on his doorstep and asked what work they could do for him.
Nacho had just finished an 11-hour night shift and wanted to sleep, but that morning he had to go on his bike to register his son for school. Nacho pedalled home to find the strangers in his yard hugging his children.
"We showed up out of the blue because we had no way of contacting him. He doesn't have a phone. Roger is an American, but he spoke Spanish and translated for us. Nacho didn't show much emotion, but we could tell he was thrilled," said Jeanne Mackenzie.
Decade of work
Jeanne Mackenzie has long been an advocate for children's rights. For 15 years the St. Albert resident co-ordinated Pregnancy Help, to help pregnant young women, especially teens. That agency is no longer in existence in St. Albert and both the Mackenzies retired about 15 years ago. In 1998 they began spending their winters in Arizona and often went across the border to Mexico as tourists, but also to do small projects to help local people when they could.
Soon after their first trip south, Jeanne put out a plea through the Gazette for donations of blankets for the people she met in Mexico. The donations came in by the dozens. Every day Mackenzie would come home to find donated bedding, clothing and children's shoes sitting on her back step. The next winter the snowbirds took 183 blankets to Mexico for people living in a landfill in Puerto Penasco.
After 9-11 it became difficult for individuals to transport goods across the American border so the Mackenzies teamed up with a charitable group from Sherwood Park, called Amigo Relief Missions. For a few years the couple volunteered near a drug rehabilitation agency in Ciudad Juarez. John helped with some construction projects and Jeanne taught English and sewing to women there. They stopped doing this a few years ago because of safety concerns.
"I won't go back to Juarez. I think since the drug lords took over, Juarez has become one of the most dangerous cities on the planet," Mackenzie said.
Still, after their son Craig sent them a cheque for $2,000 this winter, Jeanne, 67, and John, 69, willingly took a 20-minute drive across the American border from Yuma to San Luis, Mexico.
"Our son said he'd like us to use the money for a charitable purpose. We talked to our parish priest in Yuma and he put us in touch with Roger Tores who took us to see Nacho," Mackenzie said.
Digging in
Nacho earns $80 a week and his wife Maria earns $40 per week. They have three children aged 11, five and three and it was their oldest boy, Luis, who was hugging Jeanne when Nacho showed up.
By Mexican standards, Nacho and Maria are comfortable. They have steady jobs and they own their own property, which is worth about $800. The family lives in a one-room plywood shack but Nacho had already started construction on a brick structure, which he hoped would eventually become his house. The family plans to sleep in the new building and retain the old structure for cooking.
The Mackenzies helped finish their house by adding electricity, plumbing, doors and a window.
With the help of little three-year-old Angel, Jeanne dug the 30-foot trench required for the pipe that led to the new septic system.
"He was quite the help. He kept digging the sand and carrying it back and forth so the job took me about two hours with my little helper," Mackenzie said.
Do unto others
To do the work, the couple made six or seven trips across the border. Tores only came with them once but the Mackenzies shopped by themselves in San Luis for materials such as concrete. They never thought they were in any danger. Mackenzie feels people shouldn't be too paranoid about their safety as long as they use common sense.
"There are drugs and there is danger in San Luis, of course. But it is a smaller city than Juarez. We were only there a few hours each day, in the daylight and we made sure we went back across the border by 4 p.m. Anyway, I don't scare easily. I don't go to areas I shouldn't go to. I go in daylight and I wouldn't walk on the streets. We had a newer vehicle but if you wave to people, they wave back," she said.
The Mackenzies had help from friends in their Yuma RV park. One neighbour helped with some of the construction and they received gifts of toys for the children and donations from several other snowbirds that went towards purchasing a new bike, bedding and a television set.
The Mackenzies knew that Nacho's five-year-old daughter still slept with her parents so they purchased a little white bed for the girl and bunk beds for the boys.
"We set the beds up on our last day. Nacho had just come home from work, but he stayed up to help us and it was very exciting to see the kids' faces when they came home from school," Mackenzie said.
Mackenzie explained that learning to give is a family trait. When she was a child in Bonnyville, Mackenzie's mother often invited needy strangers in for a sandwich.
"Maybe it started there. Also, my father would take me out in his truck and if there was a hitchhiker, he'd often give them a ride," she said.
Despite the whimsical, unexpected nature of the gift from the Mackenzies and despite the language barrier, Maria and Nacho did their best to show their gratitude.
"Maria has several pictures of her family on the wall. I gave her a picture of our son with his family and she took it and put it up on the wall in the middle of all her family photos as if our family was part of her family," Mackenzie said.
"It was a very symbolic gesture and it was very satisfying to be able to help them."
