Chicken Fridays

Fridays are pretty good days here in LaGrange! We don't go to our community service sites, instead we reserve time for our team meetings, neighborhood ministry, and ministry within the Hispanic community. Every Friday we have lunch with a group of Hispanic ladies and their children, or the children they babysit, that are a part of Alterna. Language barriers can make conversations interesting but we are managing! When Miram and Norma are speaking in Spanish it gives me a little glimpse as what it must be like to for them to be in a group of English speakers.

During the day it seems many of these women stay home, or rather they are kind of trapped at home. Undocumented immigrants can't obtain a driver's license therefore they stay home or run the risk of getting a ticket. Anton told me yesterday he would love it if we could plan a Friday event for these women where we could just take them out of their house; a picnic at the nearby lake, an outing to a nearby larger town, basically give them a chance to get away.

I can't imagine what it must feel like to be trapped in your own home. Just today, Ben and I were really feeling the need to escape the house for a little while, so we got in the car and left. I don't think of driving as a privilege, I think of it as a right, or at least as a necessity. But for immigrants this is a right they don't have. I would love to be able to give these ladies a chance to get out of the house, to break up the monotony of their days.

Just doing something simple can break up the sameness of your routine. After lunch yesterday I went to Norma's house and played with Melanie, a precious 2 1/2 year old she babysits. We chased chickens in their chicken coop with a net. It was really funny to see this little girl screaming and trying to catch a chicken. Actually yesterday was the first time I have ever caught a chicken and picked it up. That was definitely a break from my daily routine. I definitely recommend chasing chickens the next time you need a break from you boring routine!