Comedor

Through a program that directly translated means "dining room" in Spanish, the Mennonite church here in La Mesa has endeavored to help feed disadvantaged kids every day after school. This program is known as the "Comedor," and is one of the places that my team and I have been working in. Every day around 12:30 the kids start to trickle into the church building from area schools. Originally the only task we had there was to help serve and bus tables, but almost as soon as they realized that we were North Americans they asked if we would teach them English. Our job has morphed into much more than just waiters, now we are maestras! Every day we pull out the white board and learn things like numbers, colors, animals, and family members.


While there is a definite desire to speak English in La Mesa, I don't feel like that is the main goal of our teaching. Kids need to be loved and nurtured, and they clamor for attention. The greatest gift we can give them is our love, our love that we have the ability to give because God loves us. They learn about God through daily devotions after lunch, but it is different when put into practice. In turn they can teach us so much about life and friendship and family bonds. The other day a girl brought in her two year old brother. She was quite obviously playing mom for the day, although she herself couldn't have been more than ten or eleven years old. I was amazed at the love and care she put into sharing her plate of food with her brother. It is this love that they can share with us, this bond that is strong enough to transcend the reality of siblings taking care of siblings.