Dec. 13 Dec. 20 Jan 10 Jan 17 Jan 31

For details and registration information, see the appropriate flier:

December 2009 Chess Tournaments

January 2010 Chess Tournaments

Juan Romero and Emmanuel Serratta, brothers from Los Fresnos High School, won the Family Trophy, with a total of 5 points.

The results of each section were as [...]]]> Thirty-six players (26 rated, 10 unrated) of all ages filled the room in another exciting Border Hope Chess Tournament at Iglesia Menonita Buenas Nuevas this past Sunday, Dec. 6.

Juan Romero and Emmanuel Serratta, brothers from Los Fresnos High School, won the Family Trophy, with a total of 5 points.

The results of each section were as follows:

Rated 1

Rating range: 1400s to 1700s
Winner: Perry Johnson with 3 points

Rated 2

Rating range: 1200s to 1300s
Winner: Christian Cardenas with 2 points

Rated 3

Rating ranges: 1000s to 1100s
Winner: Edward Markowsky III with 2.5 points

Rated 4

Rating range: 800s to 900s
Winner: Jaime Pena with 3 points

Rated 5

Rating range: 600s to 800s
Winner: Eddie Rodriguez with 3 points

Rated 6

Rating range: 300s to 600s
1st Place: Caleb Johnson with 3 points
2nd Place: Genesis Ybarra with 2 points

Unrated 1

Age range: 9 to adult
1st Place: Juan Romero with 3 points
2nd Place: John Roach with 2 points

Unrated 2

Age range: 6-8
Winner: Sean Handy

Full results of the rated sections of our recent tournaments are posted at the U.S. Chess Federation web site. Clicking on the dates below will take you there.

Dec 6, 2009

Nov 15, 2009

Nov 22, 2009

Congratulations to all participants who played in these hard-fought games!

For map, times, prices, and everything else you need to know, check out this flier.

The proceeds will go to helping children and families in an extremely poor community in Reynosa.

You won’t want to miss the Sunday Afternoon Chess Tournaments, to be held on Nov. 15, Nov. 22, and Dec. 6, 2009, at Iglesia Buenas Nuevas in San Juan, Texas. People of all [...]]]> Looking for a great way to have fun, fire up your brain power, and support a great cause, all at the same time?

You won’t want to miss the Sunday Afternoon Chess Tournaments, to be held on Nov. 15, Nov. 22, and Dec. 6, 2009, at Iglesia Buenas Nuevas in San Juan, Texas. People of all ages and levels are welcome to participate.

For map, times, prices, and everything else you need to know, check out this flier.

All proceeds will go to helping children and families in an extremely poor community in Reynosa.

See you there!

The Canal : Reynosa, Mexico from Bedouins International on Vimeo.

[Español]

Less than 15 miles from my house in south Texas, there is a community where people live in shacks with no electricity or running water. It is a shantytown built along the canal that runs through the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. People bathe in the [...]]]>

The Canal : Reynosa, Mexico from Bedouins International on Vimeo.

[Español]

Less than 15 miles from my house in south Texas, there is a community where people live in shacks with no electricity or running water. It is a shantytown built along the canal that runs through the city of Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico. People bathe in the polluted water and get skin problems as a result. Most of the people moved here from very poor communities in southern Mexico. Unemployment, health and nutrition issues, alcoholism and drug abuse, teenage pregnancy, and despair abound. There is significant prosperity in other parts of Reynosa, just a few miles away. But a Mexican friend who herself grew up in poverty maintains that the conditions in the shantytowns are as bad as you can find anywhere else in Mexico.

On Sunday, May 31, 2009, my new friend Will and I visited this community. We took about 100 sandwiches, about 50 apples, and a bag of carrots. After spending an hour or so slapping together the sandwiches at the pastor’s house (in another part of Reynosa), we arrived at the community, drove down the muddy road along the canal and stopped in front of the little “templo,” one of the only concrete block structures in the area. Attendance was lower than usual, because it had rained, which makes everything muddy. (Kids tend to miss school on such days as well, because they have to walk almost a mile to school.)

Up front the pastor was praying with his hands on the shoulders of a woman and her adult son, who with great emotion were thanking God for the bags of groceries that sat in front of them on a couple of chairs, an offering that I think the other people in this neighborhood church had put together for them–a big box of cereal and similar items. The pastor remarked that the son had eaten only potatoes that week.

At the end we ate together. I sat next to a young couple, Nemesio and Irma, and their 6 week old baby Vilda, if I got the names right. They came from the southern Mexican state of Oaxaca about 6 months ago. At some point I asked if they had any land in Oaxaca. He chuckled, said no, and remarked, “We have nothing!” Afterwards we continued talking to folks, and skipped rocks on the canal with José, a boy maybe 11 or so years old, who had no shoes.

My family and I had visited this community a handful of times before. My wife and I and other friends talked at length with Pastor Juan, the pastor of the “templo,” about the community’s needs and ways to help. Pastor Juan enthusiastically supported an idea my wife proposed: Bring sandwiches or other food each week for a fellowship dinner after the afternoon church service. By networking among churches and other contacts on both sides of the border, I’m hoping to form a team to do that. The aim will be to build relationships, get to know needs and opportunities, and get more eyes and ears and brains praying and working together toward constructive solutions.

John, the pastor of the church my family and I recently began attending on the Texas side (where Will also attends) is very supportive of this effort, and hopes others in the church will get involved. John and Will and others in the church have agricultural and appropriate technology expertise that might eventually be brought to bear.

The powerful and informative video above, 6 minutes long and used with permission, will give you an idea of what this community is like. You really gotta see it. It was produced by some guys from Alabama who stayed for a week with a family further down the canal. As the video says, people come here looking for a gateway to opportunity, only to find themselves stuck in a dead end.

But are teams such as those mentioned in the video, who come from far away, do short visits, bring a pot of stew, and build a few houses, and then return home, a sufficient answer in and of themselves? What can be done to form lasting personal relationships locally, and thereby connect people from marginalized communities like this with local resources (education, ideas, vision, capital, mentorship, etc.) for ongoing empowerment?

Hopefully Will’s and my visit was a small start that can be built upon. Will you help us?

Steve

Caveat: The statement made in the video that land along the canal was deeded to the shantytown residents seems doubtful, even though some residents may believe that is the case. Experts we have consulted believe these residents are likely being fraudulently promised regularization of property in exchange for money. The land in the area we are working with is subject to flooding and unsuited to permanent human habitation.

The Canal : Reynosa, Mexico from Bedouins International on Vimeo.

[English]

A menos de 25 kilómetros de mi casa en el sur de Tejas hay una ciudad perdida de viviendas extremadamente humildes y sin luz y agua corriente, por el canal que corre por medio de la ciudad de Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México. La gente se baña en [...]]]>

The Canal : Reynosa, Mexico from Bedouins International on Vimeo.

[English]

A menos de 25 kilómetros de mi casa en el sur de Tejas hay una ciudad perdida de viviendas extremadamente humildes y sin luz y agua corriente, por el canal que corre por medio de la ciudad de Reynosa, Tamaulipas, México. La gente se baña en el agua sucia y contaminada, lo que resulta en problemas de piel. La mayoría de la gente llegó de comunidades muy pobres del sur de la República Mexicana. Prevalecen el desempleo, problemas de salud y nutrición, el abuso del alcohol y las drogas, embarazos de menores de edad, y la desesperación. Hay mucha prosperidad en otras partes de Reynosa a pocos kilómetros. Sin embargo, una amiga mexicana que también creció en la pobreza sostiene que las condiciones de vida en esta comunidad están entre las peores que se puede encontrar en todo el país.

El domingo el 31 de mayo de 2009 un amigo nuevo que se llama Will y yo visitamos la comunidad. Trajimos material para unos 100 sándwiches de jamón y queso con mayonesa, unas 50 manzanas, y una bolsa de zanahorias. Después de pasar alrededor de una hora haciendo los sándwiches en la casa del pastor (en otra parte de Reynosa), llegamos a la comunidad, manejamos por el camino de lodo, y nos estacionamos frente al pequeño templo, la única construcción de bloque en el area. Asistieron menos personas de lo usual porque había llovido. (Los niños normalmente faltan a la escuela también cuando llueve porque tienen que caminar en el lodo por 1 o 2 kilómetros.)

El pastor estaba orando con manos sobre los hombros de una mujer mayor y su hijo adulto, que con mucha emoción estaban dando gracias a Dios por las bolsas que estaban en dos sillas en frente de ellos. Creo que fue una ofrenda de los otros miembros de la iglesia–una caja grande de cereal más otros comestibles. El pastor comentó que el hijo sólo había comido papas durante toda la semana.

Después del culto cenamos juntos. Al lado de mi asiento había una pareja jóven, Nemesio e Irma y su bebé Vilda de 6 semanas, si recuerdo bien los nombres. Llegaron hace alrededor de 6 meses, del estado mexicano sureño de Oaxaca. Le pregunté a Nemesio si tenían tierras en Oaxaca. Él se rió, dijo que no, y comentó, “¡No tenemos nada!”

Después seguimos platicando con gente, y lanzamos piedras haciéndolas brincar por el superficie del canal, con José, un niño de alrededor de 11 años, quién no tiene zapatos.

Mi familia y yo ya habíamos visitado esta comunidad unas pocas veces. En esas ocasiones mi esposa, otros amigos y yo hablamos largo y tendido con el pastor Pastor Juan acerca de las necesidades de la comunidad y maneras de ayudar. El pastor Juan apoyó con entusiasmo la idea que propuso mi esposa de traer sándwiches u otras comidas cada semana para una cena de compañerismo después del culto. Hablaré con iglesias y otros contactos por los dos lados de la frontera a fin de formar un equipo para llevar dicho plan a cabo. El propósito será establecer relaciones, llegar a conocer las necesidades y oportunidades de la comunidad, y unir más ojos y oídos y mentes para orar y trabajar juntos para buscar soluciones y ponerlas en práctica.

John, el pastor de la iglesia por el lado tejano a la que mi familia y yo hace poco empezamos a asistir (y a la que Will también asiste), está dándonos todo su apoyo esperando a que otros en la inglesia también participen en el proyecto. John y Will y otros en esta iglesia tejana tienen conocimientos en materia de agricultura y “tecnología adecuada” que a lo mejor se aplicarán.

El video en el encabezado te dará una imagen poderosa y conmovedora de una comunidad similar en el canal (dura sólo 6 minutos). Tienes que verlo (usado con permiso). Fue hecho por unos jóvenes de Alabama que se quedaron con una familia que vive por otro tramo del canal. Como dice el video, la gente viene para acá para encontrar la puerta a la oportunidad y termina estancada en un callejón sin salida.

Pero, ¿es suficiente lo que hacen estos equipos descritos en el video (venir desde lejos, llevar comidas, construir unas pocas casas, y regresar)? ¿Qué se puede hacer para establecer relaciones duraderas aquí en la región y así poner en el poder de las familias marginadas recursos locales (como educación, capacitación profesional, ideas, visión, capital, mentores, etc.) con que puedan salir adelante?

Esperamos que nuestra visita haya sido el comienzo de una movilización mayor de personas y recursos. Ayúdanos, por favor.

Steve