Labor Day

After sleeping in, enjoying a pancake breakfast with Goose and some lounging, I was heading over to my office, still in my jammies, to check e-mail. When I came around the corner of the church, three guys I've gotten to know from the day labor site were there. Eleuterio, Salvador and Arturo had gone to their usual spot seeking work, but it was a slower-than-usual morning that they wandered over to see if they could do anything to help. Eleuterio asked if he could mow the church lawn. We pulled out the old mower and began to mow. I visited with Arturo and Salvador for a bit, then decided to get out some tools and do some weeding in the garden. These guys volunteered their time the day we first broke earth for this garden.

We talked as we worked and I learned that Arturo plans to return to Veracruz, Mexico next month. He has been in the US for two years and has had so little work in the past several months that he is struggling to get by. He misses his family and his little village where the warm river is wonderful to swim in and where sugar cane and bananas are abundant. Where mango and peach trees are found in yards and beg to be picked like the apple and pear trees here in Western Oregon. He misses doing electrical work, his specialty and something he can't practice here without a license. Arturo has grown to care for his neighbors the people he sees each day at the day labor site but there is longing in his voice when he describes his family. He doesn't say it, but he seems lonely.

So many of the day laborers I've talked with in these past months have considered or are planning on returning to their home countries. Better to be without work and be with family there than to be without work here, alone. I am saddened that our country has not been more hospitable to them and that they have suffered without regular employment for so long, but I am also selfishly sad that they are leaving. I have come to care so much about these guys and I believe that their presence really contributes to our community. But I am so happy that those who choose to leave will soon be home with their families.

As we weeded and picked ripe tomatoes, it suddenly began to pour. So we leaned the tools against the building, grabbed Eric from inside and headed out to the taqueria that just opened four days ago. It was great to spend the afternoon these guys on Labor Day. We were enjoying the day off. They desperately wanted to work. And so we did some work and we rested and we ate together. It seemed like an appropriate way to honor our friends who are workers. And I feel challenged to find other ways to honor those in our midst who work so hard.

Eleuterio:

Salvador and Arturo: