Alternative Spring Break

The course provides an opportunity for students to gain a deeper understanding of Mexican history, people, and culture before travelling to Nueva Rosita in March. The trip offers a unique opportunity for students to experience the faith and generosity of the Mexican people, and to make a real contribution to the welfare of a people who are materially poor. Students have a chance to experience the meaning of community, both in the Parish and within the group itself.

Previous trips have seen Regis University students and staff living with families and working on numerous service projects - from building latrines to painting a church. John Hickey has led numerous trips and he believes that students get much more out of the trip than just a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction of helping others. He states that, "In addition to the education that invariably occurs through the construction project and the daily encounters with a host family, participants can learn firsthand about the working conditions inside a coal mine and clothing factory, as well as, the complexities associated with NAFTA and Mexican land reform, " he said. "In doing so, the Regis team, while few in number, serves our entire Regis community by sharing in the generosity, faith, and knowledge of the Mexican people."

One Regis student, John Muir '00, who participated in the Spring 2000 trip, summed up his experiences and reasons for continuing to participate. "For me the project is about people and relationships. While this seems obvious and probably 'cliched,' I do not think any project could have a loftier, deeper, or more complex yet basic goal. Yes, this year we painted a church and it looks great, but truly the most beautiful work of the project was crafted in the houses of our Mexican families during conversations, in the streets of Nueva Rosita playing with the children of the town and in the church as we celebrated together." "The reign of God is like the yeast of woman mixed in with three measures of flour till it was leavened all through." Matthew 13:33

We listened to the people of Nueva Rosita tell us of their need for a church....... I must listen closely to the people in my daily life as they tell me of their needs.

We worked with Ray and the other people there....... I must always work with people, not just for them.

We Regis-folk worked together, with each other..... I must lean to work collaboratively with others, and not insist on doing it all by myself.

We did it their way (Pick and shovels), not our way (power tools and earth movers.)...... I must be sensitive to people – their age, their personalities, their back- grounds, their ways and not impose my ways on them.

We helped in a small way to further a project that is much bigger than ourselves...... I must be content to help people in small ways, trusting that just as others have already helped them in the past, still others will help them in the future.

We will probably, never see the finished church, but that's OK... I – like a first grade teacher working with students, or like a parent working with small children – must becontent to live in hope, and possibly never see the final results.

Twenty years from now the people using the church may not remember us and the part we played to help build it, but that's OK..... I must be content when people do not remember how I have helped them along the way.

I must be yeast in today's world

Tom Prag, S.J., N.R. '97