Being in the community of El Jardin, one of the things that we enjoyed more is the food. This is my second time testing pozol that was done fresh by the hand of the sisters. I remember that my first time was in the city of Mexico. I was offered a pozol during an activity in the house of a family. I think back now it was past due (I mean fermented too long) because it tasted like a mixture of acid and bitter, and made me ill with a tough sore throat for almost two weeks! However, this pozol was very tasty and fresh. I took three bowls and felt myself near to explode! The pozol is one of the most common foods in Chiapas. Is in fact fresh grounded corn sometimes fermented a little bit. Usually, the women prepare a ball of ground corn set in a container which is later on prepared with water (from the river by the men at work in the milpas). It becomes like a cream soup a little watered down. This maintains the men for the day’s work. It is eaten cold and reminded me of an oatmeal drink my grandmother used to make.
One of the things that indigenous people still suffer from most is malnutrition. The communities do not have a great deal of money. They depend on a subsistence farming, sowing corn and coffee. The corn itself is not for sale because it is the grain sustaining the family. Without governmental programs helping the farmers they just depend on the rain and use too much chemicals to make the soil produce more, yet exhausting it in the long run. Coffee is paid more or less 8 pesos (that is approximately 80cents of a dollar) the kilogram (1 kilogram equal to 2.2 pounds) by the intermediaries. If we compare the price of coffee in the international market we will see that this payment is inadequate. The intermediaries processing and packing the coffee sell it at 3 or 4 dollars (that is 5 times more) the pound (1/2 Kilogram). Then the profits are not for the peasants but for the group of merchants belonging to the old elite of landholders in the zone.
The coffee the brothers gave us is very good. Here it is taken watered down and at times they put some cinnamon and cane molasses. So for us, is closer to a type of tea, light and fragrant. Our diet in El Jardin was very interesting. During the workshops we give to the leaders and pastors the church fed us and gave us a place to sleep. In the mornings at 7:00am we took coffee with cookies or tortillas with mashed beans and fried bananas. At 9:00am we had breakfast. They gave us tortillas and beans, or tortillas and a broth of chicken with a piece of chicken and a little rice. That kept us on going with the course until around 2:00pm when we have lunch. We ate beans, tortillas, rice and scramble egg with potato. Upon finishing the workshop around 5:00pm we had pozol and/or beans with tortillas and coffee. Every day we had worship services, singing and sharing the word of God. We finished the day around 9:00 or 10:00pm with coffee and cookies. We never had milk or cheese. When I asked about this, they told me that milk and cheese cost a great deal of money and do not form part of the typical indigenous diet.
What I learned? I saw that many of the people we serve still lack essential food for a complete nutrition. Chickens, pigs and the few cows I saw where their security for emergencies or for big celebrations like church’s anniversary or weddings. By selling these animals they secure the money to search for a doctor or buy medicines. Yet, they gave us chicken every day, even under our negatives, they fed us the best they had. I learned that their lack of resources did not detain them from offering us the little they have with much opening and love. It is here where reality comes close to the community of the table describing the Kingdom of God. There is always food for all. God challenged us through these brothers and sisters. We might have many material things, the food we need but we might be unable to share these gifts from the Lord with others. I learned that even when material things are important and needed, they are not more than life itself, not more than the community and not more than the spaces we open to one another. Sharing the table with these Tsotsil brothers and sisters I saw a glimpse of the kingdom!
Blessings,
The Mayols