Eric Lampe

Jr. Theology/Faith

9/1/06

                                                Strategic Alliance

            Last year I went on a trip to Reynosa, Mexico with roughly thirty other SLUH guys and fifty Cor Jesu girls including my sister and my dad. Going into the trip I was nervous because I was going with all seniors, none of which I knew. Our plane tapped down in a town 8 miles shy of the border of Texas and Mexico. We immediately hopped on unmarked vans and crossed the border and drove 10 miles into Reynosa, Mexico.

            Reynosa is the city where Strategic Alliance "Homes or the Homeless" makes its mark. There are colonias on the outskirts of this city. These colonias, were thousands upon thousands of people live, used to be trash dumps. Driving into the colonia I have never scene anything like the place in my life. I’d thought I knew what to expect because I'd scene pictures my sister had taken the year before when she went and I’d also thought I knew what to expect by  those late night infomercials for sponsoring a child. I don’t care if you research this place for 20 years, the first time you see it you will not be able to speak. Over the five days there we built 7 homes for 7 families. Over 1000 families have received homes thanks to strategic alliance. However the thousands of people who built these homes took much more out of the experience than the families even did.

            Strategic Alliance has been making this possible for the last 13 years and is still going strong. For our group there was one representative from strategic alliance who helped us around Mexico. His name was Roland and he came with his wife and his son. Roland is possibly one of the greatest men of faith I have ever met in my life. He was apparently a pretty well-to-do rancher in Texas when midlife he had a conversion and decided to devote his life to God and helping out these homeless people who lived in expanses of trash dumps just south of him. Roland started Strategic Alliance 13 years ago to care for these people. This next year we will go again and when I am a senior I will lead the trip. During a meetings talking about the trip e were worried about financial support and making it possible to go to Mexico. I probably heard Roland say 15 times or so, “If y’all want to go, y’all pray to God to go, God will make it happen.” There are many people who say things like that but he said with such assurance and you knew he truly believed it which in turn gave you faith. On Wednesday during the trip it rained and we were prevented from going out to the colonia to work so Roland held a meeting in the basement of the beat up hotel we stayed in. He said, “Everyone raise your hands above your head. Now close your eyes. Look at your father in heaven.” At this point in time I was thinking to myself , this guys a nut what am I doing. “Alright y’all, I want you to yell ‘STORM HAULT’.” There was decent participation however he continued. “Weak y’all yell it, let your Lord know.” The whole place screamed. It was so odd to me. He was one of those televangelist on T.V. but by noon we were in the colonia working in the mud. It was amazing.

            Strategic Alliance has put so many people who to this day would be sleeping on rocky with plastic bags as thick as grass across the ground in homes. However, as I said before I thoroughly believe that it has affected my life more than the people who are in a home now. I will never be the same after that trip. I think about Estephanie, Raul, Nue, Nicole, Eduardo and all the other kids I grew to love down there very often. I am very thankful for an organization like Strategic Alliance and all it has done to change me as a person.