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A few days ago I wP1050308as inspired by the smile of a small boy named Diego, who lives in a poor community of Tecate, Mexico. I spent last week in Mexico as a guest of Rancho La Puerta. Our group of 18 bloggers visited Diego’s community last Thursday.

As a border town, Tecate is known as a migrant town and is highly transient. The average worker earns $5-10 per day. Diego and his family live in the outskirts of Tecate where people can still acquire land by squatter’s rights. Diego’s neighborhood is crammed with one tiny home after another, many without running water. Poverty is rampant in this part of town.

Fundacion La Puerta, Rancho La Puerta’s non-profit, gave us a tour of several of their projects in the area, including the Professor’s Park, where local children are educated on environmental issues. We then visited Diego’s community to experience the organic garden projects and see first-hand the environmental and social impact of their work.

Fundacion La Puerta was inspired to help this poor community because of one main reason- the people voluntarily came together to improve the life of everyone in their community. They started neighborhood projects to work together to make things better for everyone. Fundacion La Puerta heard about their existing efforts and wanted to support them and assist with expansion of their existing programs.P1050291

Our visit today took us to the home of the elder woman who leads the project. She was proud to show us their recycling equipment and their gardens. This community has one of the first machines to crush products for recycling. They gather all of the recyclables from Rancho La Puerta as well as from many of the neighboring schools. Last year their efforts earned a profit of $800, which they have set aside for the purchase of a new truck. This will allow them to increase their recycling efforts with additional clients and earn more profit to build a larger garden to provide more food for the people of their community.

We toured their organic neighborhood garden, located along the riverbank of the Tecate River. The women proudly showed us their beds of fresh chilies, lettuce and other crops. The fresh salsa from their garden must be amazing!
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The garden was fenced with a chain link fence with a large lock. I thought the fence was to keep rabbits and other hungry critters out of the garden, but was told it was put up to prevent local residents from stealing the water!

Adjacent to the garden is a rusty old swing set and a few playground toys for the local children. Diego and his two friends were playing and laughing, and seemed to be quite happy.

Time for true confessions here….. After a week at this amazing health-conscious ranch, many of usP1050302 were craving chocolate. Don’t get me wrong….the meals at Rancho La Puerta are amazing, and while we greatly enjoyed the incredible meals, we just missed chocolate. So, on the way to visit the community, we asked our driver to stop at a mini-market to purchase some chocolate bars. I think the grocery story clerk thought it was quite strange when I ran in and purchased 20 Hershey bars. The 18 bloggers on the shuttle bus were quite happy and shared the chocolate with delight.

By the time our bus reached the community gardens, we still had a handful of candy bars remaining. After asking permission from their mothers, we shared the remaining chocolate with the local children. The smiles and wide-eyed wonder of Diego and his friends were contagious.

What stuck me the most was the innocence and joy in the faces of these children, ranging in age from 5-9 years of age. The two boys and the little girl seemed very happy! Here there were living in one of the poorest communities one could find, with little prospect of creating a prosperous life, and yet they seemed genuinely happy. Was it that they didn’t know what they were missing or did they know something we don’t know?

Our guide told us that these children rarely get treats like chocolate and this could have been the first time they had ever experienced this luxury. Wrap your head around that one for a moment…. to have never eaten chocolate before? Wow! They’re within a stone’s throw of the US Border and one of the most abundant nations on the planet, and yet a world away.

P1050306Spending time with the residents of this small community on the outskirts of Tecate and seeing the work of Fundacion La Puerta was one of the highlights of my trip. It certainly provided an extreme adjustment in perspective to us, especially since we were coming here from Rancho La Puerta, the 5-star resort and spa. I felt a profound sense of gratitude for the opportunities in my life and an even greater sense of responsibility to reach out to make a difference.

Yesterday, as I was writing this post as I watched the consumerism displayed in the Super Bowl commercials, it gave me great pause once again. This IS in our backyard and feeding hungry people is more important to me than the latest gadget. I’m compelled to help.

Thank you Fundacion La Puerta for sharing this experience with us. I plan to come back again soon and find a way to help this small community help themselves through our upcoming Global Hug Tour. If you are moved and want to help, please comment below or feel free to email me directly at [email protected].

Muchas Gracias!

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Gail Lynne Goodwin is the founder of InspireMeToday.com, bringing the best inspiration to the world. InspireMeToday.com provides free inspiration, each day from a new Inspirational Luminary, to a global community of folks from over 150 countries. Gail has interviewed many well-known names including Sir Richard Branson, Guy Laliberte, Seth Godin, Tony Hseih, Gary Vaynerchuk, Michael Gerber, Marci Shimoff, Jack Canfield and hundreds more. According to Mashable, Gail was one of 2009's Top 25 Most Inspirational People on Twitter.

Prior to InspireMeToday.com, Gail spent several years as manager for her recording artist daughter, Carly. As a result of the success of their co-penned song, "Baby Come Back Home", Gail accompanied her daughter to bases in the US and to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba where Carly performed for our troops. Gail and Carly created the 'World's Longest Letter' of love and support and delivered the 18-mile long scroll on a month-long tour of Iraq and the Persian Gulf in 2006.

Gail is excited to present her latest course, Love in 21 Days, a step-by-step guide to finding love online. Love in 21 Days is founded on a logical process that has been tested - and proven! - by not only Gail, but also by students around the world who too have found love.

Gail is a published author and a regular writer for the Huffington Post. She offers mentoring and mastermind services to clients worldwide from her home in Whitefish, Montana. Follow Gail on Twitter or Google+.

This Post Has 5 Comments

    1. Roma, I can’t begin to express to you the feelings that I had while visiting Diego’s community. So often we hear “Somebody should do something about that”… and visiting Diego reminded me that “somebody” is me. Thank you for the opportunity to reawaken that part of me and to re-prioritize what matters and what doesn’t. Also, thank you for the wonderful week at Rancho La Puerta! In the last two days I talked with two people who both told me they are booking a retreat with you. As I told them- it is THE ultimate.

      Thank you again! I’m so grateful for you in my life!

      Big hugs and thanks,
      Gail

  1. It tells me the free trade agreement had little impact on the ones who needed it the most. There is so much love and help needed around the world I only wish I had the means to help.
    Oh and leave it to Gail an ex Pennsylvanian to find and buy Hershey bars in Mexico 🙂

    1. Sam, you can take the girl out of Pennsylvania, but you can’t take Pennsylvania out of the girl…. I still love Hershey bars! Our guide told me we wouldn’t find them in Mexico. I asked her to please stop anyway- and we not only found milk chocolate but the new dark chocolate as well. How’s that for manifestation, no? They made an already incredible experience even more powerful, as we were able to share this with the children.

      Big hugs and thanks for your comment Sam.

  2. I’ve only been to Tijuana years ago and I was so moved to see how people lived. Even in our own country 1 in 5 kids go hungry daily. We truly are blessed beyond measure and every hand of compassion makes a difference. Thanks for sharing your experience with us!

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