SILOS continued

Very appropriately, I am writing this blog on May 15, the feast of Saint Isidore the Farmer, the patron saint of farmers.

After a series of delays, the Dulce Nombre parish project of training people to make silos has begun. The first workshop is being held this week in the village of Oromilaca, a remote village, high on a ridge which is a center of corn production.

I spent Wednesday in the village observing the training. Marco, a friend of Padre Efraín from San Lucas, Santa Barbara, is doing the training. He received training in making silos about 12 years ago, has made about 300 silos, and has done training before. There are five men from the village (including two brothers and a father and son) and a young man from Dulce Nombre.

As I arrived they were making the seams for the sheets of galvanized steel. The process is very labor intensive and requires care and concentration. I noticed from the start how careful Marco is and how perceptive he is. Just looking at the sheet he could tell that the seam was off about 1 or 2 millimeters! He seems to be a very good teacher with a lot of patience as he gives everyone a chance to practice each of the steps of the process. At one point he noted that a seam was completely off. Rather than complaining or blaming the students, he said something like, “It is good that when we make mistakes we can correct them and thus learn how to do it right.” How empowering.

After lunch he taught them how to solder. I even tried my hand it at. To heat up the soldering irons (cautines), they had made a small oven the day before.

By the end of the day they had a cylinder. But they had a problem. Marco had decided to have them make a 3000 pound capacity silo first, since it is harder than the silos for 1800 pounds they will generally be making. But the assembled silo wouldn’t have passed through the doors of the community center where they were working and so they have another place to complete the silo. After that one is done, Marco will have them make one of the smaller silos on their own, with the aid of a manual he has. He’ll be there to oversee them but he wants them to work on their own.

I will see the results of this on Saturday evening. Padre Efraín is going out to Oromilaca on Saturday to bless the seeds for sowing and the completed silos.

Padre Efraín is very intent of this and other projects to help the people in the parish. But, as we spoke on Monday afternoon, he shared his perception that the people are a little skeptical about all these projects. They have been promised things in the past so often that they may not expect that that the promises will be fulfilled or that the project will make any difference. My guess is that this is a result of the corruption in the country and in the many unfilled promises of politicians who arrive in poor areas right before elections promising relief but who forget the poor once they are elected.

Last night, after dinner, people came to the church. I was asked to lead a celebration. Since it was late and the church was very hot, I decided to make it short. I used the Gospel of the day, John 15: 9-17 Padre Efraín has asked me to help motivate the community and so we shared ways to show our love of God and one another. I tried in some ways to get them to think of concrete ways – everything from visiting the sick to sending kids to religious education.

I ended my reflection with some words on Saint Isidore and his wife María, since the people in Oromilaca might find them kindred souls. I told them about this farm-worker – a campesino, like them – who went to Mass each day and worked hard on the land. He showed his love of God through his prayer and his work. I tried to help the people see that we serve God not only by praying, going to church, and serving others. We also serve God in what we do each day – working in the fields and in the kitchens of our communities.

This spirituality of work has been a part of me for many years and was central in my pastoral work with university students. I am somewhat surprised – though I shouldn’t be – that I find myself sharing this message with campesinos, who need to be reassured of their dignity when so many look down on them. Recently a presidential candidate spoke disparagingly about them. But they are for me the “salt of the earth” and they give me hope.