by Becca Coffey, Back2Back Monterrey, Mexico
Cadereyta is one of the local communities Back2Back serves in Monterrey, Mexico. We hope to encourage family preservation and to that end, we seek to support and strengthen families. In this particular community, by working to strengthen families, staff provide preventative orphan care, which impacts the future number of children orphaned due to poverty.
When I first moved to Monterrey, Mexico, I quickly fell in love with the community of Cadereyta. Throughout the summer, I had the opportunity to lead mission teams from all around the world, as well as a few Hope Education Program students who decided to join us. The Hope Program is comprised of students who grew up in children’s homes and are now living infamily-style homes on Back2Back Monterrey’s campus, while pursuing a high school and college education. Watching the students serve their hearts out was so special to me.
The children in Cadereyta grow up believing they have only a few options in life. They can enter into a family business, like masonry or construction. They can become a teen mom or dad like they’ve seen before, or they can choose a life of crime in gangs or cartels. But when Hope Program students come into the Back2Back community and share their testimonies, their dreams, and their realities, I see a shift in the children’s hearts. It’s a shift from a life where it was purposeless to dream to a life full of possibilities. I watch in awe as the Hope Program students begin to realize they are not victims in their storyline, but symbols of hope. They are inspirations. They are the super-heroes in their story.
The conversations all have a similar flow: “You grew up where?! And now you’re in college?”
They are seen as the dream kids, the ones who beat the odds every day they wake up and go to school. They are the ones who believed God had something more for them and faithfully pursued a life so counter to what they have always known.
Today, when I enter the community of Cadereyta, I am often peppered with questions about the beloved Hope Program students, questions of their well-being, what they are doing, and of course, when are they coming back to Cadereyta.
Even greater than all of this, is the presence of redemption. Redemption given from a Savior who loves us all equally. Redemption of lives pushing against the odds, continuing to prove everyone who doubted them wrong. I witness this profound redemption and grace every day I go to work in the community of Cadereyta.
Becca Coffey has been serving in Monterrey, Mexico with Back2Back Ministries since October 2013. She is passionate about making an impact on communities like Cadereyta.