Theology 2 in Venezuela #10

(By Alan Paul Eilen)

Day 5 (July 20, 2007)

Today, we finally got to do some work. We went over to one of the barrios where Galdys’ sister Magdalene operates a soup kitchen. Actually, it is right across the street from where Gladys and her family live, but more on that in a moment. I got to chop and slice carrots to put into a large kettle, which already had diced beets (or what looked like beets) in it. To this something called Yucca (sliced up, of course) was added. A jar full of mayonnaise was mixed in. Next, I helped with stirring some mixture of relish that was being heated on the stove. To this was added the Tuna that Gregory, Jonathan, and Steve, and later yours truly were breaking apart to remove any bones. At this point, I could ask: Where’s Michael. Well, the truth be told – Michael hates fish (doesn’t matter if it’s eating or cleaning them).

Our next foray was over to Gladys’ family home to meet her siblings. Well, I think that was part of it, but to see her brother’s prized roosters and an exhibition of cock fighting was the real highlight. Sure enough, there were people and chickens and roosters and chickn-sh__ all over the place. After a demonstration with some rookie roosters, he brought out El Capitan, aka, Mr. Nasty or the Terminator. His quickest win, decision, or kill was about 2 minutes - most matches last anywhere from 2 minutes to around 20 minutes. Mr. Nasty and I got along just fine, in fact, we even crooned (cock-a-doodle-doo) together. Obviously, this is legal in Venezuela, but not back home, even though I’m not naïve to think that it doesn’t go on in some back roads of the US. Just ask Michael Vick.

At lunchtime we met with Fr. Steve Wood (a former Maryknoll missionary), who is now incardinated into the local diocese. He told us about his 35+ years and his mission (we will visit there next week) and about the political situation. We finished the evening after Mass by going to a local barrio to visit with some of the leaders. I recognized one of the young men (He was up to SPS with the Venezuelans two years ago), who is trained in computers, but out of work. Unemployment is about 75% in the area.