Cochranite Chantal Wafer will be making her second trip to Mexico this year on March 15, to bring supplies for impoverished families, a tradition she has been doing for almost a decade.
Wafer first travelled to Mexico on a volunteer trip in 2000, when she was living in Quebec, to help in the towns and build a church when she fell in love with the country.
“I’m a Christian and with my faith and heart, it is related to give and serve and help people – and I fell in love with the people there,” Wafer explained.
“The Mayans are warm and welcoming and they remind me of the native people here. They will know if you are real and respect them and if you have their trust they will open their doors.”
Despite falling in love with the country in 2000, it was seven years before Wafer returned to Mexico to help with volunteer work in December 2007.
“The trips opened my eyes, I thought even if I started little, even if I just touch one person then it makes a difference,” Wafer explained.
After going for three weeks from December 2007 to January 2008, Wafer knew she was destined to keep returning. Going back every year since 2008, Wafer started to make the trip twice a year in 2011 and three times a year for the past couple of years.
Now for the past nine years Wafer has held annual local fundraisers to help sponsor the trips, and is always accepting donations to bring to Mexico. For her next two trips this year, Wafer will be accepting monetary donations, clothing, school materials, crafts, games, and play equipment.
“Cochrane is a community that wants to give, they want to help – some get involved and see how little we can bring and change people’s lives there,” Wafer said.
“I go (to Mexico) to walk along and support as I can, and the way they were receiving me and the way they are, I just feel in love with them.”
The next group to travel with Wafer and her family on March 15 will be focusing on distributing food and clothing, and helping clean and build houses. For every person that travels, they bring one personal suitcase and one full of school supplies, clothes, gifts, crafts, and play equipment such as soccer balls.
During the last trip in January, eight out of the group of 17 were from the Cochrane Bow Valley Baptist Church, bringing more than 17 suitcases of materials and supplies to Tizimin, Mexico.
“I have to think one person at a time because there is so much to do – and they became more than just people to us, they became family,” Wafer explained.
Wafer explained that her 14 year-old daughter will receive a Quinceañera, a traditional celebration for a girl turning 15, during their next trip – to be organized by the families in Tizimin.
“The relationship is deeper than just coming once in a while. My daughter told me two years ago that we have to be careful on who we bring with us because they are our family now,” Wafer said.
Wafer said her next goal is to start a refugee house to distribute food and clothing to young women and their children, and to look into connecting with musicians with the possibility to bring a music program over.
Anyone interested in donating or getting involved can contact Wafer at 403-808-6178 or through her website at landofhope.ca
