February 12, 2001
Colonia residents have a dream
___By Ferrell Foster
___Texas Baptist Communications
___EL PASO--A spirit of determination pervades Montana Vista, a colonia east of El Paso. It is a spirit that drives families to build homes out of the desert.
___"They are a people who have a dream," said Estela Campos, a resident of Montana Vista and wife of church starter Ramiro Campos. "Even if they live in one small room, theyare happy because they're on this side" of the Rio Grande.
COLONIA children line up to receive a meal from Hands of Luke, a ministry of the BGCT and El Paso Baptist Aassociation.
___Montana Vista is one of several colonias that have sprung up on the dusty land east of El Paso. It is one of many such colonias along the Rio Grande on both sides of the river.
___Colonias are unincorporated areas where mostly Spanish-speaking workers have planted roots in hopes of building a better way of life. Montana Vista, like other colonias, is divided into quarter-acre lots that have water and electricity but no sewer. Septic systems handle sewage.
___The schools and streets in Montana Vista are new and signal a growing prosperity, but it has not always been so. Through the years, residents gradually have developed their lots and upgraded their living conditions, although some are just now getting started.
___Land is not cheap. A lot in Montana Vista costs about $18,000, said Ramiro Campos. A family typically will pool its resources to buy the land and finance a mobile home. As they continue to work, they buy materials needed to construct a house. They build their house as they can, the new structure slowly taking shape and moving toward completion, a process that can take years.
___As a result, Montana Vista is a mixture of mobile homes (some in good condition and others not), partially constructed houses and completed dwellings.
___Newer colonias are not so nice. The living conditions are more primitive, more dilapidated. The residents there have just begun the process of acquiring and building.
___Across the river, west of Juarez, lies another colonia--Anapra. It is home to about 30,000 people, said Leo Samaniego, River Ministry coordinator for El Paso Baptist Association. Though not far in distance from Montana Vista, the economic conditions of the two colonias are a world apart.
___The pavement on the street ends before you get to Anapra. The smell of dust hangs thick in the air. Dogs wander along the scraped-out streets. Electric lines are strung on poles, and wires dangle from clusters of makeshift connections providing power to individual homes. There is no sewer, only septic tanks on the 25-by-50-foot lots.
___Water is valuable. It comes in trucks, with residents paying to have cisterns filled. Some buy bottled water for drinking. Some drink contaminated water.
___But there is a brighter future; water lines are now being laid.
___The process of growth in Anapra happens similarly to the colonias on the Texas side of the river, but the standards are much lower. Rather than starting with mobile homes, families in Anapra typically start with cardboard and shipping pallets. Gradually, they accumulate better building supplies with the goal of erecting sturdy homes out of cinder blocks, bought three or four at a time.
___It takes about 10 years for a colonia to develop into a place where some public services are offered, Samaniego said. Anapra is about 15 years old.
___On both sides of the river, people have flocked to the colonias from central and southern Mexico in hopes of finding a better way of life.
___Each day, about 1,500 people from the south arrive in the Juarez area, Samaniego said. They are drawn by the "twin plant" industries along the river, with industrial parts typically being made south of the border and then assembled at "sister" plants on the Texas side.
___The average laborer in Anapra will earn $25-$35 a week, said Marco Samaniego, who leads a ministry in the colonia and is Leo's brother. Several people in a household will work and pool their resources.
___"They're just people trying to make it in the world, trying to get ahead," Marco Samaniego said. "They're content with what they have. Even as much need as you see," they probably still have more than they did in their previous home.
___Despite the financial difficulties, this is a "land of a lot of opportunity," said Estela Campos. "They have patience to wait. ... These people don't give up easy."
___A colonia "may look ugly, but a lot of people think this is heaven."
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