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Grit in Juarez: Beyond the Wall
How do children live just a few feet across the wall at our southern border? Cristal and Fina struggle to find enough to eat as they raise themselves on the streets of a poverty-level neighborhood in Juarez, Mexico. Daniel worries about his little brother Memo who has serious respiratory attacks from the pollution and desert climate. Pastors Miguel and Pati want to lead a different kind of church, one responsive to the needs of their community. Life is hard in this newly-formed neighborhood on the border. Can the local church help the families learn to work together as Christ's family to ease each other's burdens? Proceeds from this book support Love and Literacy, a mission encouraging children in Juarez to read and stay in school.
117 pages, Paperback
Published February 28, 2019
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About the author
Marion Surles
8 books5 followersFinalist 2023 Southern Christian Writers Conference Beyond Juarez
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
January 23, 2020
First, everyone who reads this review should know the author's royalties from the purchase of this book go to Love and Literacy, a ministry devoted to helping children and families in Juarez.
The poverty described in Grit in Juarez isn't the type of poverty we see in the U. S., where community shelters provide safety nets. Juarez-style poverty drives children - very small children - to the dump to scavenge, à la "Slumdog Millionaire." Cristal and her little sister, Fina, are two such children. Always hungry. Always dirty. Always trying to navigate the mean streets while their mother is otherwise occupied.
There is a church nearby, the pastors of which supply about the only consistent meals the little girls get. On Sunday mornings, the pastor's voice booms over the neighborhood via loudspeaker. That about sums up the extent of the church's penetration.
And then there's little Daniel, who has a family that is struggling under the weight of Daniel's little brother's chronic and severe respiratory illness. Daniel is also bullied by a neighborhood tough.
Marion Surles does a very nice job of bringing these characters together in ways that spark change, not only for them but for the entire neighborhood. The message is we need one another other, and even more importantly, we need to be there for one another other.
That's what love does.
The poverty described in Grit in Juarez isn't the type of poverty we see in the U. S., where community shelters provide safety nets. Juarez-style poverty drives children - very small children - to the dump to scavenge, à la "Slumdog Millionaire." Cristal and her little sister, Fina, are two such children. Always hungry. Always dirty. Always trying to navigate the mean streets while their mother is otherwise occupied.
There is a church nearby, the pastors of which supply about the only consistent meals the little girls get. On Sunday mornings, the pastor's voice booms over the neighborhood via loudspeaker. That about sums up the extent of the church's penetration.
And then there's little Daniel, who has a family that is struggling under the weight of Daniel's little brother's chronic and severe respiratory illness. Daniel is also bullied by a neighborhood tough.
Marion Surles does a very nice job of bringing these characters together in ways that spark change, not only for them but for the entire neighborhood. The message is we need one another other, and even more importantly, we need to be there for one another other.
That's what love does.
October 31, 2021
YA book read for the UMW book club (church).
January 20, 2025
A very interesting read about life south of the border in Mexico. It is very eye opening about the lives of children and adults. The photos of living conditions are heartbreaking.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews