So. Its 2001 I think, maybe 2003, but my kids went to a youth group at our Church. We were really involved back then and the new youth pastor, Luke, started doing Short Term Mission Trips to the Yucatan. He knew some people there from seminary and from other Presbyterian Churches so it was a safe and easy trip and Julie and I went several times with the kids. In Belize at first but later mostly in the area around Merida, a large and very lovely old colonial capital.
We met some wonderful people on these trips. Bryce and Noreen King, Ezequiel Aguilar and his boys, Noah Roberts, and Julie who would become his wife later. Manolo, Ceci, Miguel, so many wonderful new friends. Many are still in our lives today.
We usually stayed in classrooms at the school we were working in for the week. Sleeping was in string hammocks hung from big hooks mounted high in the corners of the room. We did work but the best part was meeting all the locals from Merida. The parents who sent their kids to the school, the teachers, coaches, school admin people. Plus other volunteers, usually from other Presbyterian Churches who supported the school or church through some affiliated group. One big church in Memphis I know sent people. I can’t remember which one Bryce and Noreen came from, they all sort of blended together. The school was called Blas Pascal, “Pienso, luego existo” or “I think, therefore I am”. I loved it at first glance, a place for learning on that poor dusty street in Mexico, named after an intellectual hero and the writer of a book that was important to me: “Discourse on Method”.
Anyway, that’s where we met Olga, the Person of Integrity.
Olga was maybe 14? Luke had met her on the first trip to Merida before we started coming down, at a baseball game. I think she was selling popcorn. She was outgoing, liked to practice her English, and wanted to maybe continue in school at the church school if only she could find some $$. She was funny, and smart, and eager to engage. We realized on our first trip down that a scholarship was less than the cost of the flight. So, a small group of us sat down with Olga and offered her a deal. We’ll pay your tuition to Blas Pascal but one day when she is a successful woman, she will pay it forward. That she’ll find some eager little kid selling popcorn at the baseball game and choose her out of the thousands to be the one to get the opportunity to become educated. To become empowered with choices, and the opportunity to build a better life for themselves and their families.
Humans being humans, it turned a bit differently than anyone expected in that classroom in Merida. So our group covered the cost of high school. What happens when she finishes that with high marks and is clearly ready for college? If you can, you press on and support Olga all the way. So, with help from many people Olga came to America and attended University eventually graduating from the University of Alabama in about 2007, I think. She made us all very proud that day.
Olga moved back to Merida and found work teaching, and translating, and working at various schools and companies. She never made a ton of money doing those things, teachers in Mexico are not paid better than teachers in America and we know what they make. But, Olga was working in her field and we were all very proud to know her and welcome her back to Alabama for holidays and weddings and special occasion. She was, and always will be, part of our extended family.
Not long ago Olga started a new venture. She’s been teaching people how to speak English over Zoom for years. I even helped a little during COVID but she’s the professional.
She decided to lease a property in Merida and open a school. It was a big risk but she had the clientele locally and could use a classroom, and she still had her online work to support the lease. That was a few months ago and she called me recently to tell me that it was working out and that she was naming things after the families who helped her along her journey. That was rewarding to hear for a host of reasons include that some of the people who helped are passed on. So it’s nice to see their legacies continue through Olga. She also told me about meeting a girl working at her local laundromat. A girl she saw something in, something that reminded Olga a little of herself and a promise she made when she was 14.
That is why I referred to Olga as Una Persona de Integridad, a person of Integrity. Because twenty years later, when no one expected Olga to do more than take care of herself, she has agreed to cover her new friend and student’s tuition. Together, with hard work and sacrifice from everyone, Olga might be as fortunate as I am, as we are, when she gets to see how the new girl thrives. If she’s particularly blessed, as we have been, she will get to see her grown and independent and brave and amazing.
And, as you would expect of Olga, when she talked to her new protegee about supporting her she described the deal we made with her. When we help you, we expect that one day you will pick someone to help in the same way. She was thoughtful before she accepted, as Olga had been. But its official now, Olga has fulfilled her promise to me and Julie, and Mindy and Rick, and Frances and Jeff, and Bo and Nancy, and all the others. Because in addition to being an International Woman of Mystery and the original O.M.G., she’s also Una Persona de Integridad.
