SAM PIKE
staff writer
Seaver College’s associate dean reaches beyond the borders of Pepperdine and even America to transform the lives of high school students and underprivileged families in Mexico.
As an annual volunteer with the Conejo Valley Church of Christ youth group, Dr. Rick Marrs leads expeditions of teens into one of the poorest neighborhoods of San Felipe to build houses, spread hope and change lives. The week-long summer missions take place at the end of June each year.
“These houses are far from what we’re used to,” Marrs said. “They are built on a city dump, and often times we have to demolish shacks in order to build them.”
Each house is approximately 14 by 20 feet and is constructed with brick walls and a wooden roof. The local mayor or minister chooses which homeless family will receive a house.
“It’s not the third world,” Marrs said. “But you can sure see it from there.”
Marrs has a long history with working in Latin American countries. After taking trips to Mexico with his Tucson, Ariz., youth group in high school, he decided to spend the summer of his senior year in Columbia.
“I was able to completely submerge myself in the culture,” Marrs said with a smile. “I even looked like a local because of the German influence down there.”
In Marrs’ view, giving students a means to practice their Spanish skills and surround themselves by the culture is one of the wonderful benefits of Mexico trips.
“These kids have only been learning the language in classrooms,” he said. “Once they get out into the village, they actually get to use it.”
“I loved being able to talk with the kids,” said Carly Pippin, former attendee and current Pepperdine employee. “They were always so warm and generous despite their poverty.”
Learning languages is only one of the benefits of going on these short-term trips — students also see how needed their efforts are.
“First-time students would travel down there feeling good about themselves because they were going to build a house,” said Chris Stivers, the group’s cook. “But once they saw people living in cardboard boxes and going without shoes or food because there was no money, they realized how blessed they were and wanted to share those blessings for the rest of their lives.”
Legacy is an essential part of the San Felipe experience for Stivers’ daughter, Stacy, as well. Her grandfather played such a crucial philanthropic role in the community that locals named the children’s camp where visiting high schoolers stay after him.
“It was especially meaningful when I went my senior year of high school and saw the picture of my grandpa hanging in the Iglesia del Cruso,” Stacy said.
This legacy is not only for the residents of San Felipe. Building houses allows students to gain experience in manual labor — something that is more foreign to them than the country in which they work.
“Most of these students have never mixed concrete, and some don’t even know how to use a power tool,” Marrs said. “Helping them do things like cut wood for the first time is one of my favorite parts of the trip.”
Stacy said Marrs is always willing to offer a helping hand.
“He is so patient in helping kids who don’t know how to build or use equipment,” she said.
However, she said she also remembers a different side of Marrs.
“I would have so much fun joking with him about his accent,” Stacy said. “Instead of saying two by four, he would say ‘too-ba-for’— it was so funny.”
Having fun with students in the midst of solving difficult problems seems to be one of Marrs’ strengths. On the church group’s first house, the tresses for the roof were so steep that students could have fallen off when nailing everything down.
“We had to put the big strong guys on the roof and tie them to ropes connected to all the smaller guys on the ground,” Marrs said. “It was a difficult fix, but it was also one of the most memorable and fun.”
Through all the difficulties, Marrs asserts the most important part of his involvement is the transformation of student’s lives.
“It is so powerful for a high school student to arrive in Mexico, and in 4-5 days change a family’s life,” concluded Marrs.
02-14-2008
