The Aljaba Travelers are a group of friends, family and coworkers who get together to help kids in need. While there are churches, businesses, schools and charitable organizations who help or have helped us over the years and whose support we are so grateful for, we are all volunteers who operate independently.
It all started in 2007 when a small group of us who worked together traveled to Bachiniva, Chihuahua to visit a former coworker, Luis Vargas, who had started a church, and was doing a lot of community service. I had asked him prior to us visiting if he needed any supplies, or needed us to raise money for his efforts. He told us that he was doing fine, but he would take us to meet a special group of kids in Creel, Chihuahua that could really use some help. He guided us into the mountains to meet the kids at Ajaba Casa Hogar Orphanage.
We bought shoes for the kids on that first visit, and were amazed at how excited and appreciative they were to receive something that we take for granted. We fell in love with the kids, and have made annual trips ever since to bring a joyful Christmas to them. We bring a gift for each child as well as sanitary items, medicine, clothing, school supplies, and anything else they need. We also bring lots of games, crafts, candy, and fun! We throw a Christmas party, play bingo, show movies, and have a blast playing with the kids and showering them with attention.
A few years ago, a second orphanage opened in the nearby town of La Junta, and now we visit both of them! The trips have never lost their luster; they only get better! It takes a lot of generous contributors and travelers to make this magic happen and we appreciate all the support we receive! So many wonderful volunteers have joined the Aljaba Travelers on our trips over the years, and every one of them has returned happy and excited about the trip, and with love for the children they spent time with. Not speaking Spanish is not a problem as hugs, attention, encouragement and affection are universal languages!
The area where Creel and La Junta are located is in the Sierra Tarahumara area of the Sierra Madre Mountains, and just a few miles from Creel is the famed Copper Canyon. This canyon, which is actually a series of canyons, is larger than the Grand Canyon, and is mostly remote and barely accessible. The Tarahumara people live in small ranches and communities throughout the Copper Canyon, and are hit hard by poverty, drought and a myriad of social and economic problems. Another activity the Aljaba Travelers undertake on our trips are food distributions to communities in need in the areas around Creel. Our group, as well as many kids from the orphanage, deliver bags loaded with necessities such as beans, rice, oil, corn masa, sugar and other staples.
Jeff and Carmenza's Adventures 