Meet Dulce, A Leader Who Empowers Others

One of the hallmarks of healthy and sustainable community development programs is when leaders empower others to someday take their place.

Earlier this year, we said farewell to Ruben, a long-time member of the 1MISSION team who was instrumental in expanding community gardens throughout the city of Puerto Peñasco, as well as overseeing other programs. But before he retired, Ruben passed the torch to Dulce.

Ramiro and Dulce taking a break during a carpentry class last month.

Along with her husband Ramiro, Dulce learned about 1MISSION seven years ago. “There’s a group here in town that helps people earn a house,” she recalls a friend saying. But Dulce was skeptical at first. “I had a hard time believing it was true.”

She had good reason to be skeptical. Years earlier, her family had been burned by someone whose true motives they didn’t understand at the time. “We trusted a friend,” she says. “Ramiro co-signed on a loan and we ended up losing our house.” They weren’t going to be taken advantage of again.

Eventually, however, Dulce and Ramiro decided to apply for the 1MISSION program and their application was accepted. But when the orientation meeting happened, they made a last-minute decision to stay home.

A 1MISSION trainer called to check in, saying, “Dulce, we had our meeting but you didn’t show up. What’s going on?” Dulce made up an excuse about being at work. But she felt bad about it.

“The next day I went. And I’m so glad. In those meetings I learned many things. I learned that yes, 1MISSION really does help families. But there is also a WHY—working together with families in similar circumstances, all for the same goal.”

During his years serving with 1MISSION, Ruben helped to expand community gardens throughout the city of Puerto Peñasco. A teacher at heart, he empowered Dulce and others to carry on the work after his retirement.

As Dulce and Ramiro started earning hours toward their new house, they met Ruben in one of the community gardens in their Brisas Del Mar neighborhood. “He taught us how to make compost, how to plant trees, everything about gardening,” Dulce says. “In that garden I made many new friends, like Anita, Monica, Norma.”

Finally, several months later, Dulce received another phone call. “We’re ready to build your house,” said the voice on the other end of the line. “We were really excited,” Dulce recalls. “We cried. It was such a nice feeling. We knew we would finally have a house of our own. Sometimes I still think to myself, How is it that we got here? It is still surprising to me. I know that God exists—all we need to do is trust him and bring our burdens to him.”

Ramiro and Dulce with their kids at a Fiesta Night at 1MISSION’s basecamp in March 2019, while their new house was under construction.

The proud new owners of a safe, secure house in August 2019.

Once construction on the house was completed, Dulce and Ramiro’s family still didn’t have access to electricity or running water, so they didn’t move in right away. “But every day we came to the house and we dreamed,” she says. “We imagined what this house could become. We said, Someday we’ll add this, change that. Someday we’ll put in a new floor. Little by little we made this house our own. One of our kids said to me, ‘Mom, what a joy it is to live here. It’s peaceful here. Everything feels different.’”

Today, Dulce and Ramiro’s house truly is the embodiment of their dreams and all their hard work. They have built onto the house, making it almost unrecognizable from how it looked at first. They have paved their driveway and have planted trees. Out back there’s a large enclosure full of goats. Turtles scoot around a small pond.

“Some people may see a house as four walls and a roof,” Dulce says. “But I see the transformation of the family. When you live in someone else’s place, you can’t make it your own. It’s not yours. But today, my kids will say, ‘Let’s plant something here.’ And they do it. Because this is their house too.”

On a typical afternoon at their home, you’ll likely find a group of 1MISSION program participants under a shade structure in the yard, catching up on each other’s lives. Taking a closer look, you’ll see they’re making jewelry by hand or learning a traditional form of painting on amate paper, made of tree bark.

All because Dulce and Ramiro said yes. All because they took a step of faith.

A jewelry class at Dulce’s home in September 2024.

An amate painting class at Dulce’s home in February 2025.

“Before I used to feel we were alone with our struggles,” Dulce says. “But I couldn't see what others were going through, that sometimes their struggles were even bigger than mine. We were closed off. But thanks to God, now I feel that we belong here. We keep learning and serving.”

Today, Dulce carries on the work Ruben led in this community for so many years before his retirement. “I admire Ruben because he is a man who plans things and he follows through on them,” she says. “He has always said to us, ‘We can fail many times, but we must never, ever, ever give up.’ He has taught us that and he has modeled it for us. I admire that in him. He is faithful to God, he is friendly, he has taught us so much. He reminds us that no one is perfect, but we all have something to offer.”

Dulce is committed to raising up new leaders as well: “I want each person in these programs to develop and grow. When I look around at the people serving in this community, I see the future leaders who will teach and train others. We need them. Here they are.”

Dulce with Esmeralda, who teaches the traditional amate painting technique from her hometown in southern Mexico.

This work is only possible because of the generous partnership of people like you. Thank you!