Day 7: Working for Change

Today was the second full day of work.  Again, we had to complete the same three jobs as yesterday. The people assigned to the construction of the house continued to work on it because they already knew how to build different things.  

Today I helped build the house for the second day in a row. After yesterday's work, I feel very comfortable with being in the dump community.  The people that we are working with and encountering each day have accepted us and treated us so well that they have enabled me to feel at home even though I am thousands of miles away in a foreign country.  If one simply looked at the conditions of the neigborhood that we worked in, they would immediately have concerns about safety, insects, germs, and so on.  But after a short period of time working with these people, I was able to feel at ease in the harshest of conditions.  The way we were able to communicate with Don Lolo, our foreman in charge of the construction, even though we could not understand each other verbally, was incredible. Spending all this time with the people in this community has given me a new perspective on both the world and the less fortunate. I have learned a number of life lessons in my experience so far and I have been able to learn a large amount about the person who I am and the person who I am striving to become. #theoldmeisdeadandgone

-Jake Barnes

Early in the morning, Shohan, Sagar, Vamsi, and I were dropped off at the nursery to begin our work for the day. After some of us were dropped off at a couple of the classrooms, a few continued to the cafeteria where we were immediately swarmed by a multitude of kids, and welcomed with hugs and kisses. This set the mood of happiness and laughter for the rest of the day inside the nursery. The nursery is extremely updated compared to the rest of zone 3 and provides the kids from the dump a great opportunity to learn in a way they would not be able to otherwise, similar to that of the United States. I learned throughout the day that it is much harder to comminicate with the little kids here compared to those from the Coll school. Speaking to the people here has made my experience so much more enjoyable though, and figuring out what the kids are saying is one of the fun parts. So after playing and having fun at the nursery, we were dropped back off at the Coll school in order to continue our work on the technology lab. We were given the assignment of preparing the rooms to be turned into a computer lab. We grinded out many tasks including sanding the floor (much more difficult than it sounds), plastering some of the walls, sweeping up all the dust, washing the beams and floor, and much more. Overall it seemed to be a very succesful day for the team.

- Bennett Miller