Today marked our third full day of service here in Zone 3 of Guatemala. Again, the group split up into three groups, each going to the site of the house, the nursery, or the Fransisco Coll School. The day overall went very well; both the house and the second floor of the Coll School saw a ton of progress as everyone worked extremely diligently and efficiently. This efficiency can be attributed to everyone being healthy and well, besides a couple stomach aches that are being subsequently treated.
Today I decided to change it up and go to the Coll School instead of working on the house. I was pretty nervous about what would happen today and how the kids would react to me being in class with them. When we got there, we were all put into different rooms and I was assigned to be in a fourth grade class. As soon as I entered the class, I felt a little awkward being the only person to speak english in the room. However, I was soon comforted by a little girl who got right up from her seat, moved all of her things to another chair, grabbed my hand, and insisted that I sit in her old seat. I sat down and instantly was swarmed by kids all over asking for my name and age, so I asked everyone for their name and age as well, which was pretty much the extent of my spanish. The kids were so cheerful the entire class and so well behaved towards the teacher, and the teacher was so caring towards all of the students.
Around 10:30 in the morning, a couple of donors for International Samaritan arrived and all of the kids performed skits and songs in the courtyard for them. It was such a great experience to see all of the kids so happy and so excited. When we were outside, this was a very awesome moment for all of us at the Coll School because each of us had one or two little kids who attached themselves to us and kept pulling us around and sitting with us while we watched all of the action. Although we had such a small amount of time outside, we were all able to form these strong relationships with the kids. It was so powerful to see these relationships form so fast even with a language barrier and a minimal exchange of words.
Following the end of the school day and our lunch break, around 12 of us proceeded to work on cleaning out the second floor of the Coll School. We spent hours scraping dried plaster off of the ground, dusting everything, moving boards, and breaking down scafolding. We worked so well and got pretty much everything done that we wanted to. We all got to see the true power of teamwork and manual labor. Although we were all tired, we fought through and got done what we needed to do for the day.
- Ben Clark
Today Jon, Jake, Bilal, Rob, Bennett, Shohan, Vamsi, Josh, Steve, Mr. Dane, Mr. Kelly, and I spent our time working on the house that International Samaritan is funding for a family of 12. The house will be 2 stories but approximately 10' by 20', which is scarily similar to some of the sheds back in the States.
These past few days, we have been working on constructing the foundation, which has proved to be a very challenging task, especially without many of the luxurious tools that we are so used to in the US. The concrete is mixed by hand, and the trench for the foundation is dug out using a pile driver, chisels and mallets, shovels, and a pick axe. Our guys have been working very hard at this task, which has helped us to develop a profound respect towards Don Lolo, the foreman, and his assistant, Julio. Concrete is hauled in buckets and space is very limited on the construction site because a family of 12 is living in the house that we are replacing with a new one.
We have been strategically demolishing just enough of the old structure to chisel through the old concrete and asphalt layered floor, construct the rebar backbones, pour the new concrete foundation, and lay the base rows of cinder blocks. Every single possesion of the family is piled under the portion of the roof that we left intact. This leaves very little room for the family to sleep at night. I am very certain that right now 12 people are laying almost on top of each other on the dirty concrete floor that years ago was an active dump. To further stress the importance of getting this shelter finished, the mother of the house is very pregnant. Our motivation is clear and I truly believe that the zeal in the work that we have put forth is proportional to our emotional desire to see this family live more comfortably than they are now as soon as possible.
I would also like you to consider the working conditions that our guys have been pushing through. Raw sewage and trash are dominant smells in the majority of the neighborhood. Space is very tight on the small lot with the remaining structure, making tasks like using the pole driver and pick axe very difficult. The team this week has overlooked so many conditions that would never be overlooked in the US in order to accomplish a task that will make an immediate and strong impact on a deserving group of 12.
We have also discussed how fortunate we are to have the people who serve us on this trip, in turn allowing us to make an impact on the people that we are working so hard for. We are very fortunate to have Olga, a woman who lives in Guatemala City and is willing to translate instructions from Don Lolo to us. Her presence has allowed us to work and plan ahead, and has saved Don Lolo from having to demonstrate every task, considering that he would not be able to verbally communicate them to us without her. Several Guatemala City police officers have also been willing to remain with us during every minute of construction, as well as to lend a hand or advice where they could. Our three chaperones have not only given up more than a week of their time off, but have helped us along every step of this trip. We also have our guide, Andres, our extremely patient drivers, and the overwhelming support of a community that has every reason to be hostile to a group of comparatively wealthy people whose trash forms the foundation of their homes.
Though we will likely only finish the foundation of the house tomorrow, I believe that the admirable work ethic demonstrated by the team this week will prove to be extremely beneficial to the family of 12, Don Lolo and Julio, the reputation of International Samaritan in the community, and the community as whole through our desire to show them our empathy.
Mike Bennett
Wishing you all a safe trip home!
ReplyDelete