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Published: March 7th 2009
Hello everyone!
I recently went on a service trip with St. Camillus of Washington D.C. thanks to the friars here at Siena College and (I know you haven't heard from any of my travels in a while) I had an amazing time and an even more amazing experience. I cannot begin to thank the people of St. Camillus, the friars at Siena, Mike (our fearless leader), and the people of Guatemala for all of their hospitality and support during this trip. I could write a book about all of the things that we did in Guatemala while working for Habitat for Humanity, and all of the great friends that I made on the trip. I'll give you a quick recap of the highlights and a few small facts about Habitat Guatemala and the country as I write about the week. I'm going to give you fair warning though; it won't even begin to explain how I felt during this trip and how much fun I had with everyone on it.
On Saturday we arrived in Guatemala City and took an hour bus ride to the old capital of Guatemala, Antigua. Antigua is a very touristic city that has kept its
old-world buildings, and it has a beautiful mountainous views from all angles. A volcano towers over the nearby city and it always has a small cloud hovering over the top of it. We did a walking tour through Antigua for the rest of the night, and then prepared our luggage for a long bus trip on Sunday to Panajachel where we would be staying for the rest of the week. On our way there we stop at an orphanage to offer some of our time to learn a little and play a little. The orphanage is operated by nine fransiscan sisters that take care of 80 children from all ages. Every child has a different background story, but ultimately they all come from hard times and the sisters depend tremendously on the support of donations of time and money from outside organizations. We give the kids balloons, toys, and a pinata to play with for the time that we are there and everyone enjoys their company. Nothing captivates a child more than taking their picture and immediately showing it to them afterward. After we finish our visit with the orphanage we make our way to Panajachel to ditch our stuff
at a beautiful hotel located right on the lake, and get our things together to meet the two families that we would be building for that week. We are a group of 18, so we split up based on Spanish-speaking and work abilities to even out the groups of nine. When we arrived to meet the families, they were already waiting for us at the hotel and did a great job of filling up the tables. The first family had a husband and a wife with 11-12 kids and the second family had a husband and a wife with 8-9 kids. We had an informal meeting as everyone introduced themselves and thanked everyone for coming to be a part of the build. After a few pictures and small conversation, we all prepared ourselves for the day ahead; our first day on the site!
Our first building day we left Panajachel to scale the windy and steep roads up the mountain by van which led us to more windy and steep, dirt, roads that took us up further until we reached the tiny village of farmers that our families lived in. To tell you how small the village was, we
were able to walk from the first site (where we got out of the vans) to our site, in less than two minutes. It turns out that many of the people living there are related, but the living conditions are all the same: weathered wood and mud homes with tin roofs. It's such a simple way of life that is really hard to explain in words, but until you see it for a week, you'll understand what people go through on a daily basis. They live hard lives, but they are very happy people, and they are interested in what a bunch of gringos are doing in their village. The houses that we were building are only 500 square feet, with four rooms and cost an average of $4,200 per house to build. The Habitat Guatemala program has stipulations in order for a family to be eligible for a build: need dependents (kids), need to own the land (they help you get the paperwork if their is none to be found), need to be able to pay back Habitat for the house (usually monthly payments over an 8-12 year period), and you need to put in "sweat equity" (you have
to help build your own house). It really gets everyone involved and working hard throughout the entire process. When we arrived at our site, our mason gave us our tasks and we started in putting rebar together for support and filling in concrete blocks with fine cement and mud cement. We worked with one of the most beautiful views right in front of us all week, with warm temperatures and a nice breeze.
I was so determined to put a roof on this building by the end of the week, but I soon realized that building a house was actually only a medium used to get to know the families and the people in our group. At lunch time the kids come home from the school (one minute walk from the sites as well) and they start to investigate us. We are very foreign to them and speaking a language that they're not familiar with, so they are very interested in us, but cautious as well. Most of us are determined to make friends, so those that speak spanish translate for those that can't and everyone plays a few small games before we start back at work. After lunch,
I get back to work and notice a little girl looking at me as I work. I ask her who she is (her name is Lidia) and if she'd like to help me fill in cement between the blocks. She just nods her head and I give her a little trowel with my bucket and I watch her work and fill in the space. I hold a small wooden plank to prevent the cement from coming out of one side of the space as she fills it in and then clean up the edges a little after she's done. I try to talk to her, but she isn't too interested in asking me any questions, but after 20 minutes we start in on separate jobs. It was the only point in the day where I wasn't concerned with speed or the task at hand; she opened my eyes to what was right in front of me and stopped time.
I realized what was really important about this trip, and I was ready to start it again with a true open heart. The next day, and for the rest of the week, I work with a wide smile on my
face and everyone is poised for the kids to come home at noon. Some kids and animals are running around the work site during the day as well, so we try and include them in our work and they gladly assist us in our tasks. When the kids come home we continue our build and start to construct scaffolding of a few wooden planks and the concrete we are using to build. After Lidia had helped me the first day, some of the other kids were more comfortable with me and we were all conversing all day long. Everyone had a kid or two (or 20...Sandrita), that really stuck out in their mind and that they bonded with more. At one point during the week I was standing on two concrete blocks on the outside of the house, while Lidia, her cousin Yolanda, and her little sister Santa were standing on scaffolding inside filling in spaces with cement. Each of them had their own bucket and trowel, while I held three little wooden planks on the outside to help them fill in the spaces. At that point, I was smiling so much because I was having so much fun that
Lidia asked me "why do you smile so much?" I had no idea what to say, but I was still beaming.
We played games with the kids all week! They taught us a few of their games and we taught them some of our childhood games that we liked to play. I taught them games like "Red Light; Green Light" and "What time is it Mr. Fox?" One day during the week, Pat handed the kids stickers and explained sticker tag to them. They found it hilarious sticking everything that was able to walk with stickers. We were covered by the end of the day, even the animals had stickers all over them. I can't imagine how seriously the mason took me when I asked him what our next task was, when I had about 15 stickers all over my face and arms.
On Ash Wednesday we took off from work early and headed to the San Lucas Mission about an hour away to get a tour of a reforestation project and to see how coffee is grown and sold in Guatemala. When we arrived at the mission, we all (18 of us) piled into the back of
an old Toyota pick-up truck and got a ride to the ranch. There, they grow Cypress trees to replant in the country because they are a hardy tree that can grow very easily. Afterward our guide explained to us how the coffee is harvested and sold to the wealthy for resale outside the country. There are about 18 wealthy families that control Guatemala economy and government, and they become wealthier when they can buy the coffee very cheap from the ranches and resell it to foreign countries. Our guide then gave us a tour of a women's mission that is trying to fight for equality and protect women in Guatemala. Finally, our guide brought us back to the San Lucas mission where we could buy some authentic Guatemalan coffee, the proceeds of which support the local mission in Guatemala. On our way home, we stopped by an old site that the group had worked on in years past and saw that the stucture and family were still there.
On the last day of building, we all stopped at 1:00 to have our final lunch prepared by Habitat and the families. The families said a few words about us, thanking
us for all of our help; and we said a few words about them, thanking them for their kindness and hospitality. It was a sad moment, but a proud moment because everyone could see how tightly our relationships had formed just over a week. We presented the families with Bibles, and then had our lunch with the kids and families. The kids and everyone played for a little while after, then we all said our goodbyes. No one touched my heart more than Lidia. She was the first one to speak to me, and I was the last one to say something to her. She was the sweetest little girl and I told her that when I have a daughter one day, I hope she is just like her. We all spoke about the week (just as we always did) on our van ride home and waved to all of them as we drove off.
The next day we acted like tourists. We took a boat trip across the volcanic lake Atitlan to the town of Santiago. There we bought everything from table covers, to T-shirts, to dolls, to hammocks. We all bargained for the best deals to use
up some of the Quetzales that we brought with us to spend. The afternoon we loaded up the vans, checked out of the hotels, and departed for Antigua to spend our last night in Guatemala. I was too sick to partake in the evening activities which included an Argentinian meat restaurant that couldn't be beat (gives me a reason to go back) and a trip to a Jade Factory, but it was probably for the better. The next morning we set out for the airport, only to hear that it's snowing in Washington.
The whole trip was heart-opening. We are making happy people with hard lives, happier people with easier lives. They don't know the things that we have and worry about on a daily basis, so they live perfectly fine without them. Their concerns are about the most basic of needs, and it is humbling to see a family working together to survive as if it were effortless. Guatemala will always have a place in my heart, and the smiles of those families will be a constant reminder to me that the face of God is in all of us, and that by taking the time to stop
and look around will make it easier to see that on a daily basis. God bless everyone, and thank you all for an amazing trip!
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Andrea
non-member comment
My little cousin...
I am truly proud to call you my family. Keep up your good works.