Megan and the First Build Day

Content by Megan

The water looks like soot. Its circles down the drain and I sigh. I'm having the hottest shower possible. My entire body aches and I would do anything for a back rub. Anything. I wash my hair and see black fall into the floor of the tub. I am covered in dirt, cement and dust.

The morning was a freezing cold start at 7am. The entire team sat huddled around cups of coffee, fresh  fruit and pancakes. The mood is calm. We are all preparing ourselves for the work ahead. Our Habitat build starts today. We are split into two groups and go to two different job sights.

The ride is only 15 minutes. We take a turn and I see pure destruction. Half the road is missing and a cliff is covered in mud. A land slide happened here and wiped out almost everything. Its hot when I step out of the van and my chest begins to burn. There is nothing left to this village. It is dirty and full of garbage. I look around and say aloud "Thank you God, for living in Canada." My heart aches again and we start the hike up the road to our building sight.

Don Timoteo is a father of six children and five grandchildren. He and his wife are the only two locals helping us on this build. He sees us, waves and tears begin to fill his eyes. I hug him and say good morning and he cries even harder. He expresses nothing but gratitude. He cries more and says thank you, thank God and buries his head into his hands. The tears fill my eyes and I remember why I'm here. We all clasp hands and say a prayer. Again I have tears fill my eyes.

The sun is beating down on us, the dirt is lingering in the air and I have sweat dripping off my nose. We are digging, lifting and sharing stories of our lives before this build.

There is a family of six beside us. The children play in the dirt. They're all sick. They have runny noses, missing teeth and everyone of these kids are coughing. Although they seem very happy. I walk down the road and they follow me like a pack of wolves. I bend down and open my arms. "Ola, Ninos!" They all smile and a little girl named Sonja runs into my arms and hugs me tight enough to take away my breath. We play hop scotch, tag and they show me their new kitten. Every where on the build I go, I have children laughing behind me.
They tickle me, giggle, and love my camera. I snap pictures of them and then teach them how to use it. They run and laugh and laugh more. Sonja's brother speaks a small amount of English. He says "Wanna see my house?" I smile and agree. We step on to the porch and I am filled with pity and sorrow. There are no words to describe what surrounds me. This is poverty in it's purest form. There is garbage everywhere. The house only has three rooms. There are no windows and no doors. The sink is also the tub. They have dirt floors and no clean water. The bedroom is and open room with two beds. One for the six children and one for their parents. I hold my chest and tears fill my eyes. Sonja takes my hand and shows me her bed and room. I smile and she giggles. She pulls on my hair band. I take my hair out from a pony tail and all the children surround me in this little room. "Bonita!!" and the touch my hair. No one here has even seen blonde hair before. Sonja's little sister braids my bangs and she then kisses me.

I am filled with humbleness and want nothing more than to take all these children home with me. I want to help them.

The day comes to a close and now I play on a laptop in a nice, clean hotel. I cannot believe what I have seen today. My heart is still sore.