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.

Thanksgiving Day - after the volcano

Content by Joanne

Yes, that is a puff of smoke on the second volcano!

After our volcano experience, we drove on to our homebase Tecpan, making a quick stop for cash, pharmaceuticals (in a store complete with armed security), and ice-cream! On the way, we passed the auto-parts center of Guatemala - Chimaltenango City. Not necessarily a place that I would recommend for a longer stay, but interesting nonetheless. The scenery was rolling hills, trees (with the occasional palm-tree) and lots of chicken-busses belching smoke.

On arrival at Tecpan and our hotel at the Hotel Villa de Don Pancho, and we are quickly ushered in to the large eating area for our delayed lunch.

After lunch we met our families. I can not remember all their names right now - I am just getting the team names down.

The first family includes the father and his wife, along  with one grown daughter, a young daughter, and a young grandson. His house was washed away by hurricane Agatha in May, at which time he lost a son and daughter (the mother of the grandson we met) to the storm. During this catastrophic day, his son-in-law (the father of the grandson we met and husband of the daughter who perished), was severely injured and now on crutches and unable to return to work in the fields for 12-18  months. Imagine...

The second family was represented by the father. His family includes 6 children and 5 grandchildren, and they too lost their house in Agatha. He gave a bit of a speech in Spanish about how thankful he was. Our interpreter did not try to keep up, as the father was quite emotional and everyone understood the meaning. There were very few dry eyes in the room.

We then had some cake and soda, followed by a meet-and-greet with the families. The children were eventually drawn out by seeing their pictures on various cameras, and they even got to take a few shots.

It is going to be excellent....

Megan and the Mountain - Thanksgiving Day

Content by Megan I feel like I am drinking a piece of heaven. I inhale the rich mocha smell and let the warm liquid hit my lips. This is the best hot chocolate that I have ever tasted. Made fresh this morning from fresh cocoa beans picked yesterday. The rest of my team sits quietly in the cafe, discussing what our day is going to be like, while I bask in this cup of pure lust. Our team leader Tim, informs us that we will not be building until tomorrow morning. I am some what relieved due to my roommate not getting to sleep until 3 hours ago. "Today we will hike to volcano!" Everyone groans but me! I throw my fist into the air and say "yes!" My team looks at me puzzled and I just blush. We pile on to a small bus and drive 2 hours into the small village at the base of the volcano. I get out and smell dust and sulfer. "Chica, cavallo?!! Good price for you!" A young boy hands me a rope with a very thin horse at the end in the hopes that I will rent the horse for the ride. My heart aches for this poor animal. He is old, starving and lame. "No, gracias" I reply and pat the horse's forehead. He looks at me as if I am to save him and my heart burns again. The team buys water and snacks. I get a kick out of the fact the local village sells Cheetos. I take in my surroundings. There are too many chickens, roosters and dogs running around. They all look unhealthy. There is volcano dust on everything. The cars have it. The people have it. The horses have it. I squat down and call "Ola! Perro!!" and extend my hand to a small chestnut dog. She wags her tail and slinks over. She snuggles into my leg and closes her eyes in comfort. I think how can I fit this dog into my purse. The guide yells and we make our way up the base of the volcano. 7500 feet up. Straight up. My calves are burning, my brow is covered in sweat and I am now also covered in volcano dust.  I head to the front of the group and yell back encouraging words. We stop and I finally look up from the trail. My breath leaves my lungs and I get tears in my eyes. This view is nothing that I have ever seen before. I see lush green trees and more land than my eye can take in. I see a volcano actually smoking. I see a village with tin roofs. Brand new roofs from the recent eruption in the Spring. I also see the small chestnut dog following me up the hill. She sees me and wags her tail. I call her Perro again and she runs to my feet. "Ola, Perro" and I pet her forehead. She and I are not on this adventure together. As we approach the top, I see the land smoking and the heat escaping from the rocks. I cannot get over this heat. Perro is still tagging along and  it makes me smile. I stop constantly and take pictures of how beautiful this world is. I sigh and thank the heavens again for giving me this.  We stop at the top and a bag of marshmallows is open. We take a small stick and roast marshmallows on lava. I am amazed by this - but Perro just sleeps by the heat and I rub her belly. This is way a house build should begin.