Week 3 Day 6

Week 3 is completed with another new home built for a family living in an impoverished area outside of Antigua, Guatemala. With this, the Guatemala Help Weeks 2011 have come to an end, and we can't help but feel the paradox of being content and restless at the same time. We are content that we were able to help provide 4 new, safe and dry homes for families who never had anything of the sort. But we are also restless because there is so much more to be done. Our time here was just a drop in the bucket of what needs to occur in order to eliminate the extreme poverty in which the majority of citizens of Guatemala live.

Our mission now is to spread the word about what we saw and experienced here so that perhaps more support for great organizations like From Houses to Homes may come in the future on multiple fronts.

As far as right now, St. Andrew Campus Ministry is extremely grateful for the student and parishioner volunteers that committed not only to participating in the Help Weeks, but also helped raise all the funds needed to make the trips possible.

We are grateful for all who supported our volunteers with funds, prayers and encouragement.

We are grateful for all the From Houses to Homes workers as well as Oscar and Joe who manage the whole process.

And lastly, we are grateful for a faith that calls us to action. It has helped us realize that this outreach experience is more than just altruistic. It's Eucharistic because it is rooted in relationship.

May this relationship continue to flourish and bring life in abundance!

-Fred T. Mercadante
Campus Minister

Week 3 Day 5

Hola mundo,

Today was a different type of day. Our work included making a lot of cement for the roof and floor and that was about it. Although this work didn't take a long time, it is pretty physically strenuous.

Olivia spent the end of the morning teaching Ophelia some English words that she wrote down in her journal. She was like a sponge, soaking up every word she was taught. This process continued during lunch, with her asking me words like frio (cold) and perro (dog). I really enjoyed teaching her a little bit of English since she has taught me so much Spanish this week. At lunch, Ophelia gave Olivia, Izzi, and I these notes that she wrote for us. Mine talked about how she loves her Sueno (teacher) Taylor and how she was going to miss me. It had a picture of us she drew on it and a picture of her crying because I am am going to leave. This letter made me realize what and impact we have made on this family and the impact this family has had on me in the short time we have been here. I am really going to miss these people and I will be sad to say goodbye to them tomorrow but I know that they will always remember us and I will always remember them and keep them in my prayers. As we left, I realized that I was saying "Hasta Manana"(until tomorrow) to them for the last time. It was neat to hear Ophelia yell "goodbye" to me in English, knowing that we tuaght her that today.

Afterwards, we all left to play soccer. The teams were the Guatemalans and Fred versus the rest of the Gringos. We also had some young guys join us in the middle of the game. We fought hard with Olivia scoring a goal on Sean scoring two but we still lost 5 to 3.

This week has been amazing, a completly different experience for me than last week. I will be both sad to leave the family and happy to have completed there home tomorrow. I have learned so much during this time here and I have formed some amazing friendships, but I know that these experiences will last me a lifetime and I pray that I have affected these families as much as they have me.

Adios,

Taylor Hix

Week 3 Day 4

A distinct line became evident for me today as we stood atop the ridge absorbing some stunning views. It was the stark contrast between the community that has become so familiar to us over the past few days and that of a completely different horizon. On one side of the ridgeline stood Santa Maria de Jesus, the city in which we have spent our days hauling buckets of earth and rock. On the other side stood an unfamiliar landscape of farmland characterized by wide expanses of open land and the buzzing sound of industrial agricultural machinery.

After having climbed a somewhat treacherous path, we moved along the ridgeline in search for awe inspiring vistas. As I reached the end of the trail I looked across, mesmorized at the site of wispy, moisture ridden fog moving over the opposite ridge into the lucious farmland below us. While folliwing the path of the fog, my sightline was suddenly juxtaposed with the concrete and sheet metal structures characteristic of Santa Maria de Jesus and I was reminded of the stark contrast I have seen during my stay in Guatemala. That of lucious farmland or touristy Antigua with the intense poverty of so many residents that lay silent just beyond the next ridgeline.

The sites we have seen and the voices we have heard throughout the past week have been solemn reminders to the intense poverty, that regardless of setting, lies dormant just beyond our line of sight. For me, this trip to Guatemala has been a constant reminder to realize that such conditions are not isolated to settins such as this. They are present across all worldly regions, whether it be third or first world. It is our responsibility to recoginize this fact and carry it home with us.

This week has been a week of many firsts for me, not so much in the realm of construction, but the nature of the trip itself. This is the first time I have truly dabbled in humanitarian aid. In addition to this, this is the first time I have spontaneously decided to take a trip of this calibur given 2 weeks notice. Throughout this experience I have realized a number of things. Most notably I have questioned why I have chosen to spend my time in Guatemala rather than savering my last few weeks in Clemson, SC before moving to Memphis, TN. That question for me has been answered almost unamously. I am here in order to realize a number or things. First, I am here as a student. The family we are serving are my professors. They are some of the most resilient individuals I have ever come across in my 22 years on this earth. Each day, I am amazed at the differences in the ways by which we live our lives. Here I am, most concerned about the terms of my lease for next year while these individuals are concerned with keeping alive. I cannot even begin to understand their situation. I can, however, spend every last minute here attempting to form some meaningful relationships with those around me.

I am young, I am ignorant, and I am belittled by the individuals that I have encountered this week. It is my hope that I will return home with the realization that no matter the level of formal eduacation I receive, that I will always be a student. I will be continually faced with opportunities to place my self in situations that will provide me with a new sense of perspective. I will be provided with an opportunity to see clearly through lifes distraction and realize the immense power of collaboration between strangers towards something greater than themselves.

Progress Notes: We have completed construction on the four walls of the house and are now moving on to the floor tomorrow!

Thanks for reading!

-Sean Murnan

Week 3 Day 3

Today continued my own personal experience in the myth of Sisyphus, carrying endless buckets of rocks and sand up a hill so steep no American would dream of building a house upon it. While the work is hard, it is certainly rewarding, as we can see continued progress on the house. An exciting benchmark is finally building walls that stand taller than yourself, a pleasant reminder that we are building something bigger than ourselves both physically and spiritually. Interaction with the children and family has been one of the most important parts of the trip, keeping us light-hearted and amused amidst all of the hard work.

My time here in Guatemala is certainly a blessing, as I had not planned on coming here again until about 2 weeks ago. I had the opportunity to attend a help week last summer and had an amazing experience. But with finishing up college and gradution and uncertainties about the future, I had not planned on attending this year. But since I didn't land that six-figure job right out of college, I jumped on the opportunity to attend this summer, paired with the flexibility and kindness of our fearless leader, Fred.

In building the house and reflecting upon what we are really doing here, I was reminded of a passage I read in Evelyn Waugh's novel "Brideshead Revisited." In the last passage of the book, the protagonist Charles kneels and prays before a tabernacle in a chapel, a culmination of his long jorney to faith. He says "I thought that the builders did not know the uses to which their work would descend. This flame... could not have been lit but for the builders. And there I found it that morning, burning new among the old stones." We will never truly know what effect this house will have upon the family. We will not be here to check in on them or experience its effect in their lives. But it is somewhat comforting to know that we cannot fully know the grace that will come from a stable shelter in the family's life, just as the builders of the chapel could not name all the souls that came to know God through their hard work in laying its stones.

For me this experience is the opportunity to take myself out of the routines of American life, and attempt to affirm that Christ can be found anywhere in the world. This week I face this test through the sacrifice of physical labor and a personal connection with the impoverished family. There is something very spiritual about a hard day's work. These Guatemalan's experience this fact every day. In their daily attempt at survival, they are faced with a more confrontational realization that what they have, or what they do, is not enough and that they need God's grace and love. Their toil is not in vain, for even amidst their destitute conditions, they do not despair. Their faces are often filled with joy and laughter one would be hard pressed to find in the wealthiest of neighborhoods in America. While most of us are able to distract ourselves with the comforts of our lifestyles, out here there exist no such comforts, and there is a more potent and direct connection to Christ.

Experiencing Guatemala is an exciting adventure, and I am glad to be able to come back and explore more. The landscape is both harsh and lush at the same time. The views are dominated by intimidating volcanoes that surround the populous valleys. One of my favorite moments of both years here is the car ride from the airport in Guatemala City to Antigua. During the trek, one is able to see all sides of Guatemala, from the shopping centers of the capital, the poverty on the outskirts, the flourishing countryside, to the charming colonial atmosphere of Antigua's cobblestone streets and Spanish Empire ruins. The country's beauty is second only to its kind people, who are thankfully known for speaking Spanish very clearly and slowly, compared to their Mexican neighbors, allowing me to brush up on my spanish. It is amazing how quickly you can learn after being immersed in the culture for even a short period of time.

So long for now, and thanks for reading

--Adam Broering

Week 3 Day 2

Day 2 for the third week began like every other day with making lunches and eating breakfast. The two hour time difference has been very nice for me. Now I'm a morning person! I've been waking up between 7-8 for the couple of days I've been here. The workers came earlier than any of us expected so there was a mad rush around 8:45 for everyone to get ready and out the door.

We were promised an easier day than the first but honestly I can't tell the difference. Day two was around the same amount of work packed into a shorter time period. We began our work day by hauling the dirt we toted up the hill inside the house. Ontop of that we "frosted" our cake with bags of portland cement. After the bags were cut and emptied we topped the whole thing off with some rocks. This pile sat... waiting for us. After all the material was carried into the house and piled we fiddled around for a few hours while waiting for the workers to finish securing the rebar.

We took lunch after the workers were finished with the rebar. Our break was very long to say the least. Finally the break was over when we began to help the workers put up the forms for pouring the concrete. Not gonna name any names, but someone dropped a hammer in a crevace behind one of the walls. A good thirty minutes of the day was spent on fishing the hammer from the abyss. Enyo finally was able to use some wire to snag the hammer.

Finally it came time to work the pile of soon to be concrete that had been staring us in the face all day. In the hour we spent mixing the pile with water we probably worked harder than we had all week. I know thats probably some of the hardest work I've done in my life. That's coming from someone who worked in an aluminum smelter around some pretty nasty stuff in some undesirable conditions. We were very good about supporting each other through all the intensity. After mixing the concrete we loaded the mix into buckets which were then handed to the workers for filling the forms. When all of the concrete was poured we were finally finished for the day.

On my way out I couldn't help but rough house with some ninos. Some how I found some energy to flip them around for a while.

This is a week of many firsts for me. I took my first flight and first trip to a foreign country. After observing the lifestyle in both Antigua and Santa Maria de Jesus I'm very surprised at the similarities between this culture and my own. I see families that love eachother, eat together, smile together (sometimes with fewer teeth) and a sencerity like I've never seen before. At first they may seem like they have nothing, but the family we are helping has much more than many families back in the states.

- Patrick Windsor

Week 3 Day 1

What's up, world?

Today was the first day for the new guys, but, since I was here last week and worked there Friday and Saturday, I knew what I was getting into. It was a more than moderately exhausting day. The work began by making mortar for the house. The process of troweling it in between the cracks of the cinder blocks would continue for most of the day. The guys alternated between working on that and carrying rocks and dirt up the horrendous hill in buckets. Several of us incorrectly hammered the U-Blocks, earning the name "Ewwwww-Blocks" for the rest of the day. We also made some concrete to fill a layer of cinder blocks and carried cinder blocks into the floor. By the end of the day, most of us were sore, tired, and hungry.


The work took up a lot of our time, but we still found time to interact with the kids. They showed us these multi-colored baby chickens that they had and loved taking pictures with us. Our lunch ritual of tossing rocks continued, and the kids joined in the tossing, as well as handing us rocks to throw. They are definitely enjoying our company. We're enjoying theirs too. I love playing around with the guys in particular. None of them are older than ten years old, and they are absolutely precious.


After such a long day, we saved our discussion for the dinner table. I completed my turn on the hot seat, and we discussed different things that we had observed during the day. Several of us mentioned all of the trash that was around the town and its use as a fuel to heat the house. Others commented on the kids coming back from the fields with bags of sticks on their backs. We will continue to look for things that help us understand their culture and lifestyle.




Today was extremely tough, but the good news is that we got a lot out of the way. Most of the rocks are now at the top of the hill, and we have made a serious dent in the dirtpile. More of the blocks are also closer to the house-site. Tomorrow cannot possibly as tough, and experts are predicting that it won't be. My neck is probably going to be a little bit sore, but I'm not in as bad shape as I would have thought, after all the work. The rest of the week is definitely doable, after getting through a Manic Monday.

Izzi Hernandez-Cruz

Week 2 Day 6 / Week 3 Day 0

If you read yesturday's post, you know that week 2's crew finished building the house to which we were assigned and now it is a home. You will also know that we got a head start on next week's house by working a couple of hours in the afternoon.

Today we went back to next week's house in order to get an even bigger head start. The issue here is that we built this family a home 2 years ago, but it was destroyed by a mudslide last year during Tropical Storm Agatha that brought so much havoc to an already impoverished area. We decided to rebuild it this year, this time much stronger, which requires a lot more work, hence the "head start."

Why not just build it out of harms way? That would make a lot of sense, but this little peice of land is the only land this family owns. It's either build it there or not at all. The week 3 crew decided unanimously that we ought be like the Lord Jesus in this weekend's Gospel and say to the family, "Do not let your hearts be troubled, in our Father's house there are many dwelling places. If there were not, would we have told you that we are going to prepare a place for you."

Almost all of the From Houses to Homes workers joined us today in order to preapre the foundation, which is much more intricate, deep and labor intensive than usual. Here is where I want to say something to you readers (all 4 of you). Saturday and Sunday are the workers' day off, yet they all came to help prepare this house so that our group would be able to finish before we leave next week. Granted they are getting paid for it, but watching these young men work together, laughing, joking and and seemingly enjoying themselves, it struck me that this is not the disposition one would expect of people who have to work during the weekend (physical work at that!). If only I could find that same disposition within myself the next time I have to do extra work that is unscheduled.

It was a hard day, but building homes is why we are here, and it's the "hard" that makes it great.

-Fred