Trip 1 Day 4

Hello family and friends!

I hope that everyone is doing well back home! Today was a really cool day in Guatemala for the crew and I. It was different due to the fact that the workload was much less than the previous three days. The extra time allowed us to learn more about many different aspects of our work in Guatemala.

After some breakfast (during which we jammed to a Latin workout DVD enclosed in our healthy cereal box) and a quick trip to the supermercado for water jugs, we were on our way to Santa Maria de Jesus. Instead of taking the usual route to our worksite, Tomas pulled in and stopped the work truck at an unfamiliar location. Henio motioned for us to follow him as he walked down the road to one of the open doors. Inside the building I immediately saw the other crew along with Joe (the founder of From Houses to Homes) and Oscar (Joe’s right-hand man). The sound of children playing and the plethora of colorings hung on the walls made me realize that this was the school that From Houses to Homes had built.

The director of the school showed us around the building and allowed us to observe the classrooms full of teachers and their students. The highlight of my day was when one of the classes sang a couple of songs for us. The school is absolutely beautiful! I was blown away by the resources and supplies that the school has at their disposal (as a matter of fact, Joe was delivering a donated iPad to the school). Just outside the block wall was the poverty of Guatemala, but in school these kids are given the opportunity to be children. The environment that the school provides allows the children to be carefree, imaginative, and engaged in their learning. After the tour of the school, Joe spoke to us about the education and healthcare aspects of FHTH that I had never been aware of. In addition to building new homes, this organization works with the families to subsidize school registration fees for the children and to provide quality healthcare to the families through its newly opened clinic. After our visit to the school I appreciate FHTH even more. These little villages in Guatemala have hope due to Joe’s compassion and hard work to make his mission a success.

As mentioned earlier, our workday today was very simple. We poured concrete to make a slant for the roof and also poured the concrete floors and front step to the house. During one of our breaks we had the opportunity to visit a family up the hill that Fred had built a home for two years ago. Unfortunately that house had been damaged by a landslide and a bare piece of land was all that we could see. Fred discussed with Henio the possibility of rebuilding that house in two weeks with a larger crew and more workdays to reinforce the new home so that it is never damaged again.

During lunch we were able to connect more with the neighbor children by playing a little game of soccer. Soccer is not exactly my forte, but I really enjoyed myself simply because the smiles on their faces were so genuine and their laughs were so contagious. I am really excited to give them a real soccer ball tomorrow so that they can have that joy everyday and think of us crazy gringos from time to time.

I want to thank everyone back home for their support of our mission here in Guatemala. We have so many stories to tell you and this blog is just a glimpse of what Guatemala is really about. It is so much more than just building a home and I am incredibly grateful to be given the opportunity to serve our brothers and sisters here in Guatemala.

Thank you and God Bless,

Kelly

p.s; In my defense on my 21st I was unavailable for comment due to the fact that I was not at our house. Other than that I was good to go. No worries.