Day 5 and 6 for St. Louis

Day 5

Back to building! Today we arrived to find the roofs on the 2 houses and the smooth coat going on inside and out. “Very Interesting.” We learned a lot that day from making cement mixture for a smooth coat, to pasting the walls and smoothing. Lots of sweat that day.

We also leveled the floors inside the houses to prepare for the cement floor pouring the next day. The floors have been raised about 3 feet from ground level with rocks, dirt, and old broken cinder blocks. They are raised to keep the houses dry when the village get flooded (which sounds like it happens fairly often). We leveled them out with a pick-axe and shovels and hands and then hauled in wheel-barrows of dirt to level it out completely.

After a hard day of work some of us went for a swim, others went shopping, and others hung out at the resort. After supper we played some pool while watching Reanne get her hair braided and extended. There was a lot of laughing that evening.

Sean & Michelle

Day 6

Today our group split in half with one group going to play with the kids and the other on the worksite and a switch at lunch. I went with the kids in the morning. When we first arrived there was almost no one there, but we pulled out the jump ropes and the balls and pretty soon the area was full. Nettie sang local jump rope songs with the kids and Tammy taught them how to play with a Chinese skipping rope. There was nail painting and catch, but I mostly stayed out of it. A little girl named Nadia attached herself to me and was too sweet to put down. She just wanted to be carried by someone, so I held her all morning and my arms were tired by lunch. In the afternoon we mixed concrete and used it to fill in the floors. There was a little bit of smooth coat to be finished, but that was mostly done. We spent most of our time with a wheel barrow moving sand for the concrete and mixing it up with shovels. Some times the kids came to help shovel for awhile. Mostly they played. One of the boys had a mask and chased the chickens around with it. It was pretty cute.

In the evening we went to “La union Bate” and watched Madagascar in Spanish with the kids. It was really awesome. When we pulled up to the village we were welcomed by a stampede of screaming children (now we know how Justin Beiber feels, LOL). We had to stop the movie and the kids had to move out of the way to let a car go through. We also had motorcycles with police with their guns patrolling the village, right through our movie. Pretty different night at the movies, but it was a great experience.

Nitara

The Shack – Day 2 “In the Tomato Fields”

What an eventful first morning. We had to get a fire started, cook our breakfast and pack our lunch. All in the complete dark! We ended up running down the street so we wouldn’t be late to meet our ride to work for 6am.Our job today was cleaning up the tomato fields, gathering the plastic that had been used to make the trellis’. Because we had to eat lunch when the other workers did, we didn’t eat until noon. I think I can say for all of us that we were ready to eat by 10am. Thank goodness for being in the tomato fields so we could munch on the few overripe tomatoes that had been left behind.We ended up working until 2:30. My hands were wrecked, my arms were sore and my legs felt like they were going to fall off. But this was only one long day for me, but to the workers it was just another day that blurred together with many other similar days. Field workers only get paid the equivalent of $10 a day. There’s a man there who has worked on the same ranch for years so he got a raise – only 10 pesos (less than one dollar). It’s crazy to think that in Canada people who do manual labour tend to get paid more but this isn’t the case here. When asked if we could imagine doing this job for a whole year we said no. Most of us said we might consider it for a summer job, but only if we were getting paid a lot more. On the other hand while people here do not enjoy the job, they are happy to simply have a job and be getting paid.We were lucky to get home early to buy groceries, collect firewood and make dinner before dark. There is not much to do in the evenings and we do not have enough wood to sit around a campfire to stay warm so it is early to bed for us after a long day of hard work in the sun.Written by Sarah, a School of Leadership Student, and Rose Friesen, School of Leadership Mexico Facilitator

University of Alberta Students Build House in Mexico

Hi World!  This is Alexandria and Roz reporting from Mexico 🙂  So we finally got here and boy what a trip so far.  Besides the scary men at the boarder with guns, everything went really well.  Just kidding mom!  Crossing the boarder was no problem and Mexico is WONDERFUL!  After arriving, we went and met the family that we are building a home for.  It was a very emotional experience because we realized that this woman has been through a lot.  It was sad to hear her story but we were happy that we can make a small difference in her life and in the lives of her children.  Yesterday we started building the house and it was quite an adventure!  With Kelly and Brock racing to see who can complete tasks faster, the competition was almost too much to handle!  We couldn’t even deal with it, so we went and painted with the kids.  Or we should say watch them paint because they wouldn’t let us.  In fact, Jose even kicked Megan off of the board that she was working on.  Getting to spend time with the community was an amazing experience and we feel so grateful and lucky to be here.  Were getting so many hugs and feel extremely welcome.  Today we are off to build the rest of the house and hopefully Jose won’t cover us in mud and paint again!   – Roz and Alexandria

My Friend, Beto

I first met him in the summer of 2007, in Dominican Republic. He was taking in some shade under the only tree that was close to where he worked: in the garbage dump. We would often sit there and chatter, me in my terrible Spanish and him rattling off in Creole and Spanish and smiling away as if I understood everything he said. It was the beginning of a friendship that has come to mean so much to me and many others.I always liked his eyes. Though they were now clouded with a deteriorating disease, they are sharp and kind. Eyes that you want to seek out in a crowd of people. He has a small, wiry frame, and his hands are deeply weathered from years and years of hard labour in the hot sun. I remembered him for many reasons. He was one of the ‘bosses’ at the dump and he was always the first to step forward and help us learn how to help them. And one day, as we were using the pump on the water jug, his hand reached out to help add leverage to the pump, and I noticed what was on his wrist. It was a Make Poverty History bracelet. It was a jarring moment for me, as I tried to soak it all in. This man, whom I had come to love and respect, was wearing this symbol of something I had given my life to. The only difference was, for him it was from the depths of poverty that he was working out of. Along with the 60-80 people that work there at that garbage dump, Beto lives day by day. Living on sometimes less than a dollar a day, they work to try to survive and to give their family a future. Many of them, like Beto, have even taken in orphaned children from their village, working to try to give them a future as well.Beto has taught me so much about serving others from where you are at. He has shown us and those around him how to be a leader without any title or pay grade to go with it. He has modeled compassion to many of us by taking in orphans and giving them a place to call home and a place to belong. He has opened up his world to us because he realizes that we don’t come to their place of work and into their village to observe or ogle. We come because they are our friends and friends enjoy spending time together.One of those days that summer, he and I had a conversation that has never left me. He told me why their community enjoyed spending time with our Hero Holiday groups. It was easiest for him to express it in Creole, through our translator.“Everyone here knows that you are working to help us and we appreciate that. You don’t come here and make us sing or do anything for you and you don’t come here and stare at us with pity. You come here and join us as friends. You make us feel valuable.”Isn’t that what friends do? Friendship is about recognizing when someone could use your help and reaching out with what you have. It is built on respect and trust and it isn’t dependent on social, cultural or economic boundaries. Friendship is what moves us from being an observer of someone’s life to becoming a part of the picture of who they are. And I am glad to call Beto my friend.

Shack Day 1 – Five Pesos to Spare

We moved into our shack today and started work right away. We did physical work around the yard.  We started around 9am, had lunch break at noon and the work day ended at 3:30pm. Apparently this is a short day of work! All I know is that I was ready to nap during our lunch break! While two people dug a hole for a new outhouse (bano), the rest of us re-fenced the yard. This consisted of ripping old plastic off the sticks used as fence poles and stapling on new plastic. The people doing the fence periodically rotated with those digging the bano hole. In the end the bano hole was at least ten feet deep. We carried the heavy bano structure over from the next yard and put it safely on top.  By the end of the day we had a new bathroom and a repaired fence.Our income for the day was 300 pesos; however by the time we paid our bills and bought groceries for dinner tonight and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow we only had five pesos to spare. It was the most stressful situation ever for me. Based on some requests from the rest of the group Emily and I were the ones doing the shopping today. By doing this I really got a sense of what life could be like for a struggling family (and not only here but anywhere). Standing in a grocery store trying to calculate in my head what the bill will be, how much money we had and worrying if we were getting enough to fill our families stomachs. Trying to put a bit of money aside for a day off. And the worries of what if we didn’t have enough money, what would i put back and the embarrassment that goes hand in hand.Even as we sit here by the fire with barely any light left planning our meals and schedules for tomorrow, I cannot help  think  how many people in my neighborhood are thinking along the same lines. Only their worries are much stronger because at the end of this week they don’t get to ‘check out’ and go back to a big sturdy house and worry-free steady meals. We only have five pesos to spare today but when it comes down to it, we are going to be okay.Written by Deryn, a School of Leadership Student

Days 3 and 4 for St Louis in DR

Day 3

Off to Augra Negra again to do our 2^nd day of our build. Half the group jumped right back into action while the other half enjoyed interacting with the children, playing tag, singing songs, skipping, playing catch, coloring and painting nails. After so much playing it was time for refreshment. We handed out water and suckers to everyone. The craziest thing was to experience the excitement and happiness the community has when we can look to our right and see a garbage dump and garbage filled river and a shack as a house, with the shack hanging over the river bank, which means the family is on the verge of losing their home. After lunch the two groups switched, so one group played with the kids and the other group worked on the houses mixing & hauling “cemento” for the whole afternoon. We were supposed to go for a movie night at the first village of “La union” to watch Madagascar, but it was looking like rain, so it was cancelled to Monday night instead. So we went for ice cream and did a bit of shopping on the way back. Corina tried bartering, but came back empty handed, we’ll have to go back again to see if she can get her price. LOL. We came across a ball game on our way back, so we stopped, that was very cool. We had our picture taken with one team named “Amigos de Canada”, they were sponsored by a couple from Winnipeg.

Day 4

WORK DAY AT THE GARBAGE DUMP!

This is the day that was the most life changing for ALL OF US! We partnered up with a Haitian friend & helped them to fill a very large bag to make them .50 to .75 cents a bag. The items that they wanted us to pick up were plastic bags and plastic bottles. They also took anything that they could use, like underwear, shirts, pants and some of us even witnessed them picking food and eating it. That was a hard one to take! YOU CAN’T IMAGINE WHAT WE ALL WALKED THROUGH. Later that afternoon we went for a hike to the waterfalls, which was a very refreshing afternoon after our challenging morning. We walked through sooooo much mud and walked through streams of water to get to the waterfall. After supper some of the girls had their hair braided. Michelle and Reanne got extensions too. VERY FUNNY LOOKING. LOL.

WE ALWAYS END OUR DAY WITH A LOT OF LAUGHS! MICHELLE IS KIND OF CRAZY. LOL. CORRINA HASN’T STOPPED LAUGHING. HAHA.

P.S.- OH YA AND BY THE WAY THE KIDS ARE DOING A FANTASTIC JOB THIS WEEK HERE IN THE DR.

Brooklyn and Reanne

The Shack Intro – “We’re All in This Together”

  For 7 full days, I’ll be living in a shack that we, the six of us School of Leadership students, built out of cardboard, wood, and plastic scraps that we’ve salvaged from the streets of Zapata & Vicente Guerrero. Why you might ask? To experience some of the life challenges that a migrant worker in Baja Mexico might encounter.Each day, we’ll be working common labour jobs to make a daily combined wage of 300 pesos; the equivalent of three people working. This will be shared between the 6 of us to buy food, water, and supplies – including toilet paper, firewood & any other life bills that may come up like medical expenses. Just so you know, 300 Mexican Pesos = 26 American Dollars. Building our new home seemed like a near impossible task when we first began. Considering all we were given was a staple gun with staples, a few nails and a hammer. We had zero money and needed to build a stable, water-proof structure to keep us safe from whatever weather is coming our way. So we turned to the ditches of the highway; we scavenged for cardboard, wood, scraps, windshields, anything and everything to build our shack. Some generous businesses also donated some scraps of wood, twine and cardboard boxes. Once we filled our van with cardboard and such, we headed home. After we got everything out of the bus we started to strategize where we would build our new home. We tried to find the most level surface to build on, from here we decided where the shower, fire pit and water barrel would go. Idea’s were flying. We decided on a raised tent shape, basically a triangular shaped frame with about a 2ft base at both ends; similar to a basic house shape, only shorter. Once we had the frame of our shack built we started to lay and staple cardboard to the roof. We covered the roof with the plastic to make a water-proof roof for our lovely new home. For the plastic we used the rope that the lumber yard man gave us; it was quite handy. We did some problem solving and came up with different ways of holding down the plastic. Once the plastic was in place we made sure everything was secure.I think we may just survive in this thing, considering I’m looking out the window at the shack & it’s still intact despite a night that kept me awake with rainstorms & windgusts like you wouldn’t believe! (Or maybe I just stayed awake because I’m terrified for the next 7 days..and slightly eager to get started!) But all in all, it’s an experience I’m excited for. Here goes nothing – we’re all in this experiment together!
Written by Leah and Emily

First Few Days of St. Louis Hero Holiday

Day 1

TOTALLY AMAZING! As you can see in all the pictures. We went to tour around a few different villages and seen about 6 schools. All we can say is “totally amazing”!! The first village “La Union” and was so totally awesome, it was our first encounter with the children. It was so cool to see how these children clung to all of us, even though we were strangers to them. They held our hands and gave us hugs. It was an amazing feeling to hold a Childs hand and feel the warmth and bond you now have within your first 5 minutes. Off to the school in Arroyo Seco where we met Garcia, who pretty much made this community to what it is today. So amazing how one man can have a dream and with a little help from Hero Holiday can follow through and build a complex which holds a school, church & community center.

NEXT onto meeting the two families that we will be helping in Auga Negra, it was an eye opening experience. SO UNBELIEVABLY SAD TO SEE THEIR EVERYDAY LIVING CONDITION WITH A BIG SMILE STILL ON THEIR FACES. We are now looking forward to Day 2 to see the progress begin!

Day 2

NO SUCH THING AS CLEAN CLOTHES FOR US ANYMORE AND IT FEELS GREAT! Heading straight into work such as mixing cement, hauling cinder blocks & wood, transporting pails and pails of “concreto” back and forth from house 1 & 2. Amazing site to see! Lots of neighbours around to lend a hand, and the support they show for one another is incredible. By the end of today the houses had really progessed and we are looking forward to what Day 3 has instore.

P.S. sunscreen is our new best friend!

P.S.S. Quick question for Sean. How was your 1 hour massage? You barely even broke a sweat! LOL.

Stay tuned for Day 3!

The Delivery: 2010 Hampers of Hope

Christmas is always a special time of year, and for many of LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)’s friends, Christmas 2010 will be a year to remember – because of people like you. Your generosity and thoughtfulness helped to make our 2010 Christmas Hamper Delivery a huge success. Each home that received their hamper was one that was filled with thankfulness and each gift was put to great use.In Mexico, Dominican Republic, and Haiti, we were able to bring gifts made possible by you – and together, we were able to remind each family, home, and children’s home that they are remembered. Through your generosity, they were reminded that we believe in their future. Thank you.Click here to see the delivered hamper pics

23 Days of New Experiences!

23 days ago, we left Hamilton Ontario – Mexico bound. On the way, we found Arizona, The Grand Canyon, San Diego, fro-yo, and sunshine. Sadly, we had to leave Arizona and San Diego behind (they didn’t quite fit on the bus!) but the sunshine, we kept with us – or rather, it chose to stay. Most of the time at least!So now, 23 days later; we’re here and settled in – speaking Spanglish at every turn and eating tortillas at any (and we attempt to make it every) meal. The sun does shine most days, but we’ve learned that when it goes down it takes all it’s warmth with it – so we’re left in the cold and the dark. But we don’t mind, our usual remedy is to cook dinner and dance!

A typical day down here on the Baja coast involves class in the morning (right now we’re in the middle of discussing world cultures, the world bank, politics, and NGO’s – being able to discuss with 5 other people that all have unique life experiences and perspectives is potentially the best part. Give us a topic and we’ll run with it!) and then usually teaching or volunteering in the afternoon.

Each week, we get to hit up 3 incredible places – the Good Samaritan Seniors Home, and 2 schools. At the seniors home, we do a multitude of jobs – last week, Colin and I washed fans and windows, this week we did laundry and tackled spiderwebs. Whatever needs doing, we’re game – the Good Samaritan is run by a man named Juan, who does it all out of a belief that people deserve a home. It’s an incredible place; and even though most of the residents don’t speak English we get to communicate with them. This past week, I was lucky enough to spend time with the cutest Grandma EVER – she taught me needlepoint and we talked about her family. When it was time to leave, she showered us all in hugs and kisses, walked us to the gate, and literally tried to come through it to say goodbye!

It’s not only our visits to the home that leave us feeling loved though – our days of teaching at PSQ (Paseo San Quintin – one of the schools!) usually end in sad goodbyes and promises to come back, to tango again, to play another match of soccer or give another push on the swings. These kids are incredibly trusting and don’t know the boundaries that language seems to impose on adults – everything is understood with a smile, a laugh, and a wave of the hand. We speak different languages, but that doesn’t stop us from playing. More than once, I’ve felt like I’m returning to my childhood days of playground etiquette – and sometimes, I even forget the rules and slide before it’s my turn! Some of these kids come with burdens bigger than I will ever know – and yet, they are able to live in each moment. I admire their spirit; and I admire the genuine smiles on their faces. They may not be kids like the ones I know, but they are amazing young people. At the Camalu school, jokes are frequent and they laugh easily – but their thirst for knowledge is apparent. The difference in the schools is obvious, the students in Camalu are more serious and know a bit more than San Quintin; but they are the same in more than one aspect. A few weeks ago, we were teaching in Camalu – and I saw a little girl pull out a Barbie doll and a berry box full of rags she proceeded to use as clothing and bedding for her friend. Fascinated, I watched 3 other girls pull out their own berry boxes from their princess pink backpacks and sit down to play – and was smiling ear to ear – Barbie was one of my own favorite games to play! Every once in awhile, we have the kids join us at the front and teach us a little Espanol, much to their amusement – we don’t always pronounce things right! The experience itself is worth every wrongly pronounced syllable. Teaching and learning – we are quickly learning they go hand in hand.

When we’re not volunteering, we’re out exploring the countryside between house chores and cooking meals – two very IMPORTANT aspects of our lives! Communal living is definitely an experience in itself – you learn what people like to eat, what they hate, and most of all, what music they listen to. We have a set of speakers that get a lot of use, and play host to a lot of dance parties! We try to see as much of our little piece of Mexico as we can, and experience it as fully – trips so far include days on the beach, exploring the coastline, seeing the oyster fields, a volcano climb, a potatoe – taco restaurant, an avertoon dedicated to the Superbowl with Santiago, a night at Andrew & Dawn’s new restaurant, la taqueria differencia!, a trip to Ensenada and La Buffadora (an adventure all in itself!), a night at the pool hall, a retro party complete with pinata,  and still, one of our favorite places to visit…is the grocery store.

We love it here, we love learning, and we love being part of a change – our shack experience is coming up soon, and as we learn to live with each other and in this new world, we learn to be adaptable, the accept challenges, and to smile frequently – it really does make not knowing Spanish a little easier. Another comfort is knowing that, in true Mexican style, there’s always “menana” (tomorrow!) to learn a little more!

Adios, Amigos!Leah, a School of Leadership Student living in Mexico