And the tears began to fall…
My apologies for not blogging yesterday. How busy were we! And, of course, the internet was down. We’re up and running again today. Hopefully video #2 will be ready to roll soon. Yesterday the teams continued working on the two building projects. We had a bit of rain which really slowed things down. We also had a gecko meet his unfortunate demise when he ventured too close to the cement mixing team. They say it was an accident. The girls really did try to rescue him. So, does that mean he becomes a fossil? Poor little thing.
We continued with our dump, clinic and orphanage projects. The workers at the orphanage get lots of visitors but her comment to our team was that she had never seen these orphans receive so much love from visitors. Usually, they just come for a look. Our students – your kids – got right in there, helped feed them their meals, held them and just loved them with tears running down their cheeks.
Speaking of tears, there’s a lot of that going around today as it is the last day for our one-week participants. They are saying good-byes to all the kids in the villages and at the worksites. We’re having trouble pulling them away to bring them back to the resort. No one wants to go home. The last day is always the hardest.
Last night, we got to celebrate Dominican-style up on the mountain with a pig roast, music, bonfire and a pool party. Everyone had lots of fun and it was a nice reward for all the hard work they put in this week.
Tonight is our final debrief for those leaving to go home. We’ll talk about “re-entry” into Canada. Even though they have only been away for one week, it will be an adjustment to return home to “life as usual” after experiencing something like this.
The buses are staggered for the departure times to the airport in Santiago. The first bus leaves here at 10:30 and the next at 2:00. Ouch! Once again, I apologize profusely for the LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)ly crazy flight times. It won’t happen again! Your loved ones should arrive at Seneca College Residence around 6 pm on Friday evening. There is a border crossing into Canada at Fort Erie, so an exact arrival time is unpredictable.
For all of the Hero Holiday Two people, their journey is just beginning! They are currently at Seneca College Residence getting registered and checked into their rooms. They’ll have dinner at 6pm and then a training session with our special guest, Henry Vanderspek from World Vision. Everyone should be tucked into bed by 11pm to have a good night’s sleep before the journey begins…