SOL Students become Kindergarden Teachers
We never really realize the power of what education can do when we are engulfed in the chaotic life that we live. But when looking into impoverished countries, such as Mexico, we can see how education can truly break the cycle of poverty.
As I and the rest of the School of Leadership students drove up to the one-room school that day in Mexico, I couldn’t help thinking,
what did we get ourselves into?! We walked into the class and you could tell how eager the children were to learn, with their big brown eyes staring up at us we started with the basics (“Hi, how are you?” or “My name is…”). As we walked around the classroom all the children slowly but surely opened their mouths pronouncing the few words we had taught them. There were a few that held back, but after giving them a high five their shy, covered faces exploded into a smile that spread from ear to ear.There would be times where we would get a little off-topic and the children would chase us around the classroom in a mass-tickle fight, but in the end we were giving them an outlet from the stresses of their daily lives. It is hard to think that children in a kindergarten class carry many burdens, but that became a new reality for us when the teacher asked us if we could come teach English at a later time of day so that the children who work in the fields could attend the classes too.
When we worked in the fields during the shack experience, we saw a few children working in the fields as well, but they acted so mature that I often thought of the children working there as adults. It has become clear that children are being forced into taking on the daily challenges of an average adult in many countries like Mexico and are being robbed of their childhood. We have the power to end the cycle of poverty, but it all comes down to whether we stand together to make a change.It’s funny because we always think that we are only one person, and how much of a difference can one person make? But once one person decides to do something it creates a chain reaction and soon enough that single person turns into a large group.~ Laura, a School of Leadership student living, learning, and teaching in Mexico
When I walked through the gates into the senior citizens home for the second time, I looked around for a man that I had only met once but had made an impact on my heart forever.
was so excited because he told me that no matter what he will always have a picture that his new friend gave him. He said that he didn’t have many friends in the seniors’ home but knew that I was a true friend because I took the time to listen. Leo said many kind words that day to me but as we were leaving the center he hugged me and started crying. He told me that I will forever be in his heart and he will be forever grateful for the time we spent together. I told him not to worry; that we would be back to visit and that put a smile back on his face.You may think your life is too busy to sit down and take the time to get to know someone and what they have been through in their life, but when you realize how precious life is, you may think twice. Leo’s face will forever be engraved into my heart and mind. He told me I have changed his life, but he has changed mine just the same. He has taught me that life is too valuable to live without a purpose, to live each moment to its fullest and to truly be grateful for the people you have around you.
It has almost been a month since we have left for our tour from our base in Hamilton (aka the Hammer). Nine very individual people set of to somehow to change the world. Our team is filled with four superb band members from Hundredfold (Terrence, Jon, Alex and Réjean), three wonderful School of Leadership students from Penticton B.C (Kayla, Cory and Bri (which is me), and two of the best leaders imaginable (Adam and Lindsay). Our tour has had many ups and only a few downs (especially in temperature, Newfoundland is cold!). But the amazing thing is, when a downer occurs not one of us didn’t make the best of it. From our first challenge as a road team, the bus getting stuck on the side of the road in Ottawa for seven hours, due to an accidental gas/diesel issue, to playing drums in the middle of the boonies in New Brunswick. We have stuck together and had a blast doing it!
We have been through it all, but I couldn’t imagine anyone else I would want to go threw it with. We currently only have two more weeks on the road, and honestly I don’t know if I can go back into my routine. Once you get used to the company of nine people there’s definitely a good chance of withdraws. Life on the road is well….unexplainable, quite the adventure. But one thing is for sure…we’re a family, and road trips wouldn’t work without the right people.~ Brianna, a School of Leadership StudentTeam #2:
Our team has been touring western Canada for about 3 weeks now. We have had many adventures so far: breaking down in the mountains, finger painting, CSLC, and bowling in churches. You may be thinking… bowling… in a church? What’s wrong with this picture? We were playing in their gym and found these little plastic bowling pins and a baseball. So for the rest of our time there, whenever we had free time, we bowled, and got quite good at it if I don’t say so myself. We have met so many awesome people along the way, and I am really excited to see what’s going to happen next. We have had the chance to perform in some pretty awesome towns and cities, at some pretty amazing schools that seem to be stoked on us being there. 
I have already learned so much about myself in such little time thanks to this tour, it has helped me learn to try new things, and to be open to new and exciting opportunities. Being on this tour has showed me what my true calling in life is, to help people. I have had an amazing time getting to know my team and the people supporting us and I am really excited to keep going and to see what comes next.~ Chad, a School of Leadership StudentI can honestly say, this past Thanksgiving weekend was the most eventful of my life. Now imagine this, you are driving through the beautiful Rockies in BC and you are having the time of your life with the best team ever. When suddenly you start to feel a little sick, you just think “OK, I guess I am getting a little car sick – nothing big.” You try and get past that because you are on your way home for thanksgiving dinner with your family (Our tour bus stopped in the town where I am from for the weekend). I was dreaming of turkey and stuffing my face with pumpkin pie 
when I heard a noise coming from the bus. A noise you never want to hear in the middle of no where… especially when it is -10 outside. As our bus come to a clinking stop, instantly pictures from the movie, “Alive” popped in my head. Ek! Our driver gets out of the bus to see what’s wrong and he finds out we have a broken belt that is a main part of the engine. The bad news is we cannot get help until the morning so we have to sleep on a freezing cold bus in the Rockies. Remember how I said I was feeling a little sick, now I was a lot sick. What ever I had eaten before we went threw the Rockies was coming out fast and out both ends (sorry everybody but its true). That was happening all night and into the morning and three pairs of boxers later, it was not the way I had pictured my Thanksgiving weekend. I was finally able to get some sleep but was up very early. In the morning our bus was honestly like a freezer, at one point I had five blankets on me! Luckily there were a few houses near where our bus had broken down and Chad and Ken went and asked one of family’s if they could take us in for a few hours while the pit crew (JP, Ken and Hiona) fixed the bus. On that Thanksgiving weekend we met one of the nicest and generous family’s ever. They took us in and treated all nine of us like family. In the long run I was “OK”. Thanks to the whole team and a great family. Even though it was an intense 20 hours, I will never forget our eventful trip through the Rockies.~ Brandon, a School of Leadership Student
Bryan: As a believer in the benefits of adversity, I was excited for this new experience. When deprived of our orderly lives, comforts, hobbies and things to fall back on or rely on, a person can do one of two things. They can struggle alone. Some of us find the strength within ourselves to necessarily reassure ourselves, be it hope, confidence, wisdom or experience. When these sources of strength falter, downward spirals of confidence or motivation can be quick to arrive, and consume the soul. Another option, should the situation allow it, other than struggling alone, is to do it with other people. Adversity brings people together, like the poles of a teepee (or our shower), creating a strong bond and structure. By trusting and relying on each other, any task can seem surmountable. When one person falters, the others have the power to bring them up again. An everyday example of the power of numbers was in the matter of our incomes. By the end of the first work day, our pooled incomes allowed us to get all the groceries we needed. Individually, we could never have afforded both the peanut butter and tortillas, the main staples of our breakfasts and lunches.Personally, being deprived of my lip chap worked to limit my experience for the first couple of days. It was irritating, affecting my personal mood, and distracting, taking my attention from important things like chatting around the fire. Luckily, Kelsey brought some “Vas” (Vaseline), which she had no problem in sharing with me, effectively solving that problem for me.I came to be aware of a state of mind during the shack experience. It was a familiar state to me, one that I remember from ill-conceived camping trips and long road trips. I would describe it as being halfway between contentment and survival-focused. Contentment would be the stereotypical North American life, waking up, doing the morning routine, going to work, coming home, doing housework, enjoying leisure time (TV, reading, video games), the nightly routine and going to bed. In this state of mind, one does not necessarily strive for, or long for a whole other lifestyle, but maybe for an improved one. This is not limited to the wealthy or comparatively fortunate, as even slaves have been known to find this kind of contentment in their lives. A survival state would be what is seen in the movies, or in stories of disaster survivors, where it is obvious that the current lifestyle is not desirable, but living is the focus of every action in the day, and stability in life is longed for for the future.This new state that I have come to acknowledge during the shack experience would be half-way between the two, and is what I imagine the majority of the world to know. There are facets of the daily routine that one would never want to change, like spending quality time with family or friends, or a particular hobby like fishing on Sundays or Friday nights at the pub. These positive moments can make life worth living, despite the day being full of intolerable labours like ridiculously long hours at work, a consistently aching body, or the chilling cold that can never be truly escaped. I think that the wealthy managers of mighty corporations that employ impoverished people, strive to keep their employees in this state, where they are kept minimally satisfied, just enough to get them to come back to work tomorrow.
Adrian: Whether it is clams, rocking, or planting strawberries, it seems to have quite the impact on how I live my life and how fortunate I am to be born in Canada. During the School of Leadership Mexican Shack Experience we had a chance to do all three of these jobs and each one pulled on different strings in my heart and caused me to do something I have not done in awhile … think. I had been on a few Hero Holidays before but never had I understood the full impact of my actions.As we drove to the clamming, I had a chance to talk with our translator he said that we were lucky, the sky was so clear that day so if there were any problems they would be able to see us from shore. Now we didn’t go deep enough for the current to take us anywhere but as I looked out into the ocean watching the waves crash over the other men. Out further where the dangerous waves were is where the best clams are and in order to make enough money to feed there family they needed to risk their lives. The more clams you get the more money you make. All together the students made 90 pesos or less than $10 for that day which seemed about average to what the other men made alone. It is hard to make a living clamming and the job carries allot of safety risks along with it.Field working is probably the hardest work that we did all week working along side people as young as 12 and about 70 plus. While standing in dirt rows, you get a line to yourself and you put the strawberry plant into predetermined spots with a forked metal stick. There is no room to squat or kneel down so you are forced to be bent over the entire time. After some time, your back is in agonizing pain. It hurts to be bent over but it hurts more to stand up strait. At this point I gained an enormous respect for these people because they have been doing this every day for about 12 hours a day and only making about $10 a day. It didn’t seem like they complained about it. This made me realize just how much I complain about my easy stand around 8 hour day.Rock picking was probably the job that effected me the most as I was told for every 2 foot by 3 foot bag they were paid 8 pesos or less than a dollar. They were then transported to the United States and Canada to be sold for much more than that in hardware stores. Decor rocks that’s what we called them back at home at the hardware store, which sold at about $5 per palm sized bag (the math is pretty clear). It amazes me on how much money companies make on something a simple as rocks and the people who are doing the hard work are the ones who are paid the least.Through the whole week, I saw the way that poverty gives you no choice but to do this hard work just to put food on the table and pay the rent. I now sleep well knowing that I have done something to help these people make a little more money at the end of the day. I thank them for letting me experience this work because it has defiantly changed my life.
Kelsey: When starting our week in the shack, I didn’t know what to expect. Sure I knew it was going to be hard and challenging but I never thought that one week would change my life. I realized just how little you need to actually survive. The things many of us take for granted such as food and shelter are the necessities of life; not iPods, the latest fashions or the new video game that just came out. I had been told that fact many times and I knew that people didn’t live the luxury that I have lived back home but actually living like them made the reality clear.Working in the fields was the most impacting day of the whole week. When we arrived in the fields we got to work picking cucumbers. We soon learned not to load our bucket to the brim because when you had to walk the full length of the field with the bucket on your shoulders, it tended to get sore. The workers were wondering why five white people would want to work beside them but after the strange looks wore off, they started helping us when we would fall behind. These people are part of the most accepting and caring culture I have ever been involved in. This became a reality to me when we were planting strawberries. We were slowly catching on how to plant them when two older ladies went over to the other SOL’s and started helping them so they wouldn’t fall behind. They stayed with us pretty much all morning; doing their row and then helping with the rest of ours. The same thought kept crossing my mind while I was bent down and my back aching; we had the end of the week to look forward to but what do the field workers have to look forward to? I asked Santiago (our translator) that question and he said that there aren’t promotions in the field. Once they are older they get to stay and pick the easier vegetables, such as cucumbers. For many who have been working in the field their whole lives, that is what they look forward to. It took a really long time for my brain to process that statement because if in Canada we feel we aren’t getting paid enough or want a raise we can usually obtain our wishes.On our last day of the shack experience, we went to a senior citizens home that was for the abused and the abandoned. We cleaned the home and after we were done we got to talk to these people and visit with them. Although there was the language barrier and we could only understand a little bit of each other, we somehow made them smile and laugh just by taking the time to sit beside them. This is when I came to the realization that I may not be able to change every wrong thing that is going on in the world, but by using my time for a good purpose I can change one person’s life by making them smile and taking the time to get to know them and their story.
Melissa: I would love to tell you how I felt during this shack experience. I won’t lie when I first found out about this experience I was scared. I thought that there was no way I could ever do that. What if I smell? What if I don’t like the food we are making? That’s all I could think about. I was only scared about how I would look, what others would think about me. I knew that Mexican’s and other people that live in shacks don’t have it easy but not until I experienced this week did I truly understand it. The Shack made me realize how good we have it in Canada. ââ¬Â¨Back home I work in a grocery store and my department is the salad bar. I cut up fruit and vegetables for hours and hours, I could not count how many times I would throw out food because I didn’t want to cut it or it didn’t look good enough for the customers. When I found out we were going to work in the fields for one of our work days, I knew I had to get myself physically and emotionally ready. When we were driving towards the fields, I was thinking of all the people who had to work to in the fields because there are no other jobs around here for them. They work really hard to feed their family or to have a roof on there head. When we finally got there, I thought it was just a dream because it looked like one of a scene in a movie. I wanted to cry but I also wanted to stay strong. When we finally got to work, they told us that we would have to collect cucumbers. Now when I look at a cucumber I think of all the faces I saw that day. We worked there for 2 hours and then it was off to work in the strawberry fields. Yes, it does sound really easy but it’s not that easy when you are doing it for 6 hours. I have never experienced such pain in my back! I was looking around and I could see 2 Mexican woman helping us because they saw we were in pain. When it was time to eat our lunch, I could not help but cry because I could not imagine doing this kind of work for the rest of my life. That evening back at our shack, all we could think about where the new friends that I made that day. Everytime I hear a truck, I think of the cucumber truck and when I see fruits and vegetables I think about all the people we worked with that day. I now have so much respect for the people who work in the fields. This experience has changed me and the way I look at life.ââ¬Â¨ We were only in the shack for a week, some people are there for there whole life! They don’t have something to look forward to like a hot shower, clean smelling clothes, perfume, and a bed to sleep on. When we opened the door to our house we were just so excited to see all of our stuff again. I was the first one to take a shower and as I got out of the shower I looked at my side table, put on my dioderent and perfume, brushed my hair, and looked at myself in the mirror. I could not help but get a little emotional, I had to take a moment to sit down and be grateful for everything that I have. To me this was something I did everyday, I wasn’t able to wash my hair everyday in the shack or to make sure I looked and smelt fresh. I realized how much stuff I have and realized that I should be grateful and thankful for everything.
Laura: ââ¬Â¨When I think about work, I generally think back to my previous jobs. I usually worked 8 hours dealing with customers who were unsatisfied with a microscope hole in a shirt or were frustrated with the return policies that had just been updated. ââ¬Â¨As I sat at work on one of my scheduled 15 minute breaks I would think about how boring and tired I was from just standing around doing pointless things. ââ¬Â¨When we were told about the shack experience, I was thinking that we were going to do some random jobs and live in a shack. ââ¬Â¨But as the start date slowly crept up to us, I started looking at the packing list realizing that this was not going to be as easy as I thought. We weren’t allowed to bring deodorant, soap or any of the things that seemed pretty essential to me. ââ¬Â¨If we wanted any of those essentials we would have to buy them with the money we earned from working. ââ¬Â¨The first day seemed like an endless job of shoveling gravel in and out of the back of Brett’s truck. Once the job was done we were able to go shopping for supper, knowing that we weren’t working on Sunday (bringing in no money) we decided to save most of our money and only buy the staple dinner consisting of rice and beans. ââ¬Â¨The second job we were assigned to do was clamming, we started at 11:30pm at night and we’re going to be standing in the ocean with pitch forks in hopes to find some bulky clams.ââ¬Â¨The moon lit up the starry night which was reflecting off the endless waves; a mere understatement to the reality of how beautiful this image was. ââ¬Â¨The six of us worked for about an hour, finding maybe a dozen clams that we considered to be acceptable for the clammers, but as they started measuring them the dozen dwindled down into a pathetic few. ââ¬Â¨By 4:30am they called us in so we could do a final count of how many we collected. The six of us had been able to collect around 3 dozen clams, while ONE man had collected 4 dozen on his own. ââ¬Â¨The people get paid for the amount of clams that they collect, each dozen they get 30 pesos ($2.50CAD) meaning that out of the 5 hours the six of us made 90 pesos ($7.50CAD). As soon as we got back, we hit the sack exhausted from the cold, laborious job.ââ¬Â¨Ã¢â¬Â¨The next couple days we were given jobs that were just as difficult as the last, but I look at those days as days of preparation for the day working in the field. ââ¬Â¨Down here in Mexico there are many ranchers down here that grow quite a few varieties of fruits and vegetables. The rancher that we would be working for sent us out to pick cucumbers for the first half of the morning and plant strawberries for the rest of the work day. As we drove up to the fields, my stomach started turning and all I kept thinking was man these people probably think we’re crazy. ââ¬Â¨Once we were given a barrel we were told to walk up a field and pick the cucumbers, once our bucket was full we would have to walk all the way back down the field dump it out and hurry back to finish up your row before they moved the truck. ââ¬Â¨Bending down and sticking our hands in the prickly bushes seemed to go by really fast, but at around 8:30am a new bus came up to the field and they started calling us in. ââ¬Â¨Santiago (our translator) told us that the bus was filled with older people who got to do the easier jobs, thus being their form of a raise; once you hit a certain raise you get the easier jobs. ââ¬Â¨Once everyone had boarded the bus, we headed off to the strawberry fields. Now, when we arrived at these fields all you could see was endless rows of brown dirt. ââ¬Â¨The job seemed like fun at first, but then the novelty wore off when we stood up and realized how much it hurt our backs from being bent over for the entire shift. ââ¬Â¨I felt like I was the slowest person, but there were these two ladies who would finish their rows in record time and then come and help us finish up our rows. ââ¬Â¨I thought it was so sweet of them, when they could have been taking a break from being bent over they came over to help us out. ââ¬Â¨The whole day was the biggest reality check I have had in a long time, something that was well needed.ââ¬Â¨The last day of the shack experience, we went to a nursing home to do some cleaning. It started off as a regular day but once we started to finish off the work we had more of a chance to talk to some of the people around us. ââ¬Â¨All the people there were so grateful that we had even come to clean, while shaking their hands they beamed at us with glowing smiles. ââ¬Â¨After this week it has really helped me realize that there are so many amazing people around us, but why don’t we ever take the time to get to know them? ââ¬Â¨All it takes is a hello and a smile to be able to turn someone’s day around because you took the time to acknowledge them. ââ¬Â¨The entire week I was considering different concepts and this being one of them. ââ¬Â¨Another one was that we were anticipating for the 7 days to be up, but what we were living was the reality for over half of the worlds population. ââ¬Â¨After being in the shack and coming back to the normality of life I feel awkward and out of place. It’s weird to wear a new set of clothes that I haven’t worked in 3 days in a row, and when I go into the grocery store I don’t want to flaunt the fact that I have enough money to buy something other than rice and beans. ââ¬Â¨When I sit and relax it feels weird because I feel like I shouldn’t be, that I should be working or helping those around me. ââ¬Â¨So lately, I have been trying to be more productive with my time, even just bringing a smile to someone’s face makes me feel 100 times more productive then me just sitting on my computer.ââ¬Â¨We are affecting people’s lives every time we step out the door, it can either be in a positive way or a negative its up to you to decide what kind of impact you want to have on people.
Today was more of a cool down day, after the hard day working in the field. The students needed to recover both physically and emotionally. We needed to finish up a project, unloading rocks from the truck and placing them in an area of the yard. This took them just a little over an hour to do. After a short break, we headed over to a nursing home to help out with some cleaning. When we got there the students were really impressed by how nice the building was. The construction of it was completed this past February 2009 and was already full of older people. The oldest person there is 102 years old! They guessed her age by talking to the 80 year old daughter.This nursing home was set up for neglected and abused older people because they still deserve the best care. One of the men in there went into the hospital a few years ago. His wife came in and got him to sign a few hospital papers. In fact, what he really signed was his divorce papers and the rights to everything he owns. Juan, the 
man who runs the home, picked him up from the police station, because that is where the hospital took him when he didn’t pay the bills. Today he is happy in the nursing home but still doesn’t understand what happened to him that day.The students worked hard for three hours cleaning the nursing home. Everything was dusty, which is the norm for the Baja, so they spent most of the day dusting. They cleaned windows, doors, sky lights, fans and floors and did a great gob! During all this, they also spent time trying to socialize with the residence, even through there was a language barrier. I am sure the older folks loved watching the young spry Americanos work in front of them. A few of them knew a little bit of English and were always trying to give them tips on how to do the job.
All of the students loved being there and wanted to come back again. Melissa even said that they need to spend less time in front of their computers and spend more time helping there. I wish I got that statement on video! The afternoon was put aside for them to learn how to wash clothes on a washboard, which is the most common way of doing laundry around here. I hear they saved up and got some marshmallows to have a Fiesta tonight. I am looking forward to that!~Brett Dyrland, School of Leadership Staff Member
Shack Work Day #6 started out with an early wake up at 4am. The students were picked up at 4:45am at the highway to be brought to a local ranch to work in the fields. The minute the students stepped out of the truck, they got all kinds of looks from the Mexican workers, they could not figure out why these “Americans” would want to work in the fields.
They were then taken to a strawberry field where they were given a tool and a bucket full of strawberry plants. They used the tool to help push the strawberry roots deeper into the soil. They were constantly bent over, and they got so used to being bent over that it hurt a lot when they had to stand straight up. They all worked really hard. In fact, some of the old ladies working there said that the “little white girls” were hard workers.
We also found out that there is no pay increase here, they all work for the same amount of income. The only thing they have to look forward to is when you have reached a certain amount of years in age, they let you work at some of the easier jobs. This is there type of incentive to keep older people working in the fields. The students didn’t really want to talk to me after because they said they had no words to describe what they had felt towards these extremely hard working Mexicans. They did say that they felt sadness for the Mexicans, because for the students, after tomorrow they get to go back to beds, warm showers,and a concrete home. The majority of the Mexican’s after work will go back to their shacks, and live such a hard life. I don’t believe this experience will ever leave any of the students minds. It was very life changing and really gave them an idea of what living the life of a Mexican could be like.
As the sun hit the edges of the land the SOL’s awoke for a day of rock picking. Not knowing of how the day was going to go the students all bundled up since the previous night had been excruciatingly cold. The fire was started in a brisk 5 seconds so that we could get cracking on breakfast.We started the work day off thinking we would have to fill Brett’s truck with rocks. We soon found out that we would be working for actual rock pickers! As we arrived at the work site, we were told that we had to wait until the tide came out. The main rock picker had his whole family at the site; his wife and two children. As the son quickly warmed up us students, we learned that the two children were not enrolled in school. We asked Santiago, our translator, to ask the family questions for us about their job as rock pickers and the basics of the job. Like the fact that a full bag of rocks true worth was 8 pesos (around $0.80 CAD). So to make a normal, a Mexican’s daily wage of 100 pesos they would have to fill approximately 12 2Ãâ3 bags everyday.The job itself was pretty boring and we all sat engulfed in rocks awaiting to find the perfect rock to be able to put in the bag. 
The only slight problem was knowing which rocks were the right ones because the last thing the students wanted to do was create more work for them and not actually help. But as we hit the last 10 mins of the job, Brett brought out the camera. The son ran up grabbed the camera and went around taking pictures. We were able to see the mere enjoyment that the child was having with the camera. By being able to help this family and just bringing a smile to their faces made everything worth while in the end.~ A School of Leadership Student living in the Shack
A day off usually consists of vegging out at home which is equipped with snacks, entertainment, and usually a big comfy chair. But when the SOL’s were confronted with a day off we had nothing but time to carry us through the day. We started off with walking our kids to church to save the extra expense for transportation, and on our way back, we decided to splurge on peanut butter and marshmallows. Mmm!Once we got back, we realized it hadn’t even reached lunch time. So we got out some sleeping bags and laid them across the sand in the shade. Instead of wasting our time on our computers, like we usually do with our free time, we actually had the opportunity to have a conversation. Mexicans base everything on relationship and working together as a community instead of the individualistic/task orientated life style that we are used to in Canada. After we had talked about the hot topics we decided to cool off with a nice shower. Our shower is set up like a teepee, so when it is windy it is easy for it to fall down. Which is exactly what happened while one of the students were showering a huge gust of wind knocked over the teepee! The showers that we have been taking consisted of a pot of water 
(warmed on a fire) and a hand full of soap each. This manages to get all of us got sqeeky clean.To kill our boredom, we decided to walk up the mountain (well, it’s more of a hill). The scenery is beautiful from the mountain. The only problem is that the wind was so strong, we could barely keep our eyes open. We quickly learned that if you lie down the wind was not as strong. So as we all laid there, encased in the wind around us, we had all found peace and relaxation. In conclusion, we found that when all the high tech electronics, easy to munch on snacks, and a big comfy lazy boy are taken away, you are able to actually build relationships and find peace within yourself.~ A School of Leadership Student living in a shack
The Shack Day 3:I think today was a great day for the students. Some of them came to a realization of what “The Shack” actually is. The Shack experience is a demonstration of a life of lack. A lack of food, clean water, sleep, entertainment and long hard days of work.During the night there was some sort of marching band music playing in the street and it started raining out. Which is not great when your roof is a leaky tarp, and is the case for some families living in our area. So, I was not expecting much energy out of them during the day.Today they did some yard maintenance around the main Hero Holiday property. Most of it was laborious
work that we would normally hire out to a Mexican or two. First, we loaded the truck with dirt we got from mountains. We came back to the property, unloaded the dirt and started sweeping the driveway. Trust me, sweeping the driveway is not an easy task. It is a cobblestone road and it is rather large. I have seen it take a day or more to sweep. The the School of Leadership girls are hard workers and had it done in a few hours. Meanwhile, the boys were off in the corner of the yard cleaning up all the construction supplies, stacking lumber and bricks. All the students have a pretty good work ethic and finish all their work in record time. They always keep me on my toes trying to find more work for them.For lunch they had two hard boiled eggs each. Ouch. Not much when you are used to a double cheese with super sized fries and a drink for lunch. They were not happy when the “Gringo” boss came out with a cup of coffee in the morning and quesadillas with salsa for lunch. I explained to them, the feelings they are experiencing, may be similar to the feelings the Mexicans might feel when we flaunt our sandwiches and cokes in front of them, when all they got is a corn tortilla. I think they got the point.
After lunch I took them down to the beach… to work. There is an area of the beach that has a lot of rocks that are great for landscaping. Once again, we loaded the truck with the rock. I could see them starting to slow down, but I did not rush them they were really tired. We got back to the house, unloaded the rock and their day was done. Now all they have to do is go grocery shopping, pick up their “children” from school, start a fire, and cook supper.After talking to them later, they stared telling me about their realizations. The team came to a conclusion we eat way too much food in Canada. A person can actually survive on much less. But don’t worry. Part of their plan is to eat less the first few days so they can save up for a fiesta on Sunday. They also realized that when they were working back home, they spent most of their money on stupid stuff and not even realize where there money was going. I think this experience is making them think about life a bit more. Listening from the side lines, I hear them talking amongst themselves and they are having some great debates about life. I believe this is the moment, where caring individuals become world changers.~ Brett Dyrland, School of Leadership Staff and Shack Supervisor
