The Shack Experience – Day # 2

A luminous moon glistening down onto the overturning waves mirroring the starry sky above.  There is only one word that can describe this image; beautiful.For our second job in the shack experience, we left the shack at 11:30pm for a night of clamming in the ocean.  We were told the size of the clams that were acceptable and were sent out in pairs.  While digging with our pitch forks, even just hitting something was exciting, but then disappointing when it wasn’t a big enough clam.  We stayed pretty shallow but the men who do this as a job on a regular basis were going in so far that the waves were toppling over their heads. When we wanted a bit of a break, we walked to the shore to see how well we had done. By looking at the dozen we had collected, we were sure they would all be the right size. But when they started measuring them, slowly the dozen dwindled down into only a few clams.   By the end of a few hours, we had collected around three dozen combined.  One man had been able to get four dozen on his own!  He was able to get more than six people put together. Based on the clams we were able to capture, we made the equivalent of $1.20 each.  It would be pretty tough to support a family on this amount of money…As we told the clammers that they would be able to keep the clams we got, they seemed shocked but very greatful.  We all came to a consensus that it was an amazing experience but couldn’t imagine doing it to make a living. Now, the next time I look at a starry sky I’ll think of those who work through the nights, in crazy conditions, trying desperately to support their families. It is so hard to fully explain to people what we are going through.  I imagine that living like this for an entire life time with no hint of hope for a brighter future would be constant torture.School of Leadership Student – Mexico – Fall 2009

Shack’n It Up!

Our LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) School of Leadership students in Mexico get to do the coolest things: learn about world issues through our Social Justice Curriculum, help with our Hero Holidays, and work within a Mexican community of the most kindest and gracious people you will ever meet. We designed a practical lesson for our students called, The Shack Experience. This year, our 2009 students are living for one week in a shack they made with their own two hands! They will work and live the way the some Mexicans in their area do. This experience’s goal is to open their eyes to the suffering and day to day life of 2/3s of our world. Here is a bit of how their first few days have been written by Brett Dyrland, their “Jefe” (Spanish for Boss):Life as a low income Mexican can be hard as the School of Leadership students are finding out. First, the students had to build a shack to live in. The rule of building the shack is that, it had to be made out of materials that were found on the street and free. They took the challenge, gathered supplies and started building. The two boys made a shack that was slightly larger than a dog house. (Have fun spooning boys!) The four girls on the other hand, wanted a larger, more spacious house. They soon realized that larger means more work. Especially after it big gust of wind blew it over. With a little assistance, they built a smaller shack with a structure that was more sturdy. Day 1 was great! It began with a 5am rise for work day. The team had to take their make believe kids to school and meet the bus at the highway (about 1km away) for 7am. Their first adventure was off to the river bed to get a load of sand to finish off some work around one of the Hero Holiday yards. From all the groaning, seemed to me like they thought loading a truck with sand was hard work. They off loaded the truck at the yard into wheel barrows, placed the sand in designated areas, and leveled it all out. First load was done by 10:00am. Half way through off loading the second load, I heard some excuses saying they were done, but as any boss would do, I told them to put more sand on the sand until the truck is empty. By then it was only 12:30pm and I had to find more work for them. Six people can get a lot of work done quickly! It was easy finding more work for them: detail the truck, clean the yard, wax the truck, wash the bus, and shampoo the dogs. Each of my workers received $100 pesos (which is approximately $8.50 CAD) for the day of hard work. But then they had to pay rent, pay for their “children” to go to school, transportation to work and back and food for the whole family. So needless to say, there was not much is left for food and water, but they made it work some how.The statement of the day is “Don’t ever say a Mexican is lazy.” Most of the students have never had labour jobs before and are not used to this type of work. Many of them found it hard, especially in this kind of heat. They all have a new respect for the term “A good days work”. I think a lot of them found it hard to stay motivated for only $8/day but that is what a lot of Mexicans have to deal with daily. At least the students have a hope of getting out of this, but many will know this for the rest of their lives.I am look forward to the next couple days where they are able to do actual Mexican jobs. Jobs like clamming, field work and rock picking are all jobs we see often here. When the students go out to perform these jobs, all the proceeds from their days labor will go to help the people they are working with. They will be able to double or more the income of the person they are working for. This is such a great experience!

Hello from Mexico!

As a group, we decided that for our first blog, we all wanted to do it together. We wanted to each write about what we have experienced here so far and how we felt. These are some of those experiences.Roxy – I had a pretty comfortable life in Alberta. A beautiful home, making good money, and doing what I love to do -looking after kids. But this year I felt like we needed a change. We had all this “stuff” but it wasn’t fulfilling me. I just felt so sad , and empty all the time, and I would think “What am I doing here?”  When we decided to move to Mexico, I was scared, nervous, excited, and happy all at the same time.  A couple of days into being here, I did a load of laundry that was life changing! Here in Mexico they hang their clothes up to dry, which is a new concept for me. In Sylvan Lake, where I live, it is a by-law that you can’t have clothes hanging up in your back yard on a clothesline because it looks bad. Here, in this village, they don’t have dryers, so you see clotheslines everywhere. I had just done a load of clothes and went over and started hanging them up on the line. The sun was just setting, and I started crying- one of those good cries. That feeling of sadness melted away and I felt like I was home. Not just physically but emotionally, mentally, I was at peace. Something as simple as doing laundry changed my life. Home is where the heart is, and mine is here.Brett – Every so often we do reviews with the students to get there opinion of how things are going, and talk to them, one on one. There is a written portion that was completed before we had a meeting with them. When I was reading the reviews, I got to know things about them I did not know before. Through the whole process I was blown away by the students, and I came to realize something. They are starting their life with an experience that many do not get, and through this some of them will be able to influence nations. They are young now, but they have the ability to become doctors, lawyers, mayors, and world leaders. I may not do much in my life to change the world, but if I have a part in changing the life of someone who does, that’s enough.Melissa -Back home I work in grocery store, I prepare food and put it on display. While down here, I noticed one of the boxes from a strawberry farm was one of the brands we get in our store. I make $13 an hour to put them on display and these workers who work all day in the hot sun, get 100 pesos a day, which is about $10. It really made me angry because they do all the work, yet they get paid the least through the whole process of getting the strawberries to Canada. It really gave me something I could relate to. This realization made me never want to complain about the simple tasks I do at my job ever again.Kelsey-When we were driving through Mexico into our town of Zapata, Charles told us that on average the field workers make 100 pesos a day which is about $10. When I heard that I got really angry because at my job I make more than that an hour and I do nothing compared to these workers. Most of them have family to take care of as well, where as I just blow my money. It took me a while to grasp the concept of how this could even be possible. I realized how much I took for granted at home, just how fortunate we are and how I want to make a changeAdrian–  I love this place, I love the lay of the land, the friendliness of the people, and the weather. I love being able to just kick back and relax in a hammock and spend time in your thoughts. It is a care-free place where you can get away from the everyday whenever you feel. There is no real time just time spent.Bryan– I’ve recently come to be aware of the power of what we are doing here.  It’s not always obvious in day to day life, but there are times when I realize the gravity of our decisions and the actions they lead to.  Staying in the Comfort Inn, before going down into Mexico the next day, Adrian and I spent some time in the hot tub with Brett, Roxy and Charles.  I heard the story of Vaden and Christal’s new daughter being carried across the river, and I knew right then and there that…well…this is where it’s at.  This is where great things are happening…and I am part of it!  Just last weekend, simply by making the choice to investigate Hurricane damages in the Southern Baja, we ended up playing a vital role in bringing food, clothing and medicine to isolated villages devastated by the hurricane.  We are truly making a difference, and I’m embarrassed to say that it has taken me six years of Hero Holiday trips to Mexico to fully understand that.Laura– As I look back at my life in Oshawa, I see my family, friends and part-time job at Sears. This was what my summer consisted of, drama from which high school couple broke up, which one got back together, things that seem to consume others’ entire life.When I came down here the society seemed to care about more important things. They cared about the people who they meet off the street, and were consumed with providing everything they had to make their new friend feel comfortable. We were putting food bags together to be sent to families that had been stranded by the hurricane that hit Southern Baja. While we we’re putting these bags together everyone was working together for a greater cause, we weren’t scoping the web to see the celebrity scandal of the weekend or going out to a party and getting drunk. Everyone was there to help and provide hope. The people that we’re organizing where we we’re going, were also providing a place for us to stay and even food for supper and breakfast. I am not talking just about the group of LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) that consisted of 12 of us, I am talking about 31 people to eat and sleep.Most people would suspect that we would have to find our own place to stay, or pay for our own meals, but that is how North America operates. Whether you are rich or poor you offer everything because this is their culture. We think that we need to come down and help these people because they have LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)ly nothing. But that is not true…. they have each other, something that Canada should really consider to model after.

Its the Circle of our Lives

Think Day, Hero Holiday, School of Leadership, ONE Book … LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute).org has a variety of interesting programs, but are they related, tied together somehow? LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) is like a ring, no no not the one ring…you know the one…”in the darkness bind them?” That’s not us, that’s some other guy. At LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute).org every one of our programs support and lead into the other. Someone asked me today what I do for LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute), in what capacity I work for them. The truth is that my job title is irrelevant. Each of our jobs support and are connected to each other’s. LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) is a circle.I just returned from a Hero Holiday trip in the Dominican Republic. I met some fantastic people. There are few things more surprising than how content the people of Dominican Republic really are, compared with someone living in a developed country. Even more surprising is the effervescent joy that overflows and spills onto us from the displaced people of Haiti living in Dominican Republic. There are too many stories to tell here and now. For more on Hero Holiday, please visit Hero Holiday’s site or subscribe to 52 Stories. What I’ve come to realize is that my job, my official job at LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute), is incredibly tied into Hero Holiday. The members of Team 3, my Hero Holiday team, had students (and one mom) from all across our fine country. Almost every province was represented by Team 3’s members, and we even had a girl from the Yukon! Most of these participants were there because of Think Day, a multimedia motivational experience that visited their schools. That is my job, Think Day. I am a Road Team Manager, along with my husband JP. We travel with teams across Canada from September to June (we break for Christmas of course!) tirelessly (most days) driving, setting up, performing, speaking, running workshops, discussion groups, etc etc etc. We tell our stories to bring hope and courage to our listeners and to let our generation know that they have value, that their voice can be heard, and that we want to join our voice with theirs to change our world!On my Hero Holiday trip I saw those values not only realized in the lives of our participants, but applied to a people who are considered regrettable and forgettable by a world who has done very little to better their situation. All year I talk, and I talk, and I talk about social justice and trips like Hero Holiday, telling Canadian students that they can do something about the injustices they see in their world, and that it is just that; THEIR WORLD. And here they were! All 19 of them on Team 3 asking the same question I asked myself over and over again this year. “Have I actually accomplished anything? What is it that I’ve really done?”The answer to my question was in the 100+ students who participated in Hero Holiday Dominican Republic Week 1, and more directly in the 19 members of my team. Not all had been at the shows that I spoke at, but there were quite a few who had been, and most of them had seen an LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) show or had known someone who did, and that was why they were there! Their experiences in Dominican Republic taught them, not just told them, that they matter to the world. They matter to that stateless Haitian child, or to that Dominican Grandmother. They are actually making a difference.My purpose in LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute) was reflected in the eyes of a girl who had been given the power and opportunity to help when she thought she couldn’t. When she thought she was helpless to do anything about the situation she saw in front of her, I got to help her realize that we’re stronger together and that we really could help this life, this girl, this time.Hero Holiday had changed my life before I had ever been on one and experienced it for myself, but now it’s not just stories, it’s real. I got to work alongside some people I had met briefly in a gym somewhere in Canada and had asked “Now that you know, what will you do?” and they showed up. That gives me 19 new reasons to keep going. To keep telling my stories, stories about myself, and about the people I have met and been inspired by. To keep touring, and driving, and setting up, and tearing down, and talking and talking and talking, because though you may not all come on a Hero Holiday, some of you may. Some of you will hear for the first time that you are valuable, that your life counts for something, and you will take that message with you wherever you go, including a Hero Holiday.I will step out onto the road again with fresh perspective on what it is that I do. 19 faces and stories to keep me going, and this is the cycle, this is the circle: Think Day, School of Leadership, Hero Holiday, 52, One, Think Day, School of Leadership…So watch for us this Fall. Are we coming to your school? If we’re not and you want us there, CLICK HERE .

“Going home is going to be difficult”

I think it is pretty safe to say the time LiveDifferent (formerly Absolute)ly flies by without stopping. I am starting to feel like if I blink, I could open my eyes and realize that I have missed it all. It’s almost impossible to believe that we have been living here in Mexico for almost three months now. It feels like it was just the other day that I was sitting at home packing and trying to prepare to leave home for the SOL program, four months on the road, living in a bus and then living under the Mexican sun for another four months.

When I say that time is escaping me, it is not to say that we aren’t doing a lot, because simply put, it is quite the opposite. I have come to realize that the largest numbers of activities that can be crammed into a day, the more hours you are awake for and the more time spent with amazing people makes the days slip away so much faster.  Looking back at our first three months here, we have witnessed, experienced and laughed so much together, and it has made our friendship so much different and stronger than most. The five of us have had such amazing opportunities, we have learned to make tortillas, lived in a typical shack, slept on the beach, hosted Hero Holidays, watched and helped to put a new roof over the heads of many deserving families, met incredible people,  swam in the ocean, and tanned in the sun.  It blows my mind to think that in a few weeks we will all be headed on our separate paths and I can only hope that they will cross again somewhere down the line.

It wouldn’t be hard to see that this experience has changed all of us in different ways. It has become normal to walk down the street and share the dirt road with stray dogs and chickens, it has become a routine to walk passed people gathering wood to make a fire and cook by it, it isn’t unusual to see a Mexican riding a horse, wearing a cowboy hat, riding along-side the cars. All of these things have quickly filled the void of the normalities of home. Thinking about going back and wondering what it will be like is something that we do frequently.  Being here and spending time with people who are so grateful to have a bed, a safe place to sleep at night and maybe an even meal, is the extreme opposite of spending time with people in Canada who have a burning hunger for more things, and more belongings, the desire to fill a certain image and look a particular way. What is it going to be like going to a place we used to call home and re-adjusting to such a material world? Things that mattered before seem to be trivial now after experiencing these things and seeing what we have.  There are the big things like seeing so many children with one set of clothes, only rice in their bellies and hope of going to school tomorrow and then there are the smaller things, like deciding not to put on make-up in the morning, all of which have become common to us. Going home is going to be difficult, I have realized that a one week trip is never going to feel like enough to me again.  I have realized what is important to me and I have reaffirmed in my mind what I want to do with the rest of my life.  I can say that some days I wake up and think about how lucky I am to have been here and remind myself not to blink to long. I remind myself to enjoy every moment of the time we have left. Going home we can’t let these thoughts, experiences and memories drift away from us, instead we must carry them with us and share them with the people in our lives until we have the chance to make more.

Nikki – School of Leadership Student currently in Mexico

More on “Life as a School of Leadership Student”

Life has been interesting the past couple weeks. We welcomed a very enthusiastic and amazing group of teens from Newfoundland. Myself and the other students helped out as much as we could, both on the job site and off. From helping Dawn make lunch for the group, to digging holes for fence posts, and of course playing with the kids. Being an SOL is very interesting.  You really get to see what is done behind the scenes and be a part of it, sometimes it may seen like your not doing much at all but in the scheme of things it all contributes to the big picture.It’s not all work of course, we get to do fun things like go to mikkaza cafe for frappes and thrifty’s for delicious ice cream! There are markets to explore everywhere and always new and interesting places to see. The beaches are beautiful and Andrew always livens it up when he brings out his dune buggy.  We find a good balance between work and play, still keeping our focus on why we are here and that is for the people. I personally gain fulfillment in every new person I meet and every family I am a part of. Having the opportunity to show my love and passion for people to groups that come down is extremely rewarding.  Helping them grow and learn is something I am deeply grateful for. We get to see the connection that is made between the groups and the families that they build for.  We also make incredible lasting friendships with these families as we are here long before the groups arrive, and stay after the groups leave.  We get to see these people weeks later, still with smiles ear to ear, so very thankful for what a few Canadians did for them.Josh (student 2009 – currently in Mexico)

Life as an Absolute School of Leadership Student

So far, being in the SOL program has been incredible.  Helping facilitate humanitarian trips for high school students is something I always imagined would be amazing, yet never actually thought it could happen.  Being a participant on a Hero Holiday in the summer of 2007 was definitely a life changing experience for me.  I discovered what truly matters to me and how helping others makes me happier than anything else I’ve ever experienced before.  It was an experience I will never forget.  And now, to be a part of those experiences again and to see the same changes happening in each one of the participants I meet, is incredible.  So far we have had three groups, each of them unique, with something different, yet equally special, to offer.  Our first house build was a public group of five.  The second was a private group of 75.  The third was a school group of 14. They definitely had their differences.  The level of relationship I was able to build with each was also different, but after an experience like Hero Holdiay, and at least a week together, I think I can safely say I’d have many options for couches around Canada if I ever decide to go traveling!  And thank you to facebook for allowing everyone to stay in touch!I love meeting so many incredible, deserving families that are receiving a new house.  I get to witness so many lives being changed, both Mexican and Canadian alike.  The hope that is created on both sides is worth more than any house, and being a piece of it is one of the best parts of this whole experience.The work that goes in to a program like this is definitely a fair amount.  And it’s the little things that really seem to add up.  But being able to help out with such an amazing cause makes all the salad making, grocery buying, errand running, paintbrush cleaning, (and blog writing 😉 … just kidding!) worth it!  The house building, friend making, life changing part is pretty great too! …… Along with the taco eating, sun tanning, garbage picking, puppy saving, off roading, horseback riding, market shopping, ocean swimming…………Tara (SOL student currently in Mexico)May 5th, 2009

RIP Sweet Baby Girl

Waking up on April 15th/2009, no one expected anything out of the ordinary around the Hero Holiday house. We crawled out of bed, and got ready to go meet up with the group for their last day in Mexico. But before we left the house that morning our normally happy, euphoric way of life was threatening to crumble around us.
Living in Mexico has been a blur of unbelievable experiences, we constantly meet amazing people and we’re always doing things that seem worthy of the movie screen … not everyday life. And although we are surrounded by poverty and hardship, there is always a positive feeling of calm around us. So when our interpreter and friend Santiago took his pregnant wife, Julia, to the hospital on the 14th, our hopes were high that things would work out well. Even after baby Betsebet Nicole was delivered prematurely and rushed to Ensenada, her daddy close behind … we maintained a positive outlook on the situation. There is better care in Ensenada, they’ll get her healthy and they’ll come home. We awoke on the 15th to the terrible news that Betsebet had only lived a short 15 hours of life, not even long enough to meet her mother. It was obvious that everyone of our hearts broke, aching for the loss our close friends had just experienced.

We stumbled through the next few days finishing off with our group, making preparations for a memorial at Santiago’s house, and asking some very difficult questions about life. Nothing makes the state of a country more obvious than when it touches you personally. I find it really hard not to wonder how things would have worked out if this had happened in Canada. Would Julia have received better care? Would Betsebet have had a better chance at survival? Would our friends be stressing over lack of sleep and where to put the cradle right now, instead of funeral preparations?Although babies and young children are lost daily all over the world, the sad reality is that its more likely in countries like Mexico. Countries where good health care is harder to come by, where transportation to the hospital and even the paycheck to pay for it all are harder to come by. Betsabet was buried in an over crowed cemetery, where a large group of the graves are occupied by young children and infants. Walking through that cemetery, she is but another child who was lost before reaching the age of 5. Only in this case, she is the face and the name of a little girl we were expectantly waiting to meet.
I know that none of us, especially her parents, can make sense of how such a sweet baby girl could possibly be lost this early in life. Perhaps not a single person, anywhere, can really find an answer to that question. But the loss of her life has no doubt affected us all. She has reminded us all of how precious life is, and given us all a new reason to try to affect change in this world. Everyone should be given a fair chance at life.

It’s been a sad few days in the neighborhood, and all we can do is remember her short life and hold onto the presence she had in this world.
RIP Sweet Baby Girl.

Written by Kristi – School of Leadership Student

Four days of Reality…

A few weeks ago, we Nikki and I (Tara) spent four days living as a Mexican family in a cardboard shack.  We worked for eight hours a day, six am to three pm, with two ten minute breaks and an hour for lunch.  We were paid 100 pesos each day to provide everything we needed, including rent, water, food, soap, toilet paper, etc.  We were also expected to take two showers with a bucket and a cup, and wash our clothes by hand on a washing stone on the final day. 

Our school of leadership class put this experiment together because we felt it would be very valuable to have a deeper understanding about the lives of the people we work alongside and build houses for.  We were fortunate enough to be chosen to go first for the experiment. Knowing we had a huge adventure ahead of us, we set off on a early on Sunday morning to our new “home”. Our job for all four days was to dig a bano (washroom in Spanish) hole for our translator Santiago.  It was exhausting work, with little to look forward to as the day finished because we knew it would be the same rigorous work the following morning (and that at the end of all our hard work it would become a huge hole full of poop!).  We got into a pattern, one person in the hole for about ten to fifteen minutes at a time, chipping away with a pick axe at the hard Mexican earth, and the other resting or pulling  buckets of dirt out of the hole.  Soon we began thinking in terms of only six more digs each until lunch…only five more digs each until lunch.  Usually though, it was safe to say, lunch was not going to be overly delicious.  With the amount of money we were making we could afford something to fill us and keep us working.  One day we had plain, cold, white rice. That was yummy.  Our budget was manageable though because there were only two of us.  Thinking about what it would mean to feed ourselves and a few children, while planning for a future and trying to build a better life, is simply impossible.  People in Canada save money to go on a vacation, for a new car, or a relaxing retirement, basically for a future filled with more luxuries and fewer worries.  A Mexican family may be able to save all of five pesos one day (which is about 50 cents) which would probably be spent on food on a day when there wasn’t anyone working.  It wouldn’t be enough for an emergency trip to the doctor, or a new tarp when the one over your head got a tear in it.  They are trying so hard to survive right now that saving for retirement isn’t even a question.  The minimal savings of an average Mexican family is an accurate reflection of their hope for the future.

                Looking across the street we saw our house, and longed for it and all the comforts we would be missing for four days.  It was only for four days though.  The hardest thing was wrapping our heads around the idea of hopelessness, because it is something that we will likely never be faced with, and it is something that is hard to create with a cardboard shack, or any other type of scenario.  This experience did, however, bring us closer to that feeling than anything else we have ever done before. Those four days gave us a small glimpse of the life of a person who struggles to simply survive.  So many people we meet here on a daily basis are working long, tiring hours to fulfill their daily needs, with hardly any thought in mind towards their wants, mainly because what they want is to be able to simply fulfill their needs.  Every task of the day was complicated.  Suddenly making dinner, changing our clothes and doing laundry became work.  Living should not be that difficult for anyone.

                It is plain to see why relationships are valued so much in this culture. Because, to put it bluntly, sometimes that is all you have.  Talking with a neighbour became the highlight of our day.  There are no entertainment items like television, ipods, or computers and, although we missed those luxuries, the joy and companionship that relationships offer is much more cherishing than any piece of software could ever give.  Something we both feel is very valuable to take home with us, and something our society could benefit from immensely. 

                We could go on and on with what those four days taught us, but it is something that you have to experience for yourself.  We both strongly suggest that if you ever have the opportunity to do something like this, take it.  Or just taking a trip to see where and how the rest of the world lives gives you such a better understanding of the hardships they go through.  Now when we meet people at the grocery store, or on the street here in Mexico, we have a slightly better idea of the struggles they face.  Except our idea comes from four days, four days that must be multiplied by a lifetime to truly understand.  Some people might try to come up with single words to describe this experience.  Words like exhausting, interesting, or eye opening come to mind.  A young teen might use the slang word “killer” to describe it, and the sad reality is, for many families, it literally can be.

(To arrive soon…video footage …to get a better look at our experience!)

Extreme Makeover Mexican Style

This morning we were all so anxious to begin work we were up and ready long before we had to be. We quickly boarded the bus and set off to pick up Rita and her five children for what turned out to be our very own version of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition! The white school bus pulled up in front of the house and we waited in anticipation to finally meet the family that had brought us all together. They were so gracious, not the running and screaming you see on TV but rather had a quiet and proud demeanor as they made their way to the bus. Rita informed us that the kids had been up since 6AM and were just as eager to meet us. They boarded the bus, their arms full with the lunch she had prepared for us, her way of saying thank you, for coming to build them a home. I thought of how hard and long she must have worked to pay for it, likely an entire week’s wages. Had we ever been near as thankful for anything like this? You could see the excitement build in each of their faces as we got closer to the work site. And our day just kept getting better!We spent the morning cutting wood, framing out the four walls, and painting the sheets of siding. Not a moment went by when work wasn’t being done, not only by the group but by each family member. It was heartwarming to see each of my students bond so quickly with the family, having them communicate not through words but with the kindness in their eyes and the patience of their actions. We worked long and hard all day and not one complaint. How could we when we knew why we were there and the impact it would have on this family?As we sat around the kitchen tonight discussing our first impressions of Mexico and the highlights thus far, I realized just what an impact it has already had on our lives as well. I feel so proud and blessed to be sharing this experience with such an amazing group of students and look forward to see what the rest of the week holds for us.Posted by Tina Smith