This week is flying by and we are busy busy finishing off both homes and yes, still playing playing with the community kids!! Last night was “side of the road” taco stand and candy store visit… way too much fun! Today we are also hoping to visit the families from last year… can NOT wait!!!!
Today was a fantastic day! It started off with meeting our second family – Bulmaro, Isabel, and their 3 year old son, Christian. We toured through their current home, much like the one we saw yesterday, made of twigs, cardboard and covered in plastic. At first sight of the conditions they live in, I felt devastated and wanted to bawl my eyes out – they just have so little! Very humbling!
After meeting the family and getting to talk to them through our amazing translator, we started getting busy with the build. Everyone split up and started different tasks; there was a cutting crew, painting crew, framing crew and kids crew. As soon as we started, the kids started coming and coming, …and coming! They were so excited to hang around, play, and help wherever they could. Such joy on their faces!
It was fun getting to work with the families. At first they seemed a little timid, but after a while they got right in there, painting and swinging hammers. I think we all found the communication barrier difficult. I just wanted to talk to them and get to know them as much as possible, but we did our best at the few words we know, and hand gestures for whatever else we could. I think as the week goes on, we will learn more about them.
By the end of day one, we had the roof and 2 walls framed for each house! But definitely one of the highlights was the impromptu dance party we had with the kids just before we left. Despite the communication barrier, everyone was able to enjoy that! We are all looking forward to tomorrow, and the many adventures we will have!
Marcie – LiveDifferent Hero Holiday Volunteer, Mexico 2012
Our fun group of 30 arrived safe and sound at the LiveDifferent compound in Mexico (okay admittedly with a few sunburns already!) and after 2 full days of travelling by bus, we pretty much immediately headed straight out to meet the families we are building for. Unfortunately one of the families was not around at the time, but we did get to meet the other one… Loudes, a single mom and her 3 sons.
They graciously allowed us to ask them numerous questions, and take some pictures and even tour their current home… a small shelter built mostly out of sticks, cardboard and plastic. There was only one single mattress where we guess the mom and two younger children sleep, and then a blanket laid out on the dirt floor where we assume the older son sleeps. When asked about their hopes and dreams for the future, the mom indicated (with a tear in her eye) that she hoped that she could feed her children and give them an education… pretty humbling as those are things we definitely take for granted back in Canada.
Tomorrow we look forward to meeting the second family and getting started on building the homes and really getting to know all of them better. It was fun to see our youth already connecting through playing soccer and throwing Frisbees with the kids… a big part of our plans while here as well!!
Allison – LiveDifferent Hero Holiday Volunteer, Mexico 2012
In coming to Vicente Guerrero, we had a mission… to build two houses for families in need. However, what we quickly learned was that although building the two houses was important, our priority would be building relationships with the families. In a land where water is scarce and work is arduous, the families we were working with gave all they could to us during our time with them. For one family, this meant working side by side, learning the required skills to assist with the framing of the home, painting, tarring, shingling – everything really. This single mother and her family poured their hearts into helping to build their house and the sense of pride and ownership was obvious. The other family, although only able to assist a small amount with the build, gave so much through their generous hospitality. This family expressed their gratitude by preparing two meals for not only the team building their home but for the entire group. In doing so, this family fed with us with their only chickens. We learned that it can take a whole generation for some families to build a home and by the group of us coming down, we were able to build these two houses in only 6 days. Both of these families had a difficult time expressing exactly how much it meant to them, but the humility and gratitude they displayed landed on our hearts, as did the tears and joy-filled eyes.
The diversity of our team added an interesting element to this project. Our nine decades brought a wealth of skill, workmanship, and challenges; such as our leadership styles and physical limitations. It did not take long to see how these differences became a strength and how everyone had something to give. Our God-given gifts were a definite blessing and we witnessed that what truly matters comes from within… a heart filled with love, courage, strength, and willingness. We were honored that these families trusted and accepted us so readily, with their whole hearts. And as far as our language barrier, it is true that a smile goes a long way and that it means the same in both English and Spanish.
During our bus ride back to the United States border, there was a different energy. We had so many questions on the way down and were fascinated by all the crops, both by the variety and the size. Now, we see those same fields and have an understanding of the larger story. The labour, the working conditions, the meager wages, the long days, the inequality, it goes on and on… Perhaps the biggest difference though is that our hearts now see a face in those fields. Our returning journey is one of quietness, reflection, and gratitude. Yes, the energy on the bus is much different this time. Our spirits are different. Our thoughts are different. Our hearts are different. We made a difference the lives of people from Vicente Guerrero and they made a difference in ours. As we make our way back to family and friends, we bring with us a commitment to LiveDifferent!
– Written by Heather. Melinda, Sarah & Marin, participants of the Anglican Diosese of Saskatoon’s Hero Holiday
“Today I’m Going to Try and Change the World” is playing on my iPod as I sit down to write this entry…a Johnny Reid song that seems to sum up the past week. “Going to take it one day at a time… I have made my resolutions, opened up my eyes… I am going to say hello to my neighbor and greet him with a smile…shake the hand of a stranger, sit and talk to him for a while.”
When the opportunity to be a part of the LiveDifferent trip in the Baja of Mexico was offered, I quickly jumped at the chance, as I had always dreamed that I could do something to change the world in a small way! The team is a collection of people from various parishes in the Anglican Diocese of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, ranging in ages from 15 to 93 years of age. This alone says a lot about the group. When I met the team for the first time it was obvious that although different in ages, backgrounds, and life stories, we all had a common goal for coming together – we would build two homes for families in need and share our love with a hammer in hand.
Excitement, apprehension and enthusiasm – what am I doing? The first impressions of Vicente Guerrero were rather bleak. Grey and desolate were the first adjectives that popped into my head. Colourless; even the trees were dusty and the communities we visited on our arrival made me wonder how we could make a difference here… Where would we start?It was overwhelming, heartbreaking, and scary…I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. When we stopped to visit the school, tears started to well up. And then I saw the kids –in the middle of all the grey I saw the colour that was missing. It was the laughter and joy of the children as they played with a busload of strangers; the colour of the spirit of the people I have met in Vicente.
I have discovered in the short week since I have been in Vincente Guerrero that there is power in a dream. The LiveDifferent team has guided a group of Prairie people in discovering how we can make a difference – one person at a time. I know that when I leave Mexico I will be leaving a bit of my heart behind – I also will be taking some of Mexico back home with me. The poverty and hardship I witnessed here certainly puts life into a new perspective. As I reflect on this journey, I think the world I have been a part of this week has changed me for the better- and I do believe more firmly that we can change the world one person and one step at a time.
Debb, LiveDifferent Hero Holiday participant
LiveDifferent Academy student, Jennifer Brooks, talks about their experience working in the strawberry fields of northern Mexico. In order to experience what life is truly like for many northern Mexicans, Academy students moved into a small house that they made from scraps that they could find. They worked common jobs and experienced the in’s and out’s of life in Mexico for one week.
We found a whole new meaning to garbage bags and staples on day five of shack week. A classic Mexican fence. We started work at 8am grumpy and tired, not looking forward to the long work day ahead. With intense team work we made it through shoveling, hot sun, making new friends with spiders and stretching plastic to its max and holding it in place with staples. By lunch time we were more than ready for our leftover pasta and were happy to split our two packs of M&M’s ubuntu style. With a little more energy, motivation and jokes we were ready to wrap the yard with some more plastic and staples. The wind picked up but we managed to get through with some laughter, dressing up with the plastic, giving away some scraps to a boy who wanted to make a papalote (kite) and zero spider bites (phew).
Although we were grumpy and exhausted in the morning, the sun brought out our smiles as always and we finished the job happy and sooo ready for breakfast for dinner – pancakes. Now this was a gong show! We discovered that pancakes don’t taste that well with sand and rocks, they taste better with a lot of syrup and that eating the pancake mix doesn’t taste all that bad.
It’s crazy when we think about all the little things that would usually bother us at home that we don’t even think about now. For instance, washing our vegetables, dirt on our plates and our dirty hands. Not sanitary at all, however this is the every day life of many families out here. The constant dust makes it difficult to live any other way. We have really been hit with the reality that we are so privileged to be living how we do back at home. We have family, entertainment, clothes, money, electricity, hot water and a warm, clean place to sleep every night, yet we still find little things to complain about. The only thing that really matters is having your family by your side, no matter what circumstance you are in. All the other worries are just extra. We have truly come together this week as a family, trying to survive with very little but still stay positive and happy with what we have, because there is no way we could get through without each other.
Ubuntu. <3
We had planned to sleep in as late as possible today. One, because it was our day off of work. And two, because if we slept through breakfast we would only have to spend money on two meals for the day. But to our surprise we were all awake and out of bed by 9am. We figured we would start the day by bucket showering in our tarp shower. Even though there was almost no wind and the sun was shining the shower was cold and more of a chore than the relaxing luxury we are used to. After the showers we started doing our laundry by hand on a cement block. We have watched many families do this before but we definitely were shocked at how tiring it is. It is nothing like just throwing our clothes into a washing machine. There was a lot of thought that needed to be put into it. What will take the longest to dry? What clothes do we want to wear tomorrow? Do we have enough room to hang it all to make sure it dries in time?
After spending a good portion of our day washing clothes that we knew would just get dirty at work tomorrow, we figured we deserved a short break. But living like this there is no time for a break – we needed to figure out lunch with the little money we had. Thankfully generous neighbours helped us out once again and gave us a delicious lunch. After lunch we had the option of washing a truck and walking a dog for an extra sixty pesos. Normally we wouldn’t work on our day off for such a small amount of money but today that money meant more food, so we took the work happily.
After work we went straight out to buy dinner and collected firewood the whole way home by instinct now. On the way home Shayna found a ten peso coin (about 80 cents Canadian) on the ground. Normally we would not have thought much of it and maybe spent it on some chocolate we thought we needed to have. But instead the first thing she thought of was that it would be enough for a jug of clean drinking water. This is how the shack week is changing us – where as once we would have thought of our own selfish wants, we have now started to shift our priorities. Just like our neighbours here in Mexico we have learned how to be resourceful and how to place the needs of our group above our previous consumeristic, individualistic mindsets. Shayna could have quietly picked up that coin and treated herself to M&M’s. But instead she thought of how this money could benefit the group – she had found water in the dusty street.
Today we woke up bright and early, ready to hit the beach in search of clams. Clamming is a common profession here, with every dozen clams earning the worker about thirty pesos (or less that three dollars). As it turned out, the other clammers were running on Mexican time and we ended up waiting on the beach for a few hours. Instead of napping or taking the time to relax, all that was on our minds was where we would find our next paycheck.
Once the team arrived we got geared up to meet the waves. They set us up with pitchforks and clamming nets and we charged into the surf chanting “Ubuntu!” all the way. It’s funny how the cold hits you in the water. At first it was just the water temperature, but then the wind began to pick up and we were shivering as we worked. In any case, the first hour was less than productive. We averaged one or two clams each – not nearly enough to feed our family of six or pay the bills. As much as we wanted to quit, we couldn’t. We needed money to support ourselves. In the right conditions clammers can catch eight to twelve dozen clams but conditions had not been our favour. We realized that people here must have to save their money to cover days like this when the waves and wind make it difficult to find clams. We also identified with the feeling of desperation that many must feel when struggling to make enough money to take care of their families. After a few hours had passed we made our way home, with only forty pesos in our pocket and not enough money for dinner.
We scraped together some lunch before heading to our next job of the day – helping a rich lady with some household cleaning (actually Rosa at the LiveDifferent house). Going back to the big house, even after just a few days, was shocking for us. Transitioning from a dirt floor and tarps to a comparative mansion left us a little homesick, but also reminded us of what we could look forward to at the end of the week. Our jobs included cleaning ceiling fans, washing cars, cleaning paint trays, and sweeping the driveway. But the end of the day we still only had about 140 pesos, after paying the bills and rent for tomorrow.
At the end of the work day we came home to a sweet surprise. Our neighbours had brought us coffee and pastries – one of the highlights of the evening! In the true spirit of ‘ubuntu’ we shared them all. That’s what impacted us most today – that despite the hardships we experience from time to time, we will always stick together and that will make us strong. Bring on the next four days because we’re ready for adventures.
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My highlight of shack week so far was when we were working at the LiveDifferent house. Ryan, one of the staff, had given Jenn one tortilla chip with dip. Instead of eating it all herself, she ran out of the house and shared the chip between the six of us. If that isn’t ‘ubuntu’ I don’t know what is. – Brittany, Academy student
Early in the morning we left our house, a mansion compared to those around it, and dropped our few belongings in our “shack”. Our first job of the week was to pick rocks at the beach. The rocks picked on the beaches of Mexico are often sold and used for landscaping in the United States. So we sat down on the beach surrounded by millions of wet rocks, thinking that this would be an easy job. As we picked out the perfectly smooth, blue-ish gray rocks in specific sizes, we realized how mind-numbing and tedious this job truly is. By the end of the day we had picked about forty 5-gallon buckets of rocks and were more than ready to head home. Being a rather windy day, we had a few minor repairs to make to our casita (little house). We spent the remainder of our paycheck (200 pesos after rent, water and transportation) on drinking water, food for the next 24-hours and a few other necessities. In order to cook dinner we sent a few people out to collect firewood while the rest dug a hole for the fire. We successfully cooked a hearty meal of pasta with tomato sauce and hotdog wieners. We have never been so proud of a dinner! Although we were rather exhausted after the day, we know that tomorrow will be even more challenging. We have quickly come to the realization that our former lives are in fact quite glamorous.
