A Family’s Life Changed Forever!
On Tuesday, September 21st we got the opportunity to tell a family that they will be getting a new house built for them. As we walked up to their home I really had no idea what to expect. We formed a semi-circle around the family and Andrew asked them if they would let us build them a new house, starting tomorrow! At first their faces were blank, but soon filled with emotion. This brought many smiles to our faces of course, and the feeling I had really can’t be explained. As I scanned the families’ faces once again I stopped and watched the grandma. Her face showed the most emotion. Her eyes slowly began to fill with tears and the smile on her face grew. As I stood there watching her I began to tear up and thought that in such a short time, this family’s life has changed forever – and we were there to tell them.
The next day we came back bright and early and began to get the cement platform ready to be poured. The family greeted us, once again with huge smiles. We were all very excited to get building! The mom jumped right in and helped us! Once the cement was poured we let it dry until Monday morning.
As we pulled up to the families’ home that Monday morning, we noticed that they had taken the time to set us up a nice `cozy` area for our breaks. They had taken their couches and set them out; they also put a tarp up to create shade and cardboard to block the dust. Just by doing this and how they expressed their emotions, we knew how much we were appreciated. From Monday to Wednesday we painted panels, created walls, put on the roof panels and stood the house up! It was a great week!
As we drove home every day after working – I tried to imagine the thoughts that were running through all of their minds and how they must be feeling. I can never even come close to imagining the emotions they probably had after having their lives changed within 72 hours. I looked forward to working along side the family for the rest of the week and getting them into their new house by the weekend!Jessica, a School of Leadership student living in Mexico