St. Aloysius Gonzaga Catholic Secondary School’s Hero Holiday 2012
The first two days in Dominican have been absolutely amazing! The weather is beautiful, the people are so friendly, and the house we are building is going up fast. When we arrived Saturday, we toured Sousa and the surrounding areas. We drove to a community called La Union and were able to tour a part of the neighborhood where many of the children of the workers from the dump live. The instant our group stepped off of our bus we were bombarded by love and affection from these children! They ran to give us hugs and everyone was just touched by the trust and love these kids had shown. One thing that amazed me on the first two days was just how kind everyone is. Everyone we say hello to instantly smiles and waves right back. Just knowing that one simple word can make someone who doesn’t have a lot a little bit happier amazes me!
We later met the family we would be building the house for. The family of eight (five young girls, a grandmother, a grandfather, and father) were living in a house the size of my living room. I felt guilty knowing that my family of four live in a house with so much space to spare, and that a family double that size are living in a small house, covered in mold, and made of tin panels.
Today we went to begin building and to play with the children at the local church. Even though it was so hot and the work was very hard, I was motivated and ‘adrenalized’ to work hard, because I knew I would be making a difference. Once we got to the church which is just down the road, I was excited to jump right in to play with the children. Even though it is difficult to communicate with them, through their actions they were able to show us that they were grateful no matter what game they were playing or what person they were with.
I cannot wait for the rest of the trip and all the adventures we will go on! Tomorrow night we are going to be watching the movie ‘Tangled; with children in La Union and continue building the house and will make a change!
– Courtney