Today I want to talk about a community service project my family has done a few times now, and we already have plans to do it again in the future! It's absolutely one of my favorite trips that my family has ever gone on, and we travel quite a lot. The organization is called Homes of Hope. It's similar to Habitat for Humanity, in that you're building a house for a family who is in need of one, but I like it even more than Habitat for Humanity because you get to see the entire house go up in two days. It's an amazing experience.
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| Boys from the neighborhood helping. |
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| Boys on our team of workers |
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| Adorable girl from the neighborhood |
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| Boy from the neighborhood |
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Two of the houses being built
(our house was winning) |
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| The neighborhood we were building in |
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| The family our team was building for |
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| Our team in front of the house we built |
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| The shirt we all got |
This organization is a Christian based organization, meaning that, yes, each morning there's "morning devotion" and you pray before starting to build each day, but I am not particularly religious and I could handle it, no problem. My family went on this trip this past Christmas, but I've gone twice before, and my Dad's gone three times. The two times I went, we built houses in Mexico, but this trip was in Costa Rica. Here's how the trip went:
The first day of building, we got up nice and early, ate breakfast at the hotel, and then we all piled onto buses and drove to the neighborhood we were building in. Our group was large enough that we were building 4 houses, so we got split into four teams and it ended up being more like a race than a chore. The neighborhood we were building in didn't have roads big enough for our buses, so we had to walk a small distance, carrying all our supplies and food for lunch later that day down a rocky hill and through the neighborhood, over "bridges" (planks of wood) and getting stares from the children playing outside.
We were ushered off to our separate properties and met the families we were building for. Our family had a single mother, two young girls, and a newborn baby. There is a translator there translating all of the introductions and prayers, so communication is not a problem. Before you start to build, we all stand on the foundation of the house and pray that the house will keep them safe. As soon as that's through, we get to work. About half of the group begins to build the walls, and the other half is put in charge of painting everything. I painted, of course, seeing as there's about a 99% chance that I would severely injure myself if I tried to do anything else.
The first thing that gets put together are the walls. The goal is to have all four walls up before lunch. I know that seems like quite feat, but these houses aren't exactly what the average american would think of when they think of a home. It resembles more of a large shed, about the size of my dorm room in college.
I think the coolest part of this experience was how all of the kids in the neighborhood helped with anything they could. Even though they spoke no english, they were ready to give a helping hand wherever it was needed, whether it was painting or climbing on the roof to nail on shingles. They were all so grateful and happy. We actually brought a soccer ball with us, so many of the younger kids on our building team would go play soccer with them in the small field in the neighborhood.
At lunch, we all sit on the ground, the people on our teams and the neighborhood kids alike, and eat and talk, and then its back to work. Before the day's over, the goal is to start the roof, and if it's supposed to rain, we have to finish the roof so that the rain doesn't ruin the dry wall. Luckily, we didn't have rain, because we didn't quite finish the roof in the first day.
By the end of the day, you're exhausted and covered in paint, but you don't even mind because you feel so good about what you've done.
The next day, we got up early once again, and when we got to the worksite, we got right to work. The second day is all about finishing the roof, getting all the electric stuff together, getting the furniture in there, and other finishing touches like that. The furniture we provide them with is a stove, and table and chairs, and a bunk bed. This is also the day that some people got to take the mother of our family grocery shopping. When the day is coming to an end and the house is complete, there's a "ceremony" type thing where we give the family the keys to their new house along with a bible. Our mother didn't even know how to use a key! But it was the coolest thing to watch her face when she opened the front door to her new house. Amazing.
So if anyone's looking to get in some good community service, please take this into consideration. It's such a rewarding experience and I wish more people did things like this.
