Friday, May 20th
Between the times of 6:00 and 6:30 a.m., the 13 of us met up in Fort McMurray, and drove down to the airport. We soon got onto the plane, and that’s when reality set in, we’re going to Mexico! Many thoughts passed our minds, what these people would be […]
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Day to Day of the Ft. McMurray Hero Holiday
Published by May 20th, 2011 in FB, Participant Blogs, Mexico and Other Sites. 1 CommentReasons Why I love Mexico
Published by May 17th, 2011 in School of Leadership, FB, Participant Blogs, Mexico, Other Sites, Student Zone and Featured. 1 CommentWith another full week under my belt, I’m getting fuller & fuller of reasons why I love Mexico. Some tidbits? Sure, I can share a few=)
The UCM Hero Holiday team = amazing. Great people, great conversations, great hugs, great love. It felt good to feel such love. I loved that every day we had to re-plan meals to match their evolving plans. One day I made berry-protein smoothies with Antonio, and tried to teach him how important it is to clean up after himself. (And the next day, I smiled to myself when I was over at his house & saw that he’d not only made another one by himself, but cleaned up like a champ!) I spent the afternoon with Julia & Nohemy on Cinqo De Mayo, and got a hair cut (it was seriously necessary!)
Planning to watch “Toy Story 3″ with the group – and then forgetting all of the equipment at the house. Going back, getting the equipment, and watching the movie en espanol at the build site with the community members. Matt & Sandra, Tyson & Amber – the group leaders and their constant encouragement. That the group was grateful for all the work we did – and told us.
Friday morning pancakes for the group, and Tuesday morning French Toast for my family! Cooking as per order; chocolate
chip or regular. Making special pancakes – Mickey Mouse for Sarah, and Smiley face for Jo. Writing LOVE in chocolate when the smiley face all melted together! The pineapple juice at Smokey’s Taco Stand ROCKING my world. Pedro asking ‘you happy?’ Working on my resume & getting places on it! An amazing Friday afternoon at El Eden pool, complete with a manicure and a veggie burger. Reading happy messages from friends & asking lots of questions.
Zumba class with Gabby and the girls. (I KID YOU NOT – EARLIER THIS WEEK I LEGIT RIPPED A PAIR OF PANTS I WAS DANCING SO HARDCORE. THIS CLASS IS NOT A JOKE.) We had a girls night at Old Mill; complete with…UFC? How were we to know a big fight would replace our live music and dancing? Watching “In Her Shoes” at Nohemy’s house and talking about boys on Sunday afternoon. Talking to my mom on Skype. Walking with my roommates in whatever direction we felt like. Stopping at Maggie & David’s house. Eating cake at Maggie & David’s for Dia de Las Madres. Learning to play Uno. Looking at prospective families for groups to
build for this summer.
I was leader of the day yesterday! It was fun but stressful. My favorite expenditure was the giant box of strawberries for $5. Last night I slept in a hammock under the stars!!!..until I woke up and had to pee. Today I pushed kids on swings & made Chai Tea Concentrate. Now, I’m going to go sit and relax & then fall asleep early so that manana (tomorrow)...I can do more things that I love.
I love Mexico, I love learning who I am, and I love not having any idea who that is. And as per Maggie’s instructions…I’m enjoying life along the way.
All peace and love and positive & a side of SUNSHINE, Leah
Piling onto the bus you could tell how close we had all become through the laughter and jokes being thrown around. Today would be our final (full day) adventure in Haiti. Gathering some last minute donations we made our way to the local grocery store. Here we bought detergent, toilet paper and other household essentials […]
...continue readingWe awoke early in Cap Haitien to catch our flight to Port-au-Prince. As we took our final drive through the Cap Haitien streets we realized that we were about to say our goodbyes to some people that our trip would not be complete without. Arriving at Cap Haitien airport was a bittersweet moment, saying goodbye […]
...continue readingToday was a busy day. We started the day off nice and early by going to the Citadel, the largest fortress in the western hemisphere. It was not your typical adventure, we had to take an hour and a half honkey ride up a mountain, yes honkey, not a horse and not quite a donkey, […]
...continue readingFriday, May 6th - A Busy Day!
Published by May 7th, 2011 in Participant Blogs, FB, Social Justice, Mexico, Other Sites, Student Zone and Featured. 0 CommentsIt feels like months have gone by since we arrived here at Baja Mexico when actually its just been a few days. In just these few days we’ve built two little but amazing homes that will impact lives of two families for a lifetime.
Yesterday was day four of construction, the last day of work. All that was left in the houses to do was putting in inner walls, bed frames, a bit of roofing and painting. We split into two crews, the shopping crew and building crew. While the building crew finished up working on last touches and fixes, the shopping crew shopped for furniture, groceries and household items. Shopping was an experience. We first stopped at the furniture place. We needed basic furniture like a table, mattresses, chairs and shelves or dressers. It was an incredible feeling having to pick a dinner table knowing that this family would sit around it for every dinner. Although picking a table that could fit a family of 9 (or more!) was kind of tricky but we managed to find something suitable. After all the mattress “testing” (which was basically us jumping up and down on them to make sure they were good enough) and dresser picking was done we did some bargaining to get them as low as possible. And then we were off to the grocery store. There we picked about a months supply of groceries and necessities for them. It was nice to see and pick what things were going into the house, and more and more the house became a reality.
The shopping crew joined the building crew in the afternoon to help put in those final touches. And voila! The houses were all done and they were beautiful. Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent with the family and children. Playing with the kids proved to be as tiring as hammering in nails all day. They wanted to be taken on never ending piggyback rides. And even though we were panting, trying to catch our breaths they wanted go again and again (they seemed to run on an impossible amount of energy). And who could say no to those eager adorable faces?
For supper, we were invited by the lady who mortgaged the pieces of land we were building on, to her place. Traditional fish and chicken taco, dinner couldn’t have been better. After the traditional and fun dinner we headed to a house where we would be playing a movie on a big screen projector for the local community. We watched ‘Toy Story 3′ in Spanish. It was sweet to see the kids so excited about the movie.
Overall it was a packed day and we were exhausted by the end of it. But all of us had a sense of accomplishment and that was calming. Today we are dedicating the houses to the families and we’re so excited! I have a feeling we won’t ever forget this day, and neither will the families.
-From Baja Mexico
We awoke in higher spirits from the previous days excitement. We met for our usual group breakfast promptly at 8:00 am. Unfortunately a few of the team members were not feeling 100% and instead remained behind to recover – but attempts were courageously made to come in spite of their health.
We arrived […]
Day 4 - Playtime
Published by May 6th, 2011 in FB, Participant Blogs, Student Zone, Other Sites and Featured. 0 CommentsToday we continued our building project. Returning to the work site after a nice restful sleep, we admired the progress that was made long after we left on the prier day. So we started where help was needed, we reformed some assembly lines and got to work. We started by moving sand so it could be sifted to mixed for concrete. We helped pass the time by singing and making up games to get the work done faster. As we were finishing up with the sand we heard a truck coming up the mountain, we looked over and noticed it was carrying the lumber and roofing sheets that will be used on the roof of the school. Due to high spirits the team worked steadily through out the afternoon and was able to move the materials from the truck to the work site. While three quarters of the team worked on moving material there were also a few members who helped with mixing cement so that the smooth coat could be applied. Anticipating up to 600 people for the community party on Sunday it was decided that we should remove the pile of the rocks that had accumulated from the excavation.
Filling a few bags with candy and coloring books we traveled to the work site. It was decided that we would travel to Calvaire in two teams so that we could still be productive at all times:
Team 1
Including kids of all ages we were able to bond through basketball, football, patty cake and duck duck goose. Besides the physical interaction there were moments to just hang out with one another. Even though we could barely speak there language it was comforting to see how a simple wave, high five or hug could bring two people from other cultures so close. At the end of the time together we were able to hand out “silly bands” as a reminder of our time together.
Team 2
The second team got down to the kids and immediately broke out the skipping ropes, basketball and football, the kids were so excited! Then we brought out the coloring books, and everything dropped. There was a mad dash for the crayons and a picture to color in. When they were finished all the kids were so proud to show off their new colorful creations. At the end of all the coloring and fun was over we headed back up to the work site to finish up the day.
The work day was finished so we started our trek home eager for showers and a bed to take a nap in. Upon finishing supper we busted out the many suitcases full of donations collected by the team. We sorted them by gender, then age, and then by who it would be going to. We will be giving some of our donations to the community we are building for and some to an orphanage in Port Au Prince.
By Chad, Liz, and Shannon
Today was a slight change from our usual routine of hiking up to the school and getting to work. But it was a welcomed change in pace. After a hearty breakfast we boarded our usual bus – which is similar to a large van – and headed on our way to Labadee. We went through […]
...continue readingWe started the day awaking eager to get to work. After a group breakfast the team hiked up to the top of the mountain to see the school for the community we are working with. The school is situated with an amazing view over all of Cap Haitien but also makes the terrain even tougher. […]
...continue reading