Absolute Leadership Development

Today 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

Written by trip participant - Mark Rosvold

4:12 am, Saturday night, or Sunday morning. In the hotel lobby I see my cohorts standing around, bleary eyed, but filled with a undeniable energy, a silent excitement, and a bewildered look that can only come from the exhaustion of travel coupled with a mid-night wake up. We are leaving shortly, catching a shuttle to the airport. The air outside the hotel lobby is tight and chilled, our anticipatory breath hanging visibly in the air as we shuffle out onto the bus. A kindly gentlemen gets out of the shuttle bus and begins to load our luggage. His face bears an amiable countenance and his hair is slicked back, white as the snowy north from which we are leaving. After a quick ride, the airport looms in front of us, a behemoth of modern technological prestige. We have met the other half of our crew at this point; they come from UBC Vancouver. New faces; however there eyes are identical to ours, beaming with excitement. Check in a security flows smoothly for all of us…well, Adam has his body wash and sunscreen taken away, but apart from forcing the rest of us to share our anti lobster lotion with him, it all goes well.

On the plane we are much like small children. Not that we behave as they do, we are not childish (not mostly), but childlike. A stewardess comes by and says we have bright cheerful faces. I do not disagree.

Touchdown. Safely landed. God has brought us to San Diego. From the dreary cool Seattle to the north we have arrived in the southern United States, and the sun beams down on us like a smile from God, welcoming us to the warmth of our trip. Shortly after, Matt and Andrew arrive along with their wives. Bob and Sarah are there as well, from Hero Holiday. With the six of them, and Andrew and Dawn’s son Anthony, we students from the north pile onto a bus and begin winding our way south through the beautiful summery city of San Diego. Andrew informs us we are going to stop in south San Diego right before the border. We will be going into a posh store called (phonetically) ‘tarshay,’ he announces over the bus’ intercom. It is actually the superstore ‘Target’ that we stop at. This reminds me of the power of pronunciation, and simultaneously shows Andrew’s rather clever sense of reality.
After spending some time buying supplies at ‘tarshay’, and having lunch in the surrounding area, we get back onto the bus, better acquainted with one another, and with no division of campus’ remaining. From here, it is but a quick vehicular jaunt to the border. As we close in, there is that slight tension in the air: will we be stopped…hassles, large guns, it is on our minds.  No issues whatsoever!

Now in Mexico, the reality is devastatingly clear. Opulence and prosperity give way to sharply visible stratification, where mansions dot one part of a hill and structurally unsafe slums ensconce it. This Tijuana is real, it is not the poverty of studies or of textbooks, it is the poverty of reality, and it is a shock. But the colors are vibrant and Andrew informs us that these people we see sitting about looking dejected and sunbeaten, are warm, kind and loving people, with an inherent cultural altruism. I would find out later that evening, that the majority of us were fairly touched and shocked by this disparity, one created by a fence and a notion of non-united nations.

A new day. Monday, the first day of building. It was hot, it was dry, the wind was whipping strongly around us, and the sun lotion and water coated our insides and outsides…respectively. There is so much I could say about this day that I am finishing as I sit here and type with a semi groggy mind, but for the sake of concision I will mention just a few amazing points from our day. Sitting around the fire as the hot day descended into a cool night, reflections on the day were shared. There were many comments, but a few recurring themes. We were all struck by the reality of what we were doing, and how blessed we are to have the wealth we experience as north americans. Not that we necessarily relished our large homes and myriad vehicles and gadgets, but we did recognize the opportunities this wealth affords us. We are all in extended programs of education and most of us have cameras that cost more money than these families make in a month. It is hard to tell whether these realizations were high points or low points, perhaps they were simultaneously both. Personally I am being humbled and being shown a truth that can’t be recognized in the snapshots we see in magazines, but must be experienced firsthand.