Wheelbarrows of Fun

Day two out of ten amazing days,

By: Lauren Dunlap, Eve Knapp, and Jose M Luna

Today we awoke bright and early to a breakfast of delicious, rejuvenating papaya and pineapple… and pancakes. Then we were off to the square where we met our rides, small bright colored pick-up trucks that took us to the worksite. As we enjoyed the scenic but bumpy ride there, we witnessed the local daily life, including stray dogs, bulls blocking the road, and crazy drivers.

We worked on three different sites, all in close proximity to each other. The families live in Santa Catalina Badahona, about 25 minutes outside of Antigua. The first site was the easiest location because it was flat and close to the road. Houses two and three, however, are on the side of the hill and have a really, steep slope which we had to push wheelbarrows full of sand down. Our work groups for the week are divided as follows:

• Group 1 (House 1): John Egan, Mitchell Tracy, Eve Knapp, Sarah Cordle, Joe Powers and Daniel Searl
• Group 2 (House 2): Cammie Norsworthy, Lauren Dunlap, Sarah Grady, Andrew Webb, Lucas Smith, Harrison Larkins, Bill McGahan, Carter Thomas
• Group 3 (House 3): Jose Miguel Luna, Danielle Daley, Julia Myrick, Sam Bondurant, Debbie Shim, Taylor Kaplan

John, Joe and Juan Jose working hard on the trenches for the foundation

House one, by Eve:

One of my favorite moments from our first day with the families was when I had just met the three young girls and we went out to the street to play. Communication was a little spotty at first but we ended up drawing pictures in the sand and gravel. The first thing that the middle girl, Rosemary, drew was a heart, and from then on everything seemed to flow. Sarah C. and I did everything from picking out our favorite rocks with them to singing the popular Lady Gaga song “Alejandro” for the youngest girl, Alejandra. Jennifer, the oldest, couldn’t wait to teach us her favorite song and show us her A’s in school. Playing with the kids was fun, but we definitely did some hard work, digging out and laying the entire foundation for the house. Coming home we were happy, hot, and covered with cement. I can’t wait for day 3.

A B C in street

House two, Lauren:

Our house had three children: Wilson, 11, Evelyn, 7 and Sonya, 5. Sonya enjoyed playing catch with us with a lime she found. And after lunch, when Wilson and Evelyn came home from school, we showed all of the kids how to use the digital cameras. They loved them and took pictures of Bill “the situation” McGahan dancing and everyone working on the house. Later, the mother of the family took Cammie, Sarah G. and me to her room to show us her work. She makes guipiles which are woven, colorful shirts. We could quickly tell the pride she takes in her work. She spends about 2 months on each shirt. She also showed us the ones that she had woven for her 2 daughters which they tried on for us and were obviously very special to them. The children played with their balls and took pictures in the street while watching their new house being built.

Wilson oversees our work on house 2

House tres, by Jose Miguel:

Our house was by far the hardest to build. As we said earlier, the slope to get down to the actual place where the house was being built was actually “ridiculous.” Our family was made up of a mom, a dad, and four daughters, although the dad is working near the border of Mexico just to get enough money to maintain the family. The first thing we did was wheelbarrow some sand and gravel down that slope. I can honestly say it was one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. But as my friend Sam told me, “All men have to go through labor.” 29 wheelbarrows later, we started digging the trench for the foundation. Every time we finally got it to the right depth and width, someone would decide to leave, they’d step on the wall of the trench and collapse it. Of course, we would just suck it up and start again, because as an local farmer holding a machete told us, “You are doing God’s work.” We ate lunch, a delicious sandwich of ham and cheese with Hispanic chips, cookies, apples, and juice. The after-meal show was a wrestling showdown between Sam, a varsity wrestling captain and Tomas, one of our From Houses to Homes team leaders. After an epic and entertaining battle, Sam pinned Tomas, but right away the rest of the workers piled on top of him after he won. The hardest part came when we had to mix the cement and put it in buckets and carry it up that slope. After we were done building for the day, we taught the little girls how to take pictures as part of the photography project (more to come on this in future posts).

The Wheelbarrow

Sam grappling with Tomas

Then we hit the court with some locals and played “the basketball” and soccer. After returning to the hotel and taking a much needed shower, we departed for a lovely dinner in the vicinity. For dessert, we had 20 quetzal ice-cream.

Leave a comment to tell the group hello!

Advertisement