School, Scaffolding and Songs

A view of the hillside where our groups are building. House 3 is bottom right and house 2 is top left.

by Andrew Webb ’11 and Harrison Larkins ’11
Today was a memorable day in Antigua, Guatemala. We started the day waking up an hour earlier to give us time to visit Cambiando Vivas, an elementary school built by From Houses to Homes. Although the visit was short, we were able to sit in on multiple classes, take a tour of the school, and sing the “itsie bitsie spider” with the kids. We had the unique opportunity to witness Cambiando Vivas participate in a local olympic tournament between other primary schools in the Antigua area.

Part of our group and workers in front of the Elementary Olympics stadium atop a hill

In between epic races for gold, spectators got to delight in Sarah Grady’s unique gymnastic skills. Each successful back hand spring had the crowd screaming for “otra, otra, otra.” However, the time soon came when we were back in our trucks on our way to the worksite. Before our departure, we gave the classes school supplies, such as crayons, children’s books in English and Spanish, and a much appreciated gift from Joe Powers, soccer balls! Upon arrival at the worksite, we returned to our familiar jobs of mixing cement and assebling blocks as the houses continued to take shape.

Harrison and his buddy Wilson debating the differences between concrete and cement...

During lunch, Sam Bondurant lost his undefeated wrestling record against a worker who was a wrestling competitor in the Central American Olympics (see photos below). The workers continued to add height to the scaffolding six feet above the ground (thats almost taller than Andrew Webb) as we tested our strength, repeatedely lifting sixty-pound cement buckets above our heads. Although it was quite a test of endurance, we finished the thirteen-layer walls, leaving only the floor and the ceiling unfinished.

Olinda in front of her soon-to-be new house, now 12 rows high. The kids are standing on the scaffolding inside the construction

The trip back to the Hotel Meson del Valle showed little incident, but upon return, we were met with a torrential rain that delayed our trip Spanish school and after waiting for almost an hour for the rain to clear, eventually, Mr. Searl made the call to cancel school for the day (to the delight of many students). After the rain cleared Mr. McGahan took several students who were missing yoforia out to get frozen yogurt. And later, the real festivities began. We hiked around the corner from our hotel to Personajes, a restaurant where we enjoyed great food and kareoke. Mr. McGahan started singing brown eyed girl before everyone was even seated. Everyone else joined in on the fun selecting English and Spanish songs from a list of thousands.

"Girls just want to have fun!" Well, so far so good at kareoke night.

The favorite song of the night was Sweet Caroline which was enjoyed so much it was played twice. The night ended in Dream On in which everyone took the stage to sing the last song and conclude a joyful night.

And today's challege for Sam: Henio, a former wrestling gold medalist at the Juegos Centroamericanos juniors. Down goes Bondo.

Henio, a great FH2H worker and a quick friend, with Sam after the "lucha."

Group 1 peaks out the brand new doorway. Check out Juan Jose in the background still "working."

Griselda, a neighboring in-law, and her young son Gervin check out the new construction

John taking Rosmeri to new heights, and keeping Coach Lougas happy

Eve and Henio atop the scaffolding, prepared to put down the last row of cinderblocks for the day

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