From Left to Right:
Orla, Adam, Catherine, Beichen, Larissa, Emma, Alyssa, Andrew, Emily, Joel, Christina, Victoria
By the end of the week, we had become 12 best friends.
An Introduction to The Group
From Left to Right:
Orla, Adam, Catherine, Beichen, Larissa, Emma, Alyssa, Andrew, Emily, Joel, Christina, Victoria
By the end of the week, we had become 12 best friends.
Day 1
Saturday, February 19th, 2011. Woke up at 3:40am after finishing my packing 2 hours prior - off to meet the group and head to Toronto to catch our flight to San Salvador! Major snowstorm outside, but the flight went smoothly and we arrived to the 30 degree weather in El Salvador in the early afternoon. A translator and bus driver were waiting for us at the airport, and we got to drive through the countryside for about an hour to San Vicente, where we would be working for the next week.
It was a surprise to our group to see people living in shacks, pickup trucks driving down the highways filled with people standing in the back, people knocking on the bus windows trying to sell us nuts and fruits, and people walking down the roads carrying goods on their heads - many of them in bare feet. We saw wild horses, cows, and dogs, and guards everywhere with massive guns. We made it to the city of San Vicente, and arrived at our amazing hotel Posada Belen, located in a neighbourhood of some very low-income housing.
We were greeted by the owner, Marisol, and met the 3 foot tall assistant housekeeper Angelica. They were the nicest El Salvadorians you could ever imagine. Later we were met by most of the Habitat for Humanity El Salvador staff, and discussed our plans for the week.
The original plan was to help build a house for a family whose house was destroyed in a landslide in late 2009, but unfortunately they did not have the go-ahead to start building on the new site. Luckily, this did allow our group to work on finishing 2 houses throughout the week that had originally been damaged/destroyed by earthquakes about 10 years ago.
We said farewell to Ronald the translator and to the rest of the Habitat staff, and were met by our translator for the week, Carlos! Since it was reading week, there were 5 groups building in El Salvador at this time, but they only had 3 translators - it was Carlos' first time with Habitat, and he ended up doing an amazing job and definitely added a lot more to the El Salvador experience throughout the week!
Our group was getting along perfectly and we hung out for the night in the amazing house, which was fully open to the outdoors - no front or back doors or screens in the windows, geckos crawling around everywhere, and even birds that laid eggs on a wall ledge!
It was a surprise to our group to see people living in shacks, pickup trucks driving down the highways filled with people standing in the back, people knocking on the bus windows trying to sell us nuts and fruits, and people walking down the roads carrying goods on their heads - many of them in bare feet. We saw wild horses, cows, and dogs, and guards everywhere with massive guns. We made it to the city of San Vicente, and arrived at our amazing hotel Posada Belen, located in a neighbourhood of some very low-income housing.
We were greeted by the owner, Marisol, and met the 3 foot tall assistant housekeeper Angelica. They were the nicest El Salvadorians you could ever imagine. Later we were met by most of the Habitat for Humanity El Salvador staff, and discussed our plans for the week.
The original plan was to help build a house for a family whose house was destroyed in a landslide in late 2009, but unfortunately they did not have the go-ahead to start building on the new site. Luckily, this did allow our group to work on finishing 2 houses throughout the week that had originally been damaged/destroyed by earthquakes about 10 years ago.
We said farewell to Ronald the translator and to the rest of the Habitat staff, and were met by our translator for the week, Carlos! Since it was reading week, there were 5 groups building in El Salvador at this time, but they only had 3 translators - it was Carlos' first time with Habitat, and he ended up doing an amazing job and definitely added a lot more to the El Salvador experience throughout the week!
Our group was getting along perfectly and we hung out for the night in the amazing house, which was fully open to the outdoors - no front or back doors or screens in the windows, geckos crawling around everywhere, and even birds that laid eggs on a wall ledge!
Day 2
Today was our first full day in El Salvador, and it was a day to relax and get to know each other and to tour some of El Salvador. We had our first of many amazing breakfasts at the hotel, then hopped in the bus and traveled to a textile factory. We got to talk to a local who worked at this facility making blankets, scarfs, and bags for $4.00 US per day.
There was another worker who would spend 3 days winding threads. This would then provide enough to make 120 blankets.
As can be seen here, there are dogs everywhere, but we were warned to leave them alone due to fleas and possible rabies. We then toured a local town and then went to a sugar cane factory where we saw them making candy from sugar cane!
The sugar cane is put through a large press, and the liquid is collected and put in the enormous pots shown here. The crushed sugar cane is used to fuel the fires beneath the drums and the boiling sugar is scooped off and cooled to make this local delicacy.
We then stopped at a lookout over a volcano - beautiful country.
From here, we went back home, toured San Vicente by foot, went into a military base and saw a local market, and returned to the hotel and had an amazing dinner (as we did every night). After dinner, our group was hanging out on the balcony writing our journals when the local children started yelling at us through the front gate. Just like almost everyone we had met, they only spoke Spanish. After yelling back many holas, commo estas, and commo te llamos, we were told by our translator it was safe for us to go play baseball in the streets with them! This happened on a couple of nights, and was one of the best experiences of the trip.
The children ranged from a year old to about 20 years old, and they all played in the streets with each other, and organized nightly baseball games. They had an old plastic baseball bat and a few plastic balls which they used to play. They played on the cobblestone road right outside of our hotel/their houses, and used rocks and piles of garbage as bases.
Left to Right:
Christina with Byron and Hans and translator Carlos
Hans gave each of us a marble - even though he has almost nothing, he still found something to give us as a gift. Can't get over how gracious and kind everyone is in El Salvador.
There was another worker who would spend 3 days winding threads. This would then provide enough to make 120 blankets.
As can be seen here, there are dogs everywhere, but we were warned to leave them alone due to fleas and possible rabies. We then toured a local town and then went to a sugar cane factory where we saw them making candy from sugar cane!
The sugar cane is put through a large press, and the liquid is collected and put in the enormous pots shown here. The crushed sugar cane is used to fuel the fires beneath the drums and the boiling sugar is scooped off and cooled to make this local delicacy.
We then stopped at a lookout over a volcano - beautiful country.
From here, we went back home, toured San Vicente by foot, went into a military base and saw a local market, and returned to the hotel and had an amazing dinner (as we did every night). After dinner, our group was hanging out on the balcony writing our journals when the local children started yelling at us through the front gate. Just like almost everyone we had met, they only spoke Spanish. After yelling back many holas, commo estas, and commo te llamos, we were told by our translator it was safe for us to go play baseball in the streets with them! This happened on a couple of nights, and was one of the best experiences of the trip.
The children ranged from a year old to about 20 years old, and they all played in the streets with each other, and organized nightly baseball games. They had an old plastic baseball bat and a few plastic balls which they used to play. They played on the cobblestone road right outside of our hotel/their houses, and used rocks and piles of garbage as bases.
Left to Right:
Christina with Byron and Hans and translator Carlos
Hans gave each of us a marble - even though he has almost nothing, he still found something to give us as a gift. Can't get over how gracious and kind everyone is in El Salvador.
Day 3
Our first build day - we picked up Griselda, a local Habitat for Humanity official, and she went with us to our first build site. We were introduced to the masons and to some members of the family we were building for. The group was given tasks to do on the work site. The walls on the house were mostly up, and our group spent most of the day mixing concrete and leveling and tamping floors. We also had our host's nephew, Luis, working with us. He spoke as much English as I spoke Spanish, so we spent the week teaching each other.
Left to Right: Adam, Luis, Emma, and myself.
The work site was extremely hot, and I had to continuously remind the group to take water breaks in order for them to avoid getting heat exhaustion. The build was a ton of fun, and working with Spanish speaking masons and assistants was great!
The 450 square foot house we built for the first 2 build days.
Cleaning excess cement off the walls.
Wild chickens wandering throughout the house.
Played baseball again in the evening after our delicious dinner.
Go Team UWO!
Left to Right: Adam, Luis, Emma, and myself.
The work site was extremely hot, and I had to continuously remind the group to take water breaks in order for them to avoid getting heat exhaustion. The build was a ton of fun, and working with Spanish speaking masons and assistants was great!
The 450 square foot house we built for the first 2 build days.
Cleaning excess cement off the walls.
Wild chickens wandering throughout the house.
Played baseball again in the evening after our delicious dinner.
Go Team UWO!
Day 4
Woke up again to the typical morning sounds of dogs, church bells, screaming, yelling, roosters, birds, honking, helicopters, talking, radios, televisions, water pumps, cooking, phones, cats fighting, and other unknown animal noises. Off to the work site again!
Mixing concrete for the floors.
Having too much fun at the work site!
After work, we went to a local school. Half of the children are from families that pay to send them to school. The other half of the children are from poor families. Due to the paying families, the less fortunate children are given the opportunity to be educated and to receive some health care. Many of the families of these children were victims of the landslide just over a year ago or from the earthquake almost a decade ago. It was interesting to observe the children who do not pay (in the yellow shirts) seeming to receive much less education than the paying children (in the blue shirts). We played tag, or mika with the children until we couldn't breathe.
Beichen with two of the kids.
Larissa with one of the children.
Hanging with some of the kids.
Larissa, Christina and myself with some of the girls.
Some more happy kids.
Carlos and I with a couple of the nicest and most friendly children I've ever met.
Emma playing around.
Alyssa with some of the kids!
Most of the gang!
Thank you for the donations of toys and supplies - the school greatly appreciated them.
Later at night there was a tremor - I didn't feel it, but I noticed the barbed wire surrounding the hotel vibrating back and forth!!
Mixing concrete for the floors.
Having too much fun at the work site!
After work, we went to a local school. Half of the children are from families that pay to send them to school. The other half of the children are from poor families. Due to the paying families, the less fortunate children are given the opportunity to be educated and to receive some health care. Many of the families of these children were victims of the landslide just over a year ago or from the earthquake almost a decade ago. It was interesting to observe the children who do not pay (in the yellow shirts) seeming to receive much less education than the paying children (in the blue shirts). We played tag, or mika with the children until we couldn't breathe.
Beichen with two of the kids.
Larissa with one of the children.
Hanging with some of the kids.
Larissa, Christina and myself with some of the girls.
Some more happy kids.
Carlos and I with a couple of the nicest and most friendly children I've ever met.
Emma playing around.
Alyssa with some of the kids!
Most of the gang!
Thank you for the donations of toys and supplies - the school greatly appreciated them.
Later at night there was a tremor - I didn't feel it, but I noticed the barbed wire surrounding the hotel vibrating back and forth!!
Day 5
Today was a full and busy working day. We arrived at our new site - a home that had been partially destroyed by an earthquake years prior. On our way to the build site, we got to stop and tour a home that a Canadian team had helped finish a week prior in order to pick up some supplies that were needed. The final touches are being added, below:
We then arrived at the new build site.
Most of the day was spent removing rocks, bricks, and dirt from the inside of the house. An old tile floor also had to be demolished and removed. A very long and hot day, but it was amazing.
Chillin' with one of the local assistants on the work site.
A local with his pet pig.
After work, we walked to downtown San Vicente and climbed the town's tower.
The guys on top of the tower: Front - Adam and Carlos, the translator. Back - myself, Andrew, and Beichen.
The view from the top, with downtown San Vicente in the foreground, and the volcano, sunset, and smoke from burning sugar cane in the background.
Some more of the gang on our way back down the tower.
We then arrived at the new build site.
Most of the day was spent removing rocks, bricks, and dirt from the inside of the house. An old tile floor also had to be demolished and removed. A very long and hot day, but it was amazing.
Chillin' with one of the local assistants on the work site.
A local with his pet pig.
After work, we walked to downtown San Vicente and climbed the town's tower.
The guys on top of the tower: Front - Adam and Carlos, the translator. Back - myself, Andrew, and Beichen.
The view from the top, with downtown San Vicente in the foreground, and the volcano, sunset, and smoke from burning sugar cane in the background.
Some more of the gang on our way back down the tower.
Day 6
Another day waking up to the sounds of the neighbourhood and the sun. Off to the build site again!
On goes the roof!
Spent the day leveling floors inside, cleaning the sides of the building, moving bricks/rocks/dirt, and cleaning up the site.
After work, we dropped by the first house, which now had a roof also!
We then went for a drive towards the volcano to see some of the areas the landslide destroyed in late 2009.
We first saw an old medical clinic that was ripped apart by the landslide.
The destruction was enormous.
Taken through the window of the medical clinic, you can see the dirt path where the landslide began. It tore through this town and many others in the evening on its way out to the ocean over 50 kilometers away.
A trench that was formed through a sugar cane field - not even a stream used to exist at this location. You can see people behind me in the background on the left of the canyon in order to truly grasp the scale of this destruction. (You can click on the photo to make it larger). Where I am standing used to have homes, and many bodies were buried or carried for miles and miles into the ocean and have never been found.
There is a monument in this small town in memory of some of the locals who lost their lives due to this disaster.
We went back to the hotel, where our host Marisol taught us to make pupusas - a traditional food that we made with beans, cheese, and a type of pumpkin stuffed inside a bread that was fried on a grill. They were delicious and fun to make.
On goes the roof!
Spent the day leveling floors inside, cleaning the sides of the building, moving bricks/rocks/dirt, and cleaning up the site.
After work, we dropped by the first house, which now had a roof also!
We then went for a drive towards the volcano to see some of the areas the landslide destroyed in late 2009.
We first saw an old medical clinic that was ripped apart by the landslide.
Taken through the window of the medical clinic, you can see the dirt path where the landslide began. It tore through this town and many others in the evening on its way out to the ocean over 50 kilometers away.
A trench that was formed through a sugar cane field - not even a stream used to exist at this location. You can see people behind me in the background on the left of the canyon in order to truly grasp the scale of this destruction. (You can click on the photo to make it larger). Where I am standing used to have homes, and many bodies were buried or carried for miles and miles into the ocean and have never been found.
There is a monument in this small town in memory of some of the locals who lost their lives due to this disaster.
We went back to the hotel, where our host Marisol taught us to make pupusas - a traditional food that we made with beans, cheese, and a type of pumpkin stuffed inside a bread that was fried on a grill. They were delicious and fun to make.
Day 7
Our last build day! The week flew by.
Went to the local water park, and saw some typical craziness on the streets on the way.
Admission to the water park was $1.00US per person. For $14, our entire group, the translator, and Luis spent an afternoon swimming and in the sun. There were many pools, but this one was the most interesting with a waterfall and natural water containing thousands of little fish that came and nibbled at your feet.
Later, we went to the local ice cream shop, also owned by our homeowner Marisol, and treated ourselves to amazing waffle cones dipped in chocolate with cookie crumbs and amazing ice cream for $0.90US.
Said goodbye to the local kids in the evening before going to bed.
NOTE: Blog continued by pressing "OLDER POSTS", below. ------------------------>
Went to a farewell lunch, and said goodbye and thank you to the Habitat El Salvador staff. They are the most thankful and gracious people you can imagine.
Went to the local water park, and saw some typical craziness on the streets on the way.
Later, we went to the local ice cream shop, also owned by our homeowner Marisol, and treated ourselves to amazing waffle cones dipped in chocolate with cookie crumbs and amazing ice cream for $0.90US.
Said goodbye to the local kids in the evening before going to bed.
NOTE: Blog continued by pressing "OLDER POSTS", below. ------------------------>
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