Build Day One: Heat, Humidity, and Humility

Our team arrived at the build site in Santa Elena after a long and bumpy bus ride from our hotel in La Cruz. Because of the size of our group and the remoteness of the Habitat site, we travel more than an hour and a half each way – past cows, volcanoes, orange trees and many examples of substandard housing. Sure, we grumbled a bit. We come from a land of highways and light rails that will get you from a gigantic shopping mall to downtown Minneapolis in no time (but are there volcanoes? Or orange trees?). Anyway, we know we’ve got it pretty good.
That’s why we’re all down here – to give back, to help others. And I think it’s safe to say that we were more than a little curious, and maybe a little anxious, to see what awaited us at the build site.

What awaited us was a lot of digging.

And so, we dug. We swung pick axes. We had blisters before the first morning break. But as I walked around with my camera, I saw that everyone was giving it their all. And working right along with our team were two future homeowners, Dina and Carlos. Our first hint that these were pretty amazing people happened during our first break when Dina opened up a cooler containing around 30 small coconuts. While we covered our eyes in fear, she took a rather large knife and hacked a small hole, just big enough for a straw, into each coconut. It was beyond refreshing.

After lunch, we learned more about Carlos, Dina, and Dina’s four daughters, who had joined us. We learned that Carlos’ wife and two kids would be joining us the next day. We asked them a few questions, told them a bit about our group. We were all being a little bit shy, but then Carlos started speaking in rapid Spanish, and when he finished, we looked to Christina, the Global Village host coordinator, to translate. He had welcomed us all to Santa Elena, saying that we were a blessing for him and his family.

Later, with Christina’s help, I asked Dina and her girls a few more questions. What were they most looking forward to with their new house? “Having a clean house," one girl said with a giggle. “Being close to school,” said another. Dina thought for a while, and then she said the most important thing for her was that her house, and the land, would be her own – that no one could kick them out. For six years, she went on, her family -- and many other families who will be living in this 38-home development -- have been fighting for adequate housing. Everyone in town called them crazy, said it would never happen. And this summer, she and her girls will be able to move out of her mother’s house and into a home of their own. And while our group bounces along our hour-and-a-half journey to and from the build site, we can reflect on the fact that we’re helping her achieve that dream.

By Andrea Cole, trip photographer