ready, set, BUILD!

After our first night of air-conditioned paradise, we enjoyed a breakfast of eggs, a cheese of some sort (??) and, the staple, beans and rice, and discovered from the staff that the strange bug in Charlene Hibma´s room was indeed a scorpion and is ¨quite dangerous¨.

We then travelled to El Viejo, for our first visit of the health clinic and our first day on the work site. The majority of the morning consisted of a ´congo line´of people transporting blocks of concrete. There was also a tour of the health clinic available for those needing a break from the heat. During this tour team members were exposed to some of the conditions in the clinic which included sanitation problems, lack of staff and equipment, and of course, stray dogs jaunting in in hopes of finding a snack. After viewing this, we have realized how fortunate and blessed we are to live in a place as flourishing as Canada.

Meanwhile, the workers outside were gaining their 10-minute-masonry qualifications under the leadership of Samuel and Mauricio. When we eventually went back to the hotel for lunch, our group was fully coated in grime, sweat and concrete dust. After lunch, the team split up into two groups; one going to the school and one staying at the worksite. I´ve been told that the group going to the school was pleasantly surprised upon arrival by the children who were all eager to meet the team. So eager in fact, that one music classroom decided to put on an impromptu concert on their behalf. The band included xylophones, drums, and even twirlettes! This group then went to 4 hardware stores looking for supplies for the clinic. Apparently there is no Home Depot, much to our dismay.

At the worksite, our pharmacy was beginning to take shape with 3 walls of concrete blocks 3 high. Through teamwork, patience, and a lot of sweat, the team made a great start of the build, impressing Mauricio, Samuel, and Doug.

After a long day, we piled into our vans and went back to the hotels to scrape off the dirt and sweat from places we never knew we could sweat. We were then treated to a gourmet meal of steak, salad, french fries and - you guessed it!- rice.

It is very exciting now that we have started building and we are all so thankful for the opportunity and support from our friends and family to be able to put our prayers for these people into action. Tomorrow will be another hot one (I keep waiting for a cold one, but no such luck), and we will continue to build the pharmacy as well as visit the school to do some crafts and games. That is if we can get out of bed after lifting concrete all day.

Until then!

Jamie Boley aka Jamie Sr.