Today we began our day at 6:30 am. Our first workday! we all met up for breakfast, applied some extra sunscreen, and headed downstairs to wait for Mina, Chamba, and Jorge, our Seeds of Learning group leaders. While waiting we found a tv channel that played Spanish music videos and watched those for a bit. The plan was to be at the worksite by 8:30, but when you’re on Nica time, you have to be flexible. We had to stop for gas, water, and ice, as well as carry all of our supplies to the truck, so that prolonged the journey.
The ride there was absolutely beautiful. The roads were winding and as we climbed higher and higher into the mountains, the temperatures dropped and the scenery changed into luscious green rainforest with sloping hills with flowers and crops planted on the sides of the hills. About twenty minutes or so of driving on the smooth paved roads, we veered off to a side road and the rest of the ride was very bumpy! All downhill, we were winding our way deeper into the forest, bouncing up and down. It felt like we were in that Indiana Jones ride at Disneyland.
We eventually stopped about forty minutes later at the community where we would be building. The school there is small and we were there to work alongside community members to help build extra rooms that would act as more classrooms and learning spaces. We split up into groups and focused on different tasks.
I began learning how to lay the bricks. First, we mixed the cement, added water, sloshed it around with shovels, and poured it into buckets. We transported them and climbed up the scaffolding to smear the cement down, making sure all the bricks we laid we level and spaced evenly. I worked with a community member named Cruz. He was very knowledgable and I got the chance to talk to him about his interests and hobbies (practicing my Spanish while he practiced his English). He’s also a firefighter, semi-professional baseball player, coaches little kids baseball, and does this community building work on the side. In university, he studied agricultural engineering for a couple of years and has trained under the engineers and construction workers here. I told him that if I had the chance to go back to school, I’d probably want to study that too. It was so cool to learn about all of his hobbies and the things he’s involved with.
After laying bricks for a while I switched roles with others in the group to help pass the bricks. I struck up a conversation with Rito, another one of the workers there. I asked him how long he had been involved in the project and what had motivated him to join Seeds of Learning to help out with this. He explained that he had three young kids in the school there and really wanted to be part of their education and contribute to the development of the community. It has been so incredible to see the passion, dedication,, and hard work of these community members and leaders. It reminds me of all the opportunities we have in the states to step up and make a difference through participation, action, and advocacy, rather than just rhetoric, which is much easier to resort to. It also reminds me of Yamileth’s quote from a couple weeks ago, and how she told us that we don’t have to have money to make a difference, but that all we need to do is share what we have to offer: our time.
After brick passing I headed over to the wire cutting station where I learned how to twist the wire and bend it with tools to form the rebar. We had a quick lunch with some sandwiches: tomatoes, avocado, cheese, ham, and yuka chips. From there, we decided as a group to pack up early since some of us were feeling tired, especially after recovering from being under the weather. The rest of the day was spent napping in the hammocks and sharing stories and conversations. We had pasta for dinner, then hung out a little more, and went to bed. Bed time here is around 9:45! We all get so tired much earlier than we do in the states.
Off to bed, talk soon!
Aurora