Toddler, Trips, & Track
7 years ago
Monday, May 17, 2010
Un Techo Para Chile
Well, there are a few other things I should be doing right now but since I have absolutely no desire to learn about Latin American contemporary literature right now (and my paper due date got pushed back a week!) I figured I would put up a quick update (especially because if I don't do it now, it's going to be another week or so).
This past week was a more relaxed week compared to some of the others. I didn't have any big papers due and no quizzes either so I had a chance to hang out and try to get ahead on my homework for this week! I didn't get as far ahead as I would have liked to, but that's life I guess. I went to the Bible study again and am starting to enjoy it more and more. I'm finally getting to know the group and am getting used to their style. We've been studying the miracles of Jesus and it's been really cool to note the things that come up week after week in the stories - especially the faith of the people healed (and their undeservingness to be healed), and God's amazing power manifested through Christ (that now lives inside of me!).
This weekend however, was very busy. I left with nearly a thousand students from the Valdivia area to travel 7 hours north to the towns surrounding Concepción with the organization "Un Techo Para Chile" (a roof for Chile). This organization was founded in 1997 by a small group determined not to let fellow chileans continue to live in tents. Since then it has grown and with the bicentennial this year, they have been working to completely eliminate all the tent camps throughout the country. They work in all areas of the country but have been concentrated lately in the areas most affected by the earthquake and tsunami. My group of about 300 or so students went to San Pedro de la Paz where we got split up into 15 or so groups. Each group (comunidad) went to a different place to build a mediagua (emergency shelter) for a family affected by the earthquake. The groups were set up for us, so not only did I get to help build a house for a family, but I got meet some pretty cool people in the process, and laugh a lot.
We left from Valdivia around 5,30 Friday night - which was quite the site! We had 27 micros (city buses) lined up all along the river coast with all the volunteers milling around trying to get organized. After a very squished, and somewhat long bus ride (thankfully with two stops!) we arrived at the school where we would be staying around 1 am. Most people would assume we unrolled our sleeping bags and went to sleep to prepare for the long days to come, but nope. Hah, this was definitely interesting for most of us gringos who were ready to sleep but the majority of the Chileans (and therefore us as well) were up until after 4 am. The day before they had said we would be getting up at 7, which made us all a little worried, but thankfully this was 7,00 chilean time.. which means we got up at 8! Unfortunately the morning didn't go super smoothly, due to lots of volunteers and not as many trucks and supplies so we spent time getting to know our groups and cutting the various parts that we would need. Groups left periodically and mine was one of the last to leave at 4,30...! We worked diligently (in the dark and cold!) until around 1 when we finally headed back to the school to sleep (of course, not until 4 again!). My group was a little worried when we left because we didn't have as much done as we would have liked, but we were hopeful about Sunday. We got up around 8 again on Sunday, ate some breakfast and arrived at our site by 9,30. It was a long day, filled with carrying walls over fences, digging, nailing, sawing, teamwork, creative solutions and lots of laughs. And we finished! We finished hanging the door around 11 I think, and then got to invite the family to come see it and talked with them. It was cool to hear a little bit more about them and see that the mediagua would be put to good use. We got to share one more cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate afterwards and then headed to back to the school before heading back to Valdivia where we arrived around 7,30 this morning. I finally got home and got to shower, and take a very nice long nap!
So that was my weekend in a nutshell. But it was a lot more than that. It was so cool to see all these students give up a long weekend to go out and help build these shelters. What I liked even more was the chance I had to talk with them and get to know them, along with the family that we were serving. I was in a group of 8 (5 girls and 3 guys) and we were working at was the house of a woman (who will be called tía from this point on), who had a daughter and son-in-law who had lost their house in the earthquake. I'm not sure where they had been living, but tía had a small backyard just big enough for a mediagua for them. My team spent a lot of time working while we were there, but we also got to spend some time talking to her and her family, who were all very gracious and helpful. She was always bringing us out something to drink and served us lunch and dinner. This gave us a neat experience to actually spend time talking to her and learn more about her life. On top of that, all their neighbors were super helpful and not only allowed us to pass through their backyards with the walls and floor of the mediagua, but also jumped right in to help us lift them over the fences.
Here's a few pictures :)
Ready to work Saturday morning!
Working hard Saturday night to get all the posts sturdy in the ground. (They are all jumping around the post to pack it in place)
Working together to help put the walls up
Nailing together the roof supports
With the family inside the finished mediagua!
Now I'm off to do some reading and try to write a paper before I head to class, and then the moment I've been counting down to for almost a month now - Jake will be here in Valdivia! He should be somewhere between Santiago and Valdivia on a bus right now, and should be arriving around 7ish if all goes well. We'll spend some time here in Valdivia while I go to class and whatnot and then are hoping to head up to Mendoza in Argentina for a long weekend before he flies back to Honduras, and then finally back to the US. I'll be sure to post pictures and stuff after he leaves!
Chauu!
This past week was a more relaxed week compared to some of the others. I didn't have any big papers due and no quizzes either so I had a chance to hang out and try to get ahead on my homework for this week! I didn't get as far ahead as I would have liked to, but that's life I guess. I went to the Bible study again and am starting to enjoy it more and more. I'm finally getting to know the group and am getting used to their style. We've been studying the miracles of Jesus and it's been really cool to note the things that come up week after week in the stories - especially the faith of the people healed (and their undeservingness to be healed), and God's amazing power manifested through Christ (that now lives inside of me!).
This weekend however, was very busy. I left with nearly a thousand students from the Valdivia area to travel 7 hours north to the towns surrounding Concepción with the organization "Un Techo Para Chile" (a roof for Chile). This organization was founded in 1997 by a small group determined not to let fellow chileans continue to live in tents. Since then it has grown and with the bicentennial this year, they have been working to completely eliminate all the tent camps throughout the country. They work in all areas of the country but have been concentrated lately in the areas most affected by the earthquake and tsunami. My group of about 300 or so students went to San Pedro de la Paz where we got split up into 15 or so groups. Each group (comunidad) went to a different place to build a mediagua (emergency shelter) for a family affected by the earthquake. The groups were set up for us, so not only did I get to help build a house for a family, but I got meet some pretty cool people in the process, and laugh a lot.
We left from Valdivia around 5,30 Friday night - which was quite the site! We had 27 micros (city buses) lined up all along the river coast with all the volunteers milling around trying to get organized. After a very squished, and somewhat long bus ride (thankfully with two stops!) we arrived at the school where we would be staying around 1 am. Most people would assume we unrolled our sleeping bags and went to sleep to prepare for the long days to come, but nope. Hah, this was definitely interesting for most of us gringos who were ready to sleep but the majority of the Chileans (and therefore us as well) were up until after 4 am. The day before they had said we would be getting up at 7, which made us all a little worried, but thankfully this was 7,00 chilean time.. which means we got up at 8! Unfortunately the morning didn't go super smoothly, due to lots of volunteers and not as many trucks and supplies so we spent time getting to know our groups and cutting the various parts that we would need. Groups left periodically and mine was one of the last to leave at 4,30...! We worked diligently (in the dark and cold!) until around 1 when we finally headed back to the school to sleep (of course, not until 4 again!). My group was a little worried when we left because we didn't have as much done as we would have liked, but we were hopeful about Sunday. We got up around 8 again on Sunday, ate some breakfast and arrived at our site by 9,30. It was a long day, filled with carrying walls over fences, digging, nailing, sawing, teamwork, creative solutions and lots of laughs. And we finished! We finished hanging the door around 11 I think, and then got to invite the family to come see it and talked with them. It was cool to hear a little bit more about them and see that the mediagua would be put to good use. We got to share one more cup of tea/coffee/hot chocolate afterwards and then headed to back to the school before heading back to Valdivia where we arrived around 7,30 this morning. I finally got home and got to shower, and take a very nice long nap!
So that was my weekend in a nutshell. But it was a lot more than that. It was so cool to see all these students give up a long weekend to go out and help build these shelters. What I liked even more was the chance I had to talk with them and get to know them, along with the family that we were serving. I was in a group of 8 (5 girls and 3 guys) and we were working at was the house of a woman (who will be called tía from this point on), who had a daughter and son-in-law who had lost their house in the earthquake. I'm not sure where they had been living, but tía had a small backyard just big enough for a mediagua for them. My team spent a lot of time working while we were there, but we also got to spend some time talking to her and her family, who were all very gracious and helpful. She was always bringing us out something to drink and served us lunch and dinner. This gave us a neat experience to actually spend time talking to her and learn more about her life. On top of that, all their neighbors were super helpful and not only allowed us to pass through their backyards with the walls and floor of the mediagua, but also jumped right in to help us lift them over the fences.
Here's a few pictures :)
Ready to work Saturday morning!
Working hard Saturday night to get all the posts sturdy in the ground. (They are all jumping around the post to pack it in place)
Working together to help put the walls up
Nailing together the roof supports
With the family inside the finished mediagua!
Now I'm off to do some reading and try to write a paper before I head to class, and then the moment I've been counting down to for almost a month now - Jake will be here in Valdivia! He should be somewhere between Santiago and Valdivia on a bus right now, and should be arriving around 7ish if all goes well. We'll spend some time here in Valdivia while I go to class and whatnot and then are hoping to head up to Mendoza in Argentina for a long weekend before he flies back to Honduras, and then finally back to the US. I'll be sure to post pictures and stuff after he leaves!
Chauu!
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