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Our summer volunteers spend one week building cinderblock homes for families in desperate need of a stable house. Volunteers spend the entire week working alongside the families receiving the homes. It takes about 7 to 10 days to build a house for a family. Normally the volunteers help with the construction of the house from day one. The completion of the house and the subsequent ceremonial key handover to the family is for most volunteers a very emotional experience and a very special moment.
Being American isn’t about what we give tangibly or intangibly; it’s about what we have the privilege to share. Being America isn’t about bequeathing our values to an underprivileged, ‘backwards’ culture. It’s about sharing something sweet and something powerful. I hope I didn't completely change the pictured boy's life.
About Finding Freedom through Friendship
My prayer is this trip only leads to more trips back to serve the people of Guatemala. Also, they would have a real door and some safety from wild animals and protection from the rain. This one-roomed house would be a major difference to them. Finally, the father and mother thanked us and Joe Collins put up a plaque with our names on it, and set it up beside the door, proudly displaying our names. Normally where they would sleep was now taken over by the concrete packages which had to be kept dry.
It was back in 2009 when the rescue and custody center for wild animals in Bolivia was founded as an NGO. A Swiss animal lover created this wonderful animal welfare project on a 45 hectar protected nature reserve in the middle of a very varied tropical landscape. Wild animals find ideal conditions for a secure life in the primeval forests, swamps and savannahs. The nature reserve has extensive, species-appropriate animal facilities, where the freed wild animals have a second chance for a better life.
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4.For the families selected by our social organization partners we build strong, safe, basic houses with a bathroom and shower. Your participation in this volunteer program should be derived from your desire to help the environment and the native population of the Peruvian rainforest. Unfortunately, Ecuador is also one of the countries with a very high rate of violence against women.
John Lothrop gave a presentation on his recent trip to Guatemala to build homes. John and Ron Sack led a group of eleven people from Crete and Lincoln to help build four homes in the small Mayan village of Aldea San Jose Xepatan. They worked with the non-profit organization Constru Casa (see ). In addition to building homes, the group was able to do some sightseeing in Antigua, Guatemala and at Lake Atitlan. Many of the impoverished people of the rural countryside in Guatemala don’t have much money, and much of their basic necessities are lacking. The act of building a small house out of brick, which costs about 1,700 US dollars to build, can affect a family’s quality of life immensely.
Creating pathwaysout of poverty
Arriving at their home in a shack in the middle of I’m-not-sure-where in the city, I couldn’t breathe. The mom and her two young children welcomed us in. There was only a small twin bed and the bathroom was outside. I looked into those young children’s eyes and the mom so concerned for her little ones and the tears in my young friend’s eye and I knew the whisper was real. If you like the articles we publish, maybe you can be one of our writers too!
Quality materials and structural systems that comply with the rules of the Guatemalan Association of Structural Engineer and Institute of Cement and Concrete of Guatemala are used. Every week, I post encouragement for slowing and taking time to breathe in each moment around you. If you don’t want to miss out, enter your email below. As a sweet thank-you, I’ll send you a free eBook about how to gracefully deal with social rejection.
The families who can benefit from the construction projects must in turn apply and be in possession of the land on which the house is to be built. Subsequently, the situation of the family is analyzed taking into account socio-economic aspects. Improvements were really, really cheap, getting a transparent roof for $500 totally changed the house for example. Most of the big spending is going into the new building, but DIY goes a really long way with very little. Quite reasonable to make a house liveable, start building a new room and live for two months. I didn’t think I could make a difference among this much poverty.
On the other hand, this extreme housing situation lays the foundations for social hotspots, illnesses and inter-family problems. I thought about bringing my calves over there, but would have to pay for a cowboy and to fix the perimeter, as animals could escape. So I decided instead to try and develop the land.
To register for this Guatemala City/Potter’s House mission trip,CLICK HERE. Check individual (Please hold off on booking your airfare until I have firm confirmation of which airport we will be using in Guatemala.) 3. Guatemala left me overwhelmed with the vastness of poverty I saw. I wondered, as we walked among the community and visited with the families there, how one person or even a group of 20 could make a difference. But around Day 3 when we partnered with the Guatemala Potter’s House I saw a way I could make a difference — at least to one. It was such a great feeling to feel like what we did would change each of their lives.
Visa, flights, travel insurance or vaccinations are NOT included in the program fees. An airport pickup isn't included within the program fees either. Antigua is one of the most beautiful cities in Central America. We just arrived back home from visiting family around the midwest, so it’s back to work time (finally!). Ready to roll into 2013 (but first a little adult beverage fun tonight….).
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