Starting Work

Last night after swimming, we took showers, then ate a delicious dinner of rice, yucca chips, and beans. There was a fascinating beverage called chan juice. To get the chan seeds, you have to shake them off of the stem, then hydrate them, which makes their texture slimy. After dinner we went to the classroom and we shared our stories about why we are here. Two people’s stories were specifically memorable, Judith and Kennedy. Judith said when she was younger, she went on a cruise, and one of the stops was in Haiti. She said her experience was so touristy that it seemed almost artificial. She thought that this trip would be a good way to be part of a community and exchange cultures with the people who live here in Chilamate. Kennedy, one of our WLS instructors, story started when she was 16, in high school.  She went on a trip similar to this, to Peru. She thought that it was just for fun and to hang out with friends. But then later on in college, she realized what an impact this trip had really had on her. After college she was inspired to do more community work. She went back to Peru, intending to stay for 4 months which turned into 7 years. While there she began a non-profit to work with weavers and other artisans to help them make income. This conversation was very meaningful and inspired us. It was deep, dude!

Today, we had breakfast with watermelon, papaya and SPECTACULAR sweet bread. After breakfast we packed up for our trip to the homestay families, where we will be for the next 3 days. Afterwards, we headed to the worksite at the Chilamate School. We broke into 4 groups to work on the playground, 2 cleaning, and 2 working. Some scraped paint off the concrete blocks, some cut ropes, a few built arm rests with concrete (which they made) and rocks, the last group cleaned off old chair frames that we will refurbish. We will try to recycle everything that we can, like sprucing up old chairs for the students, taking shorter showers, and being more conscious of how much food we put on our plates so we don’t waste it.

And we had amazing snack cookies called Chiky’s. While we ate snack in the cafeteria 2 little kindergaterners ran in and gave us adorable flowers (the boys didn’t get any hahaha)! It was so cute! J

Pura Vida!!!!!!!

Love, Alanna Lawhon (p.s. mom and dad I love you), Taylor Engler, and Idriys Ali-Chow <3