This summer I took an amazing trip to Guatemala. On this trip I was just supposed to build a house for a family who needed one but little did I know I was going to see, help, and do so much more!

I arrived with my dad, sister, cousins, and uncle on a Saturday afternoon- a full day early before the first building day. I took the opportunity of being there earlier to brush up on my language and truly understand the culture of the people within this country. Guatemala and its people are very welcoming and kind although they do not own much. After exploring our city and learning what I needed it was time to get ready for our first day of work. I was very nervous but also excited to see the family we were building for.

The next morning we arrived at the Houses to Homes organization office bright and early! I met all of the people who would also be helping us build the house, Hector, Julio, and Felix. Felix did not speak any English but Julio and Hector seemed to know some. After saying our hellos we then went on the back of a pickup truck together fifteen minutes away to a town called San Miguel Escobar.

This town, high on a volcano, although so poor and far away from the city had so many people living in it! Children were running around playing or following their mothers/ Older women were setting up counters to sell their homemade food. Men were guiding donkeys up, and some -very few, stared as they worked in the local food stores. What we particularly noticed as we drove up this long road on the volcano was that there were skinny stray dogs roaming or lying the ground, and many of the children did not have shoes and had holes in their shirts.

We stopped higher up off of a dirt road on a dirt mound. When I jumped off the truck and turned around what stood before me were many small shacks made out of metal, curtains, and some brick. There was a dirt path going through the center of the shacks with garbage lining the pathways. We walked to the end of the pathway and then to the left where we saw our empty lot where the house was to be built. The father of the family came out of their small shack saying “Hola, me llamo Luis.” He explained in Spanish that he had a wife and two young children, Maria three years old and Luis five years old. After meeting him we began working getting bricks and hammering away.

As we were hammering a hole into the brick of so the cement could be placed,  I noticed a face come out behind the curtain. This face was a little girl who had the most innocent and beautiful eyes. Right from that moment I knew it was Maria.  She was very scared because we looked so different than everyone she knew with our lighter skin and height. She would not come out behind the curtain until I bent down to her level with bubbles.

She obviously had never seen what this new toy was. I started blowing the bubbles and she was still confused so I put the blower to her and showed her to blow. The bubbles appeared and I watched her expression go from confusion to pure joy. We all started to laugh and clap our hands! At that moment I knew that this trip although very tiring and hard working was going to be much different than any others I had ever been on.

Stay tuned for Part 2 of my trip next week!

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