Wednesday End of day worksite- La Morita - Julie's house

Here is a short video after the third day - notice the walls are higher.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qk1r2tuipaw&list=UU91HaoDuJbuEte300Fy1ShQ&index=1

My first impressions, thus far

Hello everyone my name is Jackie O’Dell, this is my first year on the trip, and I am a Senior at the College of Wooster. I finished my independent study this past Friday before coming on this trip, woohoo! I had a little different experience than everyone else in coming to Tijuana in that I took a separate flight which got changed multiple times causing me to have to walk across the boarder.

Walking across the boarder was not what I expected. Caren, Jill, Jordan, and I took a trolley (more of a train or tram if you ask me) to the border and began to follow the people between two buildings. It was kind of like an alleyway and in the middle were two guards chatting away and not even looking at the people. We passed them and arrived in Tijuana. They did not check my passport, look at me, or stamp my book. I was never so thankful to see a familiar face (Rena) and she took me to the van which we took to the posada.

First impression of the posada is simply beautiful! The flowers, court yard, and bright colors, pictures do not do it justice. Over the past few days I have many observations of which I will list.

1. The poor plumbing means that you can not flush toilet paper and therefore you have to throw it away. Gross at first, but you get use to it.
2. At the work site on Monday there were Esperanza people and male community members. These men seem very sexist. The women had to go bend wire while the men build the siding to the house. The next few days were better at the other work site where the community members that came to help were women.
3. The juxtaposition between the landscape and the homes is gorgeous. I think this is the most beautiful place that I have ever visited!
4. Traffic signs are more of a suggestion than a law. This became frightening yesterday on our way to the work cite. As we were looking at a giant statue of Jesus, a semi came within two inches of side-swiping us, causing us to scream “Jesus.” The moment was much funnier after we were safely on the highway.
5. The people here are amazing. The care deeply for their community (which can be seen when they come over to help) and when we speak of why we are here to strangers, they thank us on behalf of their country.
6. At the orphanage we made bracelets with the little girls. One in particular was less than two years old. She made me help her with her bracelet which had to be every other color (pink and purple). Then she taught me some words in Spanish. She was so smart!
7. Final thought/story. We went to the deportation house today. This is where those sent out of the US can go to get back on their feet/ re-gather their lives (for 12 days).  The gentleman I spoke with said he has lived in the US since 1997 and has a wife and three children. He also has a painting business. He happened to be stopped on his way home from work for having a tail light out. The police asked for his papers which he does not have; he was born in Honduras. He said he was placed on a train without being able to notify his family. He does not want to go back to his country because he has a tattoo. If this is seen in his conservative country then he will be shot. The US is his country now and he will do anything to get back to family. It was heart wrenching!

Thanks for reading, I hope it wasn’t too long. ~Jackie

Fun at the Orphanage

Tuesday evening the group went to the girls orphanage to play.  We are posting 3 videos:

Play video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-D4ZTBlSBHE&list=UU91HaoDuJbuEte300Fy1ShQ&index=2


First Music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gss8VntwUWQ&list=UU91HaoDuJbuEte300Fy1ShQ&index=1

Second Music video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGXZY5i0hc8

Silver Teeth, Cement Burn, and Too Many Tortas

The day opens on a turtle-green hillside, slightly littered with old tires and Tecate cans, as a small group of Americans begin to stir in the egg yolk-yellow walls of the barbed-wire rimmed sanctuary they now call home.

Now that the scene is set- day two of the work week is coming to a close. My group worked primarily on pouring concrete into the walls, which is no easy task. All hands were on deck, volunteers and community members alike, taking sand and stone and turning it into a home. The concrete is made in a mixer loaded with buckets of sand, gravel, cement, and water which is then scooped out of a trough and passed down our line in buckets, lifted to a very dedicated, strong member of the team on scaffolding. It's then poured down into the cement bricks which make up the wall. This process took about two hours and a lot of sweat. In all honesty, of the four other times I've been here, today was the hardest I've worked myself- handing buckets up to Rick to pour into the walls and scooping out the cement from the trough. Major muscle work out. Today was also one of the most rewarding days of work. I also got to pet the family's cat. Which is a big deal if you know how much I like cats and the fact that Tijuana is run not by government, but the enormous amount of stray dogs.

We called it quits after the walls were all poured and came back to the posada to get ready to go play with the girls of a local orphanage. These girls are amazing. Ages 5-18, the kids are orphans or are placed there by parents who cannot support them. They are all totally excited to see us and get down to some serious playtime. Jump rope, soccer, friendship bracelets, balloons, piggy-back rides- not many of of can speak Spanish, but no one really cares. That's the great thing about kids, they just want someone's hair to braid, conversation is not a major concern. I've always gravitated to the kids we meet at the work sites because I feel more at ease with not being able to string together a proper Spanish sentence. They seem to like me too, but that may be because I'm usually carrying a few kilos of candy on me.

After the orphanage, we reconvened at base camp and then took off for dinner at the glorious taco stand. Now everyone is dispersed around the posada, playing games, heading to bed, coloring (actually just Heidi is coloring), and catching up on homework. I'm looking forward to another day of hard work and Hibiscus water. Hasta luego.

Jill 

Day two - La Morita - Julie's house

Here is a short video for day two work site - after the walls were poured.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ocq6J11i4Jc&list=UU91HaoDuJbuEte300Fy1ShQ&index=1

Tuesday morning

Hi,  this is Gail Klise, I am a first time volunteer.  I was inspired to join the group on this trip because of my daughter Heidi and her friend Jill and some of the other folks at Trinity Church. The girls have each been here four or five times.  The conversations after each trip was at first surprising to me... these high school girls at the time LIKED to dig in the piles of sand and haul buckets of cement.  There is a secret in this experience that should be captured and even required for all young people.  The phrase we have always heard:  " it is better to give than to receive" is put into practice every day and every moment at Esperanza.  Even the bonding between volunteers who have just met each other is very apparent, even on this morning of our fourth day.  After hearing more and more stories of the very positive experiences every volunteer has had and their desire to come back, I finally decided it was time to try it out for myself.  In fact I was becoming a bit envious of the people who have put themselves into this serving role. I am a retired mom looking for purpose. 

Our first day was an easy step into 'how the worksite works'.  Heidi is the current long term volunteer and I was fortunate to watch her in action.  When she called out that there was a new task for two or three we would listen for instructions.  The next generation is stepping into leadership roles, taking control and using their energy to help others.  It really is a wonderful world. 

The actual construction site is interesting -- in America we have Habitat for Humanity which I assume is similar.  Everyone gets a wrench or a hammer or is asked to dig or haul buckets.  Most all of the jobs are a first time experience and learning to do it correctly is more important than becoming dirty....... off to the worksite we go for more .

Our Group at the Border!

A Great Community

Hola!
This is Sarah Laper and I am a junior at the College of Wooster and this is my first time in Mexico.  So far it has been a great experience.
The first time I asked my mom if I could go to Tijuana, she said no way. Luckily, I finally convinced her to let me go, but she was still hesitant.  Today we met Eduardo who works with Esperanza and was helping us at the work site.  He said that the US news about Mexico makes him sad because he loves his country and US news makes it look so bad.  Also, the news makes it look like everybody is trying to get to the border and into the US but that is not true, some people want to stay in Mexico, he is one of them.  Eduardo's son can go to school in America but he doesn't want him to go because Eduardo can't go to America and also he has seen a lot in the news about people bringing guns into school in America.  Just like my parents did not want me to go to Mexico, Eduardo does not want his son to go to America.
I have only been here a couple of days but I've noticed that there is a great sense of community here that is different than what we have in the States.  Yesterday, we went to a birthday fiesta and everyone there acted like they were part of one big family.  They were all so nice to us, they loved when we all sang and danced together.  I felt very welcomed even though it was the first time I was meeting everyone.  Today at the work site, a bunch of family members and neighbors came and helped us work.  We were digging a drainage ditch for a retaining wall and both family members and our volunteers dug and passed buckets of dirt side by side. The daughter, Lucia, wanted to help and I thought the buckets would be too heavy for her but she insisted on wanting to be part of our bucket brigade.  When someone shoveled dirt onto my pants, I didn't even notice, but she reached down and brushed them off for me.  Even though I didn't speak the same language as Lucia or the other family members, a smile goes a long way and I had a lot of fun working today.

Mexico Sweet Mexico

Hola!
My name is Rachel DeLuca and I am a Junior at The College of Wooster. This is my second year with Esperanza and this year I am the student leader for the trip. Last year I had a fantastic time so I felt that it was important to make sure that more Wooster students came on the trip this year. I love Mexico so much because it makes me very happy. The people here are so genuine and special. Volunteering is an important part of my life and the work we do in Tijuana is life changing for everyone involved. Today our group split up into 2 groups. One crew worked on digging a 5 cement block deep footer for a house foundation and then other group worked on preparing for a roof to be poured. On friday, our entire group will be at this second site helping with the roof. We think it'll take about 45 bags of cement!!! If you don't know construction lingo, this is a HUGE amount of cement, but we can do it! The rooves we usually pour here take about 10-12 bags of cement. I was at the site digging the footer and we had a great time listening to Mexican music and completing the job. The job site had a beautiful view of the ocean and rolling green hills. After a hard day of work, we all returned to the posada and had a quick warm shower. After relaxing a bit at the posada, we headed to our favorite taco stand for dinner. Muy delicioso! (Very delicious!) Now it's time to head to bed so we can be ready for another day of hard work tomorrow.

All the best from Tijuana,
Rachel =)