They planned a trip with Foundation Escalera, a non-profit organization that builds schools in southern Mexico. It was neat to see how the foundation has grown over the last 8 years. In 2005 we had gone down with Bryson Garbet, my dad's cousin, and his family to Mexico City and did a small service project but they have since expanded and created Foundation Escalera.
We flew into a city in Southern Mexico, Tuxtla and then drove an hour outside to a smaller city San Cristobal, where we met Brittany and Elias and Willie Hamilton (one of Dad's missionaries). This is where Foundation Escalera is based so we spent a few days there touring around. They took us on a river excursion and we got to see crocodiles and spider monkeys. I have only ever seen the beaches and big city of Mexico so the southern part was an experience. There were mountains everywhere and had the darkest green trees covering them. It was gorgeous!
Mom, Dad, Hannah and I shared a room. Luckily Hannah and I have lots of practice of sleeping in the same bed because it was freezing and any extra body heat was a plus!
All the girls in a courtyard at the hotel. We still look decent so this was towards the beginning of the trip.
On the third night the whole group got together in the hotel to discussion logistics of the trip and talk about what we would be doing. It was a great group of family and friends.
Early the next morning, they fed us breakfast and loaded up into the back of these trucks. I thought that it would just be for a short while but we rode through villages and up mountain roads for three hours. It was so cold with the wind and things but the view was incredible!
We ended up in the city of Tepeyac; a small village of about 120 people. Most people speak a Mayan dialect but we could get by with Spanish. They even have a small branch there with a nice chapel.
We arrived at about 9:00 in the morning and they put us straight to work.
The villagers had laid the foundation earlier that week and we were to do the rest...
They had to work into the night but we got the school up by the end of the night. And after a long day of work we separated into small groups and stayed in villagers' homes. We were so lucky and got to all stay together in a member's home. It was neat because they have five kids, 1 boy and 4 girls. We got to sing hymns with them and they were all so sweet!
My dad made really good friends with their son. I loved it because they didn't even know how to speak to each other but they somehow communicated really well.
We brought beads for the children, like in Bolivia. They loved them! It was fun to work on necklaces and bracelets with them. It's amazing how something so simple can be so exciting for them.
This was the ceremony to present the students with their new school. Everyone seemed pretty excited!
Take away lessons...
1. Perspective is everything! To us, this village was a very small piece of a huge world with so much opportunity. To these villagers, this village was their whole world and the idea of leaving it to get a better education or occupation was out of the question.
2. Education is key. There is truth to the saying that knowledge is power. As children we were taught that there is more to life and that we have the ability to chose. If a child is never taught that then they will remain in the same state that they were raised.
3. I thought about how I can incorporate this into my daily life. How can I become a more giving person without having to go on a big humanitarian project? I think there is so much that we can do as individuals on a much smaller scale each day to change people's lives for the better. I don't have to move my family to a third world country to make a difference but I have to look for opportunities in my day-to-day life.
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