family

Hello,

This is Juana and Michael. Today we were the leaders of the day and had a fantastic time! We started off the day waking everyone up at 7:15 am. Shortly after we enjoyed a delicious breakfast consisting of scrambled eggs with vegetables, corn bread, deep fried tortillas, and we washed it down with some lemonade.

At 9:30 am, we headed to the CAP site, resuming our work. To complete our nursery in a timely manner, we divided into 4 different groups. Some of us needed to twist wires in order for a mesh roof and wall to be installed. Others focused on tasks such as removing bark from branches and painting the naked branches with motor oil to prevent termites from eating through the wood. Additionally, we also had to dig holes for posts which acted as pillars for supporting the nursery and in preparation for tomorrows mural, we had to coat the wall with white paint. When our PC’s asked for help, everyone was eager to help out in any way they could. The group’s dedication and teamwork was at an all time high as everyone was communicating efficiently. For example, Edward consistantly helping Juana and making sure she was not overworking herself. Abi, Isaac, and Michael were locked in on digging the holes which demanded extreme physical labor. Moreover, while Juana attempted to nail pieces of wood together, she didn’t have enough strength and Abi stepped up by taking over to help her.

We worked for hours and ended up taking a break at 12 for some nutritious snacks that provided us a boost of energy, while we waited for our lunch to arrive. Not long after, our lunch arrived and we ate chicken, rice, a small side of salad and a refreshing cup of honey lemonade. Once we finished eating, we thanked our cooks and reminded everyone to hydrate before continuing our work. When we returned to work, we had to focus on putting up the mesh that would eventually cover the roof as well as the walls. We did this as a team and switched roles when somebody got tired. Furthermore, Jorja and Annie designed the mural that would be painted tomorrow, their designs focused on 2 feet with English text and Spanish text on one side of the wall and a beautiful tree on the other side. By 4, we were done putting up the mesh and completed the layout of the nursery. After cleaning up, we were exhausted and headed back to the hotel.

When we reached our destination, we thanked our bus driver, Efrain, for his hard work as he was working with the group while not getting anything in return. In our freetime, we decided to go to a local supermarket called Super 99, in order to grab a cake and some candles for Juana’s 17th birthday tomorrow! At 6 we had dinner, which consisted of mac tuna, fried chicken, rice, and passion fruit lemonade. We ended off our day by having our nightly meeting where Abi and Justin left us stunned by performing a brilliant magic trick they had planned for days.

Today, we all learned the importance of teamwork and family through our shared actions. While heading to the hotel, Juana noticed that our group was starting to call the hotel “home”. As we reflected we realized that everyone had deeply connected and we had become a family. We went from forcefully smiling in pictures in the first couple of days to not being able to stop taking pictures and having a good time. In a short amount of time, we not only became friends, but also became family.

P.S. I want to highlight Michael for being a good leader when I got scared to step up. As we are finishing this, we are ending the day off by eating TORTAS.