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Carol and Rod Nilsestuen, Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection - Thrivent Financial for Lutherans members, Wisconsin Wednesday, March 12
The fairly long-awaited journey has begun—Thrivent Builds with Habitat for Humanity in partnership with Habitat for Humanity Guatemala opened a door to this adventure, and when an opportunity arises, one should grab a hold of life and experience it. That is what happened on January 19 at a Thrivent Financial Grant County chapter Volunteer Kick-off. The Grant County Thrivent Builds team was looking for one more team member. They got two of us. It took Rod all of five minutes to decide to go to Guatemala with us to discover what this building project was all about. We met our team members for the first time at the airport, the Thrivent Builds red t-shirts being fairly easy to spot even in a place as big as O'Hare. Jacob met us at the other end of the line with his HFH Global Village sign and Eduardo had the van ready to be loaded with luggage and our 12 member team. Our group leader, Mitch, was fluent in Spanish as was Daniela, a native of Mexico. We were in good hands. Traveling through Guatemala City and on to Panajachel was quite the ride through rugged country and numerous road construction work zones. The population is dense so all available space is used to grow corn and vegetable crops. Even the steepest mountain slopes are terraced, worked by hand tools, and many small fires can be seen where new land is being cleared or old garden debris is burning. The hotel Cacique was on lovely grounds close to Lake Atitlán. Enjoying the scenery will have to wait until daylight. For now we're off through town to a restaurant on the lake for some Guatemalan fare. Bob needed a taxi, so he and Rod rode in a took-took, a cute little 3-wheel vehicle, small, efficient and maneuverable on these narrow, crowded, cobblestone streets.
Thursday, March 13
It was an early start with breakfast at the hotel and a little time for pictures on the lovely paths filled with blooming plants, trees, and shrubs. The lavender blossoms of the Nazareno tree were lush and beautiful. It gets its name from blooming during Semana Santa (Easter Week). It was a long, steep drive up the mountain this morning. We had the opportunity to stop briefly at an overlook to see this large beautiful lake surrounded by once active volcanoes—Santiago, San Pedro—and 12 towns at its edges named after the 12 apostles. A huge amount of road construction was taking place on our way to Xela. Sometimes we simply parked the minibus for 20-30 minutes because of one-way traffic. The cuts through the mountains are steep. Women and children sell treats to vehicle occupants as all kinds of trucks, packed buses, touring vans, pick-ups and cars await their turn to get started up the road. Once the mad dash begins engines are revved, horns blow and everyone tries to maneuver their way to the front of the line. Eduardo owns and drives our vehicle so he drives safely and soon we arrive in Xela. The Guatemala Habitat affiliate headquarters has prepared a welcome reception for us. After getting through the line for "el Baño", we gathered in a meeting room and were welcomed by the local Habitat's administrator (Angel), were led in prayer by the promotional staffer and also welcomed by committee members. The two Habitat partner families were also introduced and each family member welcomed and thanked us for coming. We were asked to introduce ourselves as well. Mitch is obviously deeply touched to be here, leading our group and serving these families we've now met. They served us chile rellenos on tortillas and a sweet, milky rice drink/pudding, a welcome meal. Our team was divided in half and we proceeded to the two sites to get in a couple of hours of work. Rod and I headed to the outskirts of a small community just outside of Cantel where María and her daughter Miriam Yohanna, age 4, will have a new home. They presently live in a home next door shared by a number of relatives. María has gone to school to be an accountant. She has also been active in her community, most recently serving on a committee that got a concrete road built from "main" street, up the mountain toward her present home. At the site we meet Antonio, who heads up the project and his two helpers, Carlos and Dionicio. We're immediately put to work. Rod and Maynard dig 6" holes in the footings at each corner of the house and at the wall junctures. This is a three room house that measures about 15'x20'. I bent a couple hundred pieces of 10-gauge wire into an elongated "C" shape to hold two pieces of rebar together. Materials and tools are basic and simple—a cement block house reinforced to withstand earthquake activity. House building will be labor intensive. Antonio and his crew were filling the footing ditches with rock and mixing an adobe mixture to fill in. Upon returning to Xela we were assigned our hotel rooms, cleaned up and met for dinner at the hotel—roasted chicken, rice and mixed vegetables. After dinner a few of us went for a walk in El Centro Park. The city is filled with young people; the architecture in this area is old and beautiful. Later we took the long way to the theater, a performing arts area, did some people watching and got to know the people in our group a little better. It had been a long first day in Guatemala.
Friday, March 14
Up and at ‘em!! Breakfast at 7:00 a.m.. Richard and Edna are up first and get the first cup of coffee. After eggs, refried beans and fried plantains we shared a few reflections and impressions of yesterday and our goal for today. Bob is an older gentleman who walks with a cane, but is so delighted to actually be fulfilling his long awaited dream. Serving and educating people is obviously important to him. We decided to remain at our same sites so we'd get to know the people a little better. Today the guys got to mix cement for the foundation. We continued to assemble rebar: cutting wire and tieing rods together, making different styles for different purposes, one style to strengthen the footings, another that would go inside the "U"-blocks for reinforcement for quakes, and another vertical style for corners. We also used a pick to make holes in some of the cinder blocks for the rebar to fit through. Processed cheese on white bread for lunch. As they say, "walk the walk." After school was out, the kids began to appear. Danny shows up again. He's become our 9-year-old helper, obviously wanting to learn skills, to be one of the adults and even, though shy, to befriend these gringos. Daniela is an invaluable asset to building relationships with the kids. Headed out for pizza tonight. It disappeared quickly! Some of us walked to the ice cream store, but it was closed. The annual university protest was going on tonight, a demonstration for fairness and aid for the poor.
Saturday, March 15 (written by Rod Nilsestuen)
6:20 a.m. alarm beeps for start of the fourth day of our Guatemalan adventure. Poorest night of sleep for me due mostly to sunburned neck. Didn't take enough care at site yesterday. Cool, highland breezes lull one into this carelessness. All of us Americans really need the morning coffee. Half the people on the team, like me, aren't sure whether it's Friday or Saturday! Travel does that to you. Today's breakfast is pancakes, a switch from our previous more Latin breakfast fare. After some discussion, everybody decides to stay at our original construction sites with no switching. That's no surprise to Carol and me. Habitat volunteers almost always quickly become attached to their team and projects and don't want to switch or start over. Mitch Harrison, our young team leader is doing a very nice job in leading/coordinating. It's not an easy job at any age, with a dozen people, only some of whom he knew previously (with ages ranging from a special-needs teen to a 79-year-old former professor, plus parents and a girlfriend, too!!). Mitch as is his sweet, charming girlfriend, Daniela, from Mexico, is a Cornell grad student and former Peace Corps Volunteer in Honduras, and is now working on a Planning Masters and hoping to work abroad. Overcast and cool morning. Long-sleeved shirt and bandana draped out of baseball cap to block sun when it appears today. Today the pace will be more relaxed. Carlos and Dionicio, two of the pro builders were looking for a short day prior to Palm Sunday, a major event in Latin America and left before noon. Antonio, our very nice foreman, stuck with us the whole day even though he clearly would have preferred a half day on Saturday. Antonio is 50ish, sunburned, has an easy and accommodating approach, ready smile and jokes. He is calm on site and patient, but keeps things moving. After yesterday's heavy dose of sand and gravel, wheeling, cement mixing and hand shoveling, toting cement buckets to be dumped into footings and rock picking and hauling, a slower pace was welcomed. Ditto for whole crew who had sore hands from wiring rebar, pounding out cement block, et al. Nine-year-old Danny and his three siblings from next door have now become comfortable with us and show up a couple hours into the day to again blow bubbles that Edna brought and to "help" us. Daniela is very good with the kids, talking with and charming them. Her Spanish breaks the ice and also helps the rest of us interact, both with the kids and the crew. Danny is tiny for a 9-year-old, but has big smiles and is quick and athletic. I've already shown him my trapeze swing and flip through the legs trick. Both he and his sisters are delighted with this. When I pretend to chase him, he zips away and amazingly vaults right up the wall of his house and onto the roof, like a 2-legged little squirrel. Carol and Maynard and Jane continue to do lots of wiring and rebar assembly. Daniela's hands are sore and she trades off with me in punching holes in cement block. This foundation work with rocks and hand-mixed cement reminds me a lot of the way grandmother's log cabin was built at the Nilsestuen home farm. North and Central American cultures aren't really that removed from each other in lots of ways. After a good dinner, part of the crew headed out to experience a soccer game between top Guatemalan teams. Carol and I decided to chill and journal.
Sunday, March 16
Even on Sunday we arise early to go to 8:00 a.m. Palm Sunday mass at the cathedral just across the square. Lots of older women are selling bouquets of flowers mixed with palm fronds and pine boughs. They're beautiful. Everyone who attends mass buys some to bring into the church. The sanctuary is filled—maybe 600 at this service. Many people have walked into town to attend, wearing beautiful indigenous dress. When we stand I can look over the top of most everyone's head. Immediately after church we pick up a box breakfast and head to the mini bus with swimsuits in hand. We're headed to the hot springs, Las Fuentes Georginas. The ride is beautiful with mountain sides divided into little plots, all filled with gorgeous vegetables. A number of families are harvesting onions and carrots, washing them and wrapping them in large bundles ready for shipment. The springs are lovely, a beautiful mountain setting with lush ferns, vines and flowers (calla lilies grow wild), warm water, but cool mountain air circulating. After lunch at the pool-side restaurant, we headed back down this mountain and then up another mountain toward a family of weavers. We drove through pine forests, less populated areas and eventually stopped at the edge of the road. After piling out, being careful of traffic on this narrow shoulder between curves in the road, we hiked down a steep, narrow dirt path past homes and gardens and ended up at the cottage industry site of a Guatemalan family. They had their own flock of sheep whose wool they carded, spun, dyed and wove. After demos and letting us try our hand at the spinning wheel, they showed us their wares. The whole family works here, the children, as well, after attending school.
Monday and Tuesday, March 17-18
Work continues on the house. We have two days of heavy work—hauling sand, shoveling and dumping rock, mixing cement with oversized hoes. We use a pick axe to mine the adjacent soil bank, fill pails and set up a brigade to fill the rooms with soil floors. Francesca is a real worker. She shies away from no task. Coffee breaks are welcome times to share special treats that Joni brought along, shared with everyone—the teams, neighbor kids, the home owner, and the pros on the job. Our team members have taken turns sharing reflections each evening. Valerie, her mom and dad put on a great little skit one evening about bringing happiness into the lives of others and recognizing—or perhaps just taking the time to recognize—how we are God's instruments, His helpers, that little part of us that is Godlike that leads us and helps us enter into the lives of other people. It happens at so many levels and creates this maze of interactions such that it's difficult to know who receives and who gives—which of course is the secret of it. On Tuesday Danny, after failing to make an appearance on Monday, shows up! I'm so relieved to see him again!! He has convinced his Dad to allow him to work with us rather than helping his Grandma plant the field. He shares our lunches, plays with Rod, watches his little brother closely, takes Rod to his house to recharge a battery, climbs the trees and shakes the berries off of it onto us in a teasing, playful manner. More people are walking by along the path up the mountain into the wooded area, checking things out while fetching cooking wood and collecting items they will need for the Holy Week-end soon arriving. They're watching Habitat at work. Antonio is trying to learn as much English from us as possible, recognizing that as a key to his future success and, perhaps, making himself more valuable to an organization like Habitat. But we also practice our Spanish with him, as well as others, because just maybe we can create a better world if we try to understand each other.
Wednesday, March 19
It's our last day to work on the site and it's only a half day. There will be a closing ceremony early in the afternoon and then we will be departing for Antigua for a day of leisure before the trip comes to an end… I'm glad our work week has been interrupted by Palm Sunday. That one day of rest restored us so we could return to work this week feeling reasonably rested and ready to go. Danny met us right at the mini bus stop today. He was all cleaned up, hair combed, looking as though he was ready for church. It immediately sent the message that this was a special day, parts of which would be a real tear jerker. Antonio and his workers had gotten there early to get things set up for us. More blocks were set in place ready for mortar. We worked, but we soon were forced to face the fact that we hadn't progressed as far as one would hope or dream. So many people over the years have asked me about progress on a house, thinking we put a whole house up in one week—that every house is a "blitz build." But during the time Rod and I have worked on Habitat projects, we've actually seen only one house finished while we were there—and that was a remodel of an older home. Habitat is a lesson in patience. It's a lesson in building community. They are houses built with as much love as skill. They are a process of building lives as much as building structures. And it takes time and persistence to do all those things. It's the same in Guatemala as it is in Marquette, Michigan. The construction materials and methods are different, but all the other kinds of things, the people things, are the same. Later that morning Maria and Johanna brought us treats for break time, fresh sweet rolls and hot chocolate. She was bearing gifts for us, brightly colored placemats to bring home as a reminder of the time we had spent building a new place for her to start a good life for the two of them. They, along with Antonio, traveled to the Habitat headquarters for the final thank yous and goodbyes. We celebrated with heartfelt words, smiles, pictures and tears and exchanges of gifts, not knowing who influenced whose life the most. One evening at reflection I had shared a portion of Anne Lamott's book, Plan B Further Thought on Faith. It was a portion where she writes about Rahab and her role in hiding and protecting Joshua's spies. And because of her leap of faith, she was saved when the walls of Jericho came tumbling down. Lamott ends this story with: "You've got to love this in a God—consistently assembling the motleyest people to bring, into this lonely and frightening world, a commitment to caring and community. It's a centuries-long reality show: Moses the stutterer, Rahab the hooker, David the adulterer, Mary the homeless teenager. Not to mention all the mealy-mouthed disciples. Not to mention a raging narcissist like me." So at the end of the week, here was another motley crew that had somehow come together, each of us with a different set of strengths and short-comings, but never-the-less, brought together to share our faith, to live out a commitment to help create not only a house, but also a home in a community of people that reaches beyond the boundaries of countries, cultures and language.
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