Notes from the ground 1: House Day – Sept. 24/08

death grip, originally uploaded by James Matthew.

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From my notebook:
What a day! Wow! I’m very tired, so I will summarize:
A house build, in about 7 hours! The foundation was done when we arrived in Lomas in the morning of what would prove to be one very hot day. So we put the house together, from framing to painting, trusses to tarpaper and shingles, trim, drywall, mudding, and electrical.
An amazing accomplishment! I was given the honor of presenting the keys to the family and giving a blessing on the house. A humbling and mind blowing experience – I am blown away!
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Imagine, if you will, a group of 28 people (24 crazy grade 12 students, and 4 even crazier adults) converging on a small cement pad at around 900 in the morning in the developing community of Lomas,TJ. We spent one amazing day there, working side by side, sometimes shoulder to shoulder, on a house that is a bit bigger than a two car garage. On a side note, it is an amazing thing that there were no injuries, as we were literally shoulder to shoulder in some spots, swinging heavy framing hammers, moving wood around, etc. When we arrived, the foundation was ready to work on, so our group did the rest of the house build.

At this point, I’ll relate that our contractor usually spends a solid day building this type of house with his professional team. Our group of students completed the house in the same amount of time as a professional team. Extreme Home Makeover has nothing on us!

By the end of the day, there was a beautiful red 2 bedroom house, complete with a sleeping loft and a great room, white trim, 4 windows, and a strong front door. By the end, there was a group outside doing an impromptu children’s program, while a small group was rushing to finish electrical and mudding, with Carley (our guide and host) popping his head in the door every few minutes to tell us how much time was left – it was hard work to the bitter sweet end, with the last few minutes being spent in one very sweaty loft trying to put the finishing touches on the mudding. I think I sweat out a few pounds in that loft.

The most amazing moment was having about 30 people cram into the house with the family to sing to them, and pray with them that their house would be a place of peace and happiness. I (james) was given the huge honor of handing over the house keys and giving a small speech and blessing over the house. It was an intensely raw and humbling moment.

Then there was laughter and applause, and many hugs and tears of happiness for our house family.
It still gets me when I think of this moment.

Thank you so much for helping us make this crazy dream a reality!
What a gift to give this family! Just a little note about them: Dad is a truck driver, and makes about 8 dollars a day. Mom stays at home and cares for their 4 beautiful children.
This house is our way of saying we care for the Reyez family – that we want them to be safe, warm, dry, and happy.

Stay tuned, I’ll post more notes from the ground, and our goals for 09 are coming soon (and I’ll tell you now, they’re pretty mind blowing!!)

-james