ReBuild Mexico 2016 IV

Safety barrier!

"Our trip to Mexico was one of the greatest things I will ever do. Building a house for a family less fortunate than yourself really opens your eyes and mind to see what is going on in these areas of the world and it hits your heart when you see the extent of what's going on. I, myself, have come back home and have made a conscious decision not to take anything for granted, from my bed to my phone, as I have seen a society where most people don't have anywhere near what we have."

- Matt Chegwin

We knew the basic assembling of the frames into position was going to take place today! With that in mind, safety barriers made of spare timber and nails were put together. They provided a small amount of protection for us from the 12ft drop that we'd been facing each day so far. Once the frame was up, the most dangerous areas became 'leaders only' zones. A zone that was still deemed safe for all was the sewerage corner. A few youth were 'blessed' with the opportunity to wire and Stucco the wall side closest to the leaking pipes on days 4 and 5.

And the walls went up!

After the walls went up on the afternoon of day three everything else was such a blur! We had just 12 build hours left to completely wire up and Stucco the entire house. One of the really lovely opportunities we had on Thursday morning (build day 4) was to write notes of encouragements on the outsides of the walls before they got covered in Stucco.

Encouraging songs, verses, and notes

I think the best way to sum up the rest of the build is going to be mostly pictures:

Day One | Levelling the site, building the frames and moving concrete from the top of the site to the bottom.
Day Two | Mixing the concrete with cement, water and fibres and laying the slab.
Day Three | Assembling the walls of the house and some of the wiring to hold the frames tight.
Day Four | Writing words of encouragement on the frames, finishing the wiring and papering the walls. We also started the roof.
Day Five | All hands on deck for finishing touches! Finishing the roof, installing the doors and windows and applying 2 coats of Stucco (a cement based mix).

(Summary taken from Sam's website, here)

D a y   3

How many people does it take to saw some pretty wood?

D a y   4

It's starting to look like a house

Upon the roof!

Kings Academy putting a shift in

D a y   5

First coat of Stucco

Door installation

All hands on deck to get the last coat of Stucco applied before the day was up 

Makeshift overflow sewerage draining system with left over rocks

Holly 'The Machine' Grob

K e y   h a n d   o v e r   d a y

Handing over the keys 

Unlocking the door

A feast cooked for us by the family we built for

The completed house!

We experienced an extreme culture shock when we left the emotional roller coaster of Mexico and arrived into excessive consumerism back in California.

We've got so much more that we want to say.

"I didn't know what to expect going to Mexico this Easter. My original reason for going was to support the young people from WBC who had courageously stepped out in faith to serve God through Rebuild Mexico 2016.
Now that we have all returned from the awesome experience (of Mexico Rebuild 2016) I realised that I need to be part of the WBC team who went. The experience, and privilege, of seeing young people facing poverty first hand and working as a team to give a family hope by providing a new home. Who wouldn't want to witness that??? But there was more: to see God at work was a great thing and it had helped to rebuild my own, personal faith which has taken quite a battering over the last couple of years. I have returned from Mexico stronger than when I left and am so glad I took part.
Would I go again? Too right I would! :D The challenge to those reading this blog is would you take part in a Mexico Rebuild trip?????"
- Mike Walters

I imagine we'll post very soon with some more highlights about our trip and the celebration pool party afterwards! For now, though, that is us done! We've loved being able to share some of our stories with you. If you'd like to know more about ReBuild trips, visit the Urban Saints website here.

Thank you again for all of your support,
See you soon.

Guest post written by Amy | Girl With A Dream

ReBuild Mexico 2016 III

"Wait... so these are garden hoes?"

Hello, if you've just joined our Mexico blog posts - Welcome! If you've been following our journey so far - Welcome back!

To read our first Mexico 2016 blog post, click here.

To read our second Mexico 2016 blog post, click here.

"It was such an awesome experience, building a house for a family who needed a safe and secure home... I was able to see how happy people were even if they don't have the basic things in a home or even a proper structure around them. They live life to the full and are so thankful. Seeing a 15 year old boy watch us solidly whilst we built him a house really got to me as he had a smile permanently on his face... It really hit home how grateful and thankful we should be for every bit of detail in our lives... I am changed!"

- Emma Matthews

A local family surrounded us as we stepped out of the bus ready to embark up the big hill to the build site. They were trying to sell us beautiful handmade bracelets, headbands, ponchos, and blankets. Whilst we wanted to give them everything we had, we needed to walk on, leaving them with a few smiles and nothing more. Although the story doesn't end there. The same local family visited us a couple of days later, when we were on a break, and we bought our 'souvenirs' from them, knowing that the money would be supporting their household that week.

The open door of their too-small-for-eight 'house'.

By this, our second day on the build site, we were pretty used to our surroundings - including the animals: the chihuahua puppies in the all-too-small cage, the larger dog held on an all-too-short lead, and the flies that would not leave the entrance of the house alone! Putting our used toilet paper in a bucket so that it didn't go down the baño had become second nature and climbing down the 10ft makeshift 'double ladder' was no longer a challenging task. It was fact: we had settled in.

Just as soon as we were feeling slightly comfortable, Emma and myself (Amy) leapt at an opportunity to experience yet more unknown surroundings. It was time for Kids Club day one.

"Pato, pato, ganso"

As it was the first club of the week there were only a few children around before word got out. This meant that to start with we had more than one volunteer per child. So Emma and I stepped back and chatted to a lady from Amor. She taught us how to ask an older lad, who looked about 15, what school year he was in. Emma tried it out loud a few times before approaching the young boy and asking '?dónde está mi piña?' The confusion on his face scared Emma into asking again, this time she altered the intonation in her question. An even more confused look arose on his face as he realised she actually had asked where her pineapple was the first time. Much to Emma's distress we all found it extremely funny. Emma then learnt how to say sorry and the lady from Amor explained to the boy that she had played a trick on Emma. He laughed along too.

There's so much more to kid's club than we could ever put into words. Each individual child brings a story so precious. A little girl was sat making bracelets with us out of pipe cleaners and plastic animal-shaped beads. She taught us how to say the word for 'hippopotamus' and then threaded one onto her masterpiece. Once she'd finished the bracelet she took my arm and tied it on, signalling for me to keep the present. How amazing it is that we can give so much to children who have so little and they find joy in giving back. It wasn't about material objects for her; it was about making me smile, that's what made her happy. Wow. She really gets it.

They did it! Slab complete.

Upon returning to the build site we found an impressively smooth completed slab and some very tired and happy teammates! Emma and I had been fortunate enough to visit 3 of the 4 other builds which had really shown us how tough everyone's sites were and gave us another boost to keep pushing forward to complete the house in the time we had left.

The post-build discussion swayed towards the Camp Ronald decision. The Camp Ronald (as in Ronald McDonald) dates back to an old mistake made one year on ReBuild involving a lot of hungry kids and an under-staffed McDonald's. Since then Urban Saints have found a Camp Ronald at the end of each ReBuild trip. This year they decided that each build team should nominate someone for this title at the end of every day. Each nominated Ronald then had to play the pie face game. 

Day two's Camp Ronald from King's Furnace was Sam.

Sam's Pie Face.

Sam saw a pile of clothes in his tent and thought that they would make a comfortable seat. Comfortable though the seat may have been, his suitcase below was now broken. Unable to close or zip the suitcase back up he panicked that he wouldn't be able to take anything back home on the plane with him. Classic Ronald.

*Later that week his suitcase was fixed and he didn't have to leave all of his belongings in the Mexican desert*

Day 3 is when the build really came together, and we've got a time lapse video coming your way in the next post. Stay tuned...

To read the next blog post about Mexico, click here.

To read our first Mexico 2016 blog post, click here.
To read our second Mexico 2016 blog post, click here.

Guest post written by Amy | Girl With A Dream

ReBuild Mexico 2016 II

"We love you Furnace we do... Kings Furnace we love you!"

If you haven't read our first post about Mexico, you can find that here.

"ReBuild Mexico was, hands down, one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was amazing to be a part of a group of young people (and some not-so-young people) who all wanted to make a difference in people's lives..."
- Samuel Houghton

Upon returning to the campsite on our first build day we ran straight to the shower block. Standing around us were four large concrete walls wearing large old, rusted hooks. We lifted our showers onto the loop of metal and hoped not only would the shower hold up but that it would be warm too.
As cold water trickled down our backs, we felt all hopes of a warm and powerful shower wash away.

Our solar showers.

Filling up our solar showers was a whole different experience altogether. We approached some large cylinders of water with apprehension, finding them to be filled with dead bugs and dirt. As we walked back to our tents, with our now-full solar showers, we discussed where best placed they would be to catch the most of the sun, hoping for a warmer shower tomorrow than the one we had just experienced.

Solar shower fill up station

Thoughts of the build site facilities flashed through our heads. Witnessing the Mexican family's bathroom at our build site each day, how could we complain at our solar showers? We each had our own shower full of water that, though filled with bugs and dirt, had been treated with chemicals. While we were only 5 solar showers away from the more-than-comfortable hotel shower, we knew that many people live like this all of the time.

Almost simultaneously the yellow circus tent felt like home: our very own lounge, the food tasted good: you'll eat almost anything when you're hungry, the tent pod felt comfortable: our very own bedrooms, and the baños were no longer scary: the smell was dulling too.

Campsite baños.

"The baños at the campsite were not quite what I expected. It was an experience I will never forget, I'll tell you that. They were Portaloos without any plumbing. Instead of flushing, you just let gravity take over. Every bit of human waste fell 12ft below you. It made me realise how priveleged we are just to have a flushing loo. Some people who are in poverty don't even have the luxury of having privacy. It just makes you realise how lucky we are to have things like plumbing and running water."

- Becca Walters

On went the worship music, down went the sun, out came the campfire under the stars, and off we went to bed. An early morning was fast approaching...

Check back here for more soon. We've still got the building experience to cover and we haven't even told you about the camp Ronalds yet!

If you missed our last post about Mexico you can find it here.

To read our next Mexico post, click here.

Guest post written by Amy | Girl With A Dream