Habitat para la Humanidad

Huite Colony,

Zacapa, Guatemala

March 2009

Guatemala is a country in Central America.

It is a beautiful country.

Lots of different fruits and vegetables grow in the warm climate…

and the cacti grow as tall as trees.

some really cool buses…

there are mountains and lakes…

Most of the people there are Catholic, like us…

But they are very poor,

and they don’t have a lot of the things that we take for granted…

like running water for washing clothes or dishes…

or a nice soccer field to play on…

or a strong home to protect them.

A lot of their homes are made of dirt mixed with straw, and then hardened in the sun…

but there are lots of earthquakes in Guatemala…

and sometimes the houses collapse or the walls start to crack.

The children go to school like you…

but their schools are not as well-equipped as ours…

and a lot of them don’t have money for uniforms.

Compared to them, we have so much.

So Habitat for Humanity decided to help the people, and build stronger houses for them.

We decided to help,

so we went to Guatemala too.

We made new friends…

and met some old ones from last year…

We got to meet some of the children…

- these are some of the children who received all the socks you collected -

Then we headed to our site to meet the family we would be

helping to build their home.

When we got there, the foundations were already laid…

So we gathered our tools, and set off to work.

The work was tough and it was very hot …

but some helpers came around to spray us with cold water…

and we got a lunch-break, and some time to rest.

At the end of each day we could see how much progress we’d made.

We worked hard…

and had some fun too!

The walls got higher…

We made more friends…

And soon we were ready to start putting on the roof!

Our family was very happy with their new home…

they gave us each a friendship bracelet to remember them by…

And we promised to come back next year!

to be continued…

March 6-13, 2010