NPRE freshmen Justice Dunham and Benjamin Yoder got back a sense of accomplishment after giving their time and effort in a winter break trip to Guatemala to build homes for residents there.
“I felt like I really changed this family’s life,” said Yoder, who helped build a small house for a single woman with children ages 11, 9 and 7. “It was pretty gratifying.”
Dunham and Yoder spent 10 days in the Central American country as part of a group of 18 College of Engineering students volunteering through ImagininGuatemala, a nonprofit headquartered in Antigua. The organization is dedicated to bettering the lives of the less-fortunate in Guatemala; particularly in the areas of Safe and Affordable Housing, Food and Nutrition Needs, and Education.
Yoder, of Springfield, Illinois, had previously worked on Habitat for Humanity builds in the U.S., but the Guatemalan experience was different. “In building for Habitat, I didn’t ever meet the family, I just did it and left,” he said. “(In Guatemala), I felt much more like I got to know them, and they did not have a house so it was much more impactful for me.”
The mother for whom the house was being built couldn’t be around the worksite often during the day because she need to operate her tortilla stand to support her family. But her children, two boys and a girl, interacted with Yoder, even though he doesn’t speak Spanish and they didn’t speak English.
Yoder’s job involved transporting building supplies to the worksite and mixing concrete. Cinder blocks cemented together formed the first four feet of the 8-foot by 15-foot structures, and wood framing finished out their tops. Each house included a kitchen that was under roof outside, and a 4-foot by 5-foot bathroom addition equipped with a toilet and working shower.
Assigned to another crew, Dunham, of Plainfield, Illinois, worked on a home for a young couple and their month-old child. The couple had been living next door in the home of the man’s parents, which also housed a half-dozen other siblings.
Dunham’s job included cutting rebar, breaking cinder blocks to make them fit, and painting. Experienced in service projects as an Eagle Scout, Dunham saw the trip as a good way to combine volunteering with studying abroad.
Doing the work made him feel confident. “I learned how much knowledge I already had about these important skills that I didn’t know I would be able to do,” Dunham said.
The days started at 6:30 a.m., with crews building until about 5 p.m. But the trip wasn’t all work. The students toured the cities of Antigua and Santiago, and spent time shopping in open air markets.
The students had taken an 8-week course over the fall to prepare them for the trip. But the experience provided its own lessons.
Other than a Bahaman cruise, Dunham had never traveled outside the United States before. He noted the extreme spread of incomes in Gautemala, as many residents of Antigua are wealthy. The journey also was eye-opening for Yoder, who had been to several European countries before.
“All of those in the past were first-world countries; this is the first time I’ve been in a third-world country,” Yoder said. “It’s not like anything I’ve ever seen. I’ve seen poverty in the U.S., but this was much more extreme.
“But the people were so happy,” he continued. “Those kids were always so happy and they didn’t even have a house.
“It was one of the best things I’ve ever done.”