Sunday, June 03, 2007

I'm back from another AMAZING Habitat for Humanity/Global Village volunteer trip. This year I took on the task of being team leader, which included recruiting, fundraising, organizing and planning a trip with a team of 10 other people. The planning itself almost put me in my grave, but in the end, it was more than worth it! I had an even better trip this year than I did last year!
My team was made up of other ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) living in Mie. We worked in Magarao, outside of Naga City, Camarines Sur Province in the Philippines.
We were building duplex houses out of interlocking concrete blocks. Below our pictures from our work site! Enjoy!


This is the town hall of Magarao, the town where we built.


Team Mie JETs first day on the worksite!


We had a view of the volcano, Mt. Isarog, from the worksite everyday.


Another one of the beautiful views on the worksite.


We rode everywhere in a jeepney during this trip, but this was my first time riding on top. It was awesome!


The beginnings of the foundation of a house.


Stan pounding down the dirt in the foundation.


Cementing the bricks was my favorite job!




One day we got to use the jeepney to transport bricks from one end of the worksite to another. We were all so relieved!


Julie power!


Team Shovel.


Cally wanted a Megan-Stan hug!


English teachers need breaks, too.


All the water we used, including what was needed to flush the toilet, was either brought up from the river in buckets, or pumped.


Stan and Melissa were the water pump stars. Stan even had a pump dance!



Julie and Manny.


Two workers on a roof.


Stan and I on a bicycle cab. Our awesome driver, Mario, pedaled 3 of us over bumpy dirt roads!


Stan and I got along well...for the most part!


Almost everything we did was done in lines. We're passing buckets of cement here.


Buckets of cement are HEAVY!


Laying the cement floor.




Ellen, Stan, and Cally formed Team China.


Maggie and Melissa got jealous, so they formed Team White.


Leo and Katie put together Team England.


On the last day I rode back on top of the jeepney again!

1 comment:

Paul said...

Aww, some of the pictures aren't coming up! But still, how great does it feel to create something for someone?