Only in Guatemala will you find a Fireline of motivated volunteers the ideal way to transport 20+ wall panels up a rural mountainside. In preparation for home construction last week, the PLAY it Forward Sojourners got a unique opportunity to be part of a community Fireline comprised of 40+ global volunteers.
The day started with a trek up the mountainside with small panels where we were able to catch a glimpse of what we had in store. The foreman divided the volunteers into teams of two, each assigned a post approximately 100 from one another. To my surprise, several teams were requesting the steepest, most difficult sections of the hill!
The Fireline volunteers ranged in age from 16-60 and were from all parts of the world: the United States, Guatemala, Australia, Germany, Holland, Sweden and France. For this brief moment in time, this unique group of individuals banded together with one common goal, to get construction materials up a mountain for a family they’d never met.
When the Fireline began, large wall panels and aluminum roofing sheets were passed up the mountainside, one team to the next. Little by little, everyone working together, all the materials arrived at their final destination on the family’s land. In the midst of the activity we were passed by local men and women carrying 100 lb bags of concrete up the same mountainside supported only by a strap around the forehead. It gave us a new appreciation for the manual labor locals are forced to endure just to survive the everyday demands of their life. In only three hours time, our team of volunteers had accomplished what would have taken a smaller group days, or maybe weeks, to accomplish.
The definition of community is “a unified body of individuals”. The Fireline was a perfect example of just how effective a community can be.
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