Drills, saws, hammers , laughs and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. These were the sounds of team work last week on the San Juan del Obispo construction site in Guatemala.
The first ever PLAY it Forward construction team, comprised of eleven Sojourners, three volunteer foreman, two tour guides and one tour leader, banded together to give one family a three bedroom home and give themselves a new perspective on life.
The intention of this day was to “work as a team”. It was apparent the Sojourners took this to heart as they helped each other, taught each other, assisted each other, teased each other and ultimately shared responsibility.
One hour at a time the walls went up, the roof went on, doors and windows were installed and finishing touches were made. The end result was a beautiful home that the family could not resist moving into immediately following our departure on day one. When we returned on day two, we found the wood pile moved and the unfinished home furnished with beds, stuffed animals and other personal possessions turning this empty house into a home. The family’s actions indicated to the team that the family excitedly worked into the evening celebrating the new addition to their lives.
It’s amazing what a small group of well intentioned individuals can accomplish in just 1.5 days. The lesson learned during this project was that it wasn’t about any one individual or our individual contributions to the project. No matter how much or how little any one person contributed to the actual construction of the home, we built it as a team. In the end it was about working together to improve quality of life for someone else, someone we didn’t even know.
Looking around the construction site those two days invoked a lot of emotion. I was very proud of everyone involved… words couldn’t describe the feeling of connectedness we felt to one another. We went into the project as a team of Sojourners, and came out of it as a family.
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