Hey everyone!

Today was the first day of our community action project (CAP). We had the opportunity to help out a community of Indigenous people at El Molino. We organized ourselves into three different groups, with them being the mural group, cement group,and communal house group. It was interesting how we all helped eachother out even though we were in separate groups. Though it was a physically demanding day, we all kept great energy and everyone encouraged eachother to work diligently, with everyone having a great sense of humor.

Our delegation decided to work on this project with Cesar, from El Molino, because it allowed us to learn from a small community in the country we’re visiting while also learning the different hardships they experience in their everyday life. We treated Cesar and his community like family because we did not want our services to seem like charity; we wanted to treat them the same way we would want to be treated. Working with them really brought us together like one big family because of how welcoming the community was towards us.

In the five hours we worked there; we were able to repaint the communal house where the community gathers for special events and meetings, transport thirty bags of cement, mix cement, and carry bags of small rocks with the community, as well as priming and painting the ceiling blue in the mural room where the community wants tourists to visit in order to explain their culture and history.

For lunch the community provided vegetable soup, cuy (guinea pig) or fried chicken, salad, and potatoes. After lunch everyone was tired from the hard work so we played an energizer called Bebe, Mochila, Perro en Casa. The objective of the game was for pairs to act out the different words that the Game Master called out without being eliminated, whether it be Baby, Backpack, or Dog in House. In the end, the pair that proved to be the masters of the game were Brandon and Julio. Everyone’s spirits were lifted up and we were able to work for another two hours. It was great being the leaders of the day so now we pass on the torch to Angie, Pia, and Shivani.

Love,

Nickole, Maria, and Ophelia

P.S. I miss you and I’m never coming back (I’m kidding… no I’m not). I love you guys and I’m sorry I haven’t called because I’ve been working on the projects but I’ll call when I can. -Nickole

P.P.S. I guess I miss and love you guys. Especially real fam, funny how only Brendeet commented for me and will you answer your phone Big Brudduh????? -Maria Mos