Hello! Today was the second day of CAP, and we started the day at 6:30. For breakfast was our usual toast, eggs, and fruit. We had our daily mental warm-up to start the day with energy and positivity. We then walked to Santa Rosa school, when we arrived we all got split up into 3 groups to take part in painting different sections of the school. Some people painted the inside of classrooms, along with the outside of school walls, behind the restrooms, and in front of the school. Throughout the day we were able to keep our energy high with the help of music, singing, dancing, and joking.

We also made sure to take constant water breaks and even used this time to talk about our tasks and also just continued to joke around with the teacher to keep our spirits up. after the first 3 hours of working, we had lunch which was some delicious beans, salad, rice, and pork made by the lunch ladies who work at the school. after lunch, we still had a bit of free time and a lot of used this time to socialize with each other and also continued to just listen to music and sing to each other, but ultimately we had to get back to work. we were then split into 3 groups again but this time two groups were in charge of painting and one was in charge of plastering a wall near the soccer field.

A lot of us had a hard time trying to keep the plaster from falling off the was but we ended up getting the hang of it and the wall came out looking nice at the end, we even got a compliment from a fellow foreman. after another 3 hours of hard work, we all picked up after ourselves and got ready to head back to the base house, but some of us also went to the fellow mini market next to the school to get snacks (some of us went overboard). once everyone finally arrived home we had a few minutes of downtime before dinner. today for dinner we had salad, beans, rice, and chicken which was really good. we then got ready for our daily nightly meeting and just reflected on our days and hard work.

Shaila – Being a leader today was really fun. Today I was able to interact with others I haven’t really interacted with on a daily basis during the trip. being a leader today has helped me realize how much I enjoy working with a group. the two groups I worked with today honestly made the day pass by quickly. In my first group, I was in charge of painting a classroom which was time-consuming because we had to recoat the walls with paint like 5 times but it did come out looking nice and this experience just made me realize how important it is to be patient. in my second group, I was in charge of plastering a wall which was actually complicated for all of us at first because we had never worked with plaster before. during this task, I had to make sure to keep my composure even tho the plaster didn’t want to cooperate and even as a leader I asked questions because it’s better to ask questions than to do something wrong. Today was just really fun, I feel like I was full of energy today even without taking a nap and just being able to share this energy with everyone I worked with was really fun and enjoyable.

Yoseliin – Being a Leader of the Day today was definitely a learning experience. I was definitely more outgoing today seeing as I had to order people around today, making sure everyone was drinking water and in good health. I learned that in order to get comfortable I have to get uncomfortable and that is what I did today. I interacted with new people I hadn’t really ever interacted with before which made me get closer to a lot of them. Being a leader isn’t just about being in charge, it’s about giving others the motivation and energy to put in the hard work. today was that type of day where everyone made each other motivated and energized to keep up our hard work during our CAP days. I will never forget this experience, I will definitely miss and take these memories with me back home. After all, we all are just little people doing small actions that can change the lives of many.