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Learning how to make a hole in the ground for the posts of the fence featuring Jo Jo, local contractor, Ray, and Skarleth

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Lifting and moving rocks featuring Quiana and Noelle.

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Group effort in making hole in the ground featuring Kai, Brandon, Duyen, Chauncie, Aiva, Eugen, Anne, and thr pastor.

Greetings friends, family, and future Glimpsers!

Our names are Jo Jo Wu and Chauncie Yu. We were the leaders of the day, we were in charge of CAP (Community Action Project) Day 1. Today, the delegation was able to accomplish part of the community project that is located at the Hope Center in Sor Maria. The proposed projects were building a fence, installing a rain collector, and if possible, adding a learning center to the church.

Our day started with an enthusiastic wake up call to our fellow delegates, courtesy of us. The delegation prepared themselves for the day and quickly devoured their breakfasts due to the excitement and anticipation of being able to do the CAP. Sadly our schedule was delayed and we were unable to leave the hostel on time due to some complications. After the issues were solved, we set off for our journey to Sor Maria. Three selected managers (Paige, Michael, Siale) left with one of the program coordinators later than the rest of the group because they were in charge of buying the required materials for the project.

Once we arrived at the Hope Center, we greeted the director of the Hope Project, Farrel Burton, the local contractors, and the local pastor. After our greetings, we measured the perimeter of the area in which we would be building our fence and we began to organize the group into two groups. One group was in charge of moving a pile of rocks and gravel  from the church to a local house. The other group was in charge of creating the holes for mounting the poles of the fence. We all worked throughout the morning and had a lunch break at noon.

The managers that were on the hunt for materials in Matagalpa arrived to the Hope Center shortly after lunch to inform us that the materials would not arrive until 2 pm. The group continued to work after their meal and was unable to proceed after completing the tasks at hand until the materials arrived. Once the materials arrived, the local workers demonstrated how to make concrete and the delegation was quick to learn the skill and completed the mounting of the fence poles with haste. Once the concrete was set, the delegation cleaned up the area and returned to the hostel.

We arrived at the hostal at around 5pm and had our daily leadership meeting while the rest of the delegation had free time. Dinner was served after the meeting. It was quite delicious, but the portions were slightly minuscule compared to our hearty appetite caused by the strenuous labor we endured throughout the day. The adult leaders of the delegation were dealing with some incidents, so after dinner, we led the nightly meeting with tomorrow’s leaders (Michael and Aiva). And now we’re here typing our nightly blog post:)

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Jo Jo: I really enjoyed being leader of the day with Chauncie today. I was able to see how hard working our fellow peers are when it comes to something they’re passionate about. It really lifted my spirits when everyone was still working their hardest even though they were dripping with sweat and getting blisters from lifting things. I learned that people work best when there’s communication, commitment, and trust. Even though the work we did today took a toll on our bodies, I feel that it’s worth it because we were able to get something done and we were able to strengthen our bonds. We were all so supportive of each other and made sure that those who were feeling under the weather would get lots of love and affection. Our group has grown so much during this trip and the friendships we developed are unbreakable.

Chauncie: CAP Day One has been notoriously known as one of the most disorganized days of the entire trip and it does live up to its name. Today has had its many ups and downs but I got through all of them with my partner Jo Jo and with the support of our delegation. Today’s actions were quite tough on our bodies and minds but our true colors shined through all the dirt and grime. If you didn’t know before, we have quite the astonishing group. Everyone of us was there for each other, not only today but throughout the duration of this entire trip. I’m not only proud to have lived with these wonderful people for the last three weeks but in that course of time I have made true friends.

We miss our family and friends at home, but we are also looking forward to the next few days’ worth of activities and we know that we’ll be able to see everyone very soon. We wish all of the lovely gentlemen in our lives a Happy Early Father’s Day!

-Jo Jo & Chauncie 🙂

 

NOTE TO FAMILIES FROM GLOBAL GLIMPSE LEADERS:

We plan to celebrate our Glimpsers’ homecoming with a midnight trip to Denny’s upon our arrival to SFO. We arrive at 12:10 on Friday, June 26th. Families can arrive around 12:30/12:40 to the baggage claim area of the International Terminal, and we can all meet for an American meal at the Denny’s closest to the airport. The address is 10 Airport Blvd, South San Francisco (6 min away from the airport). We hope you can join us, but understand if you can’t stay up that late!