Framing with Love

Today our small but mighty group conquered framing day! Apart from the physical labor under the hot mexican sun, a lot of the time was spent getting to know the kids of the family we´re building for--Esteban, Kimberlene and Jennifer. The father, Romaldo, worked with us for a good part of the day, leveling walls and nailing in studs, while Esteban--age 14 helped the interns put together an interior partition wall. Kim and Jenny, the little girls, showed off their mad jump-roping skills. The kids used the craft kit to make paper crosses and clay roses as gifts for many of the group members. The girls and some of the neighbor children helped make delicious tuna sandwiches for lunch. After eating, the holes were drilled for the nuts and bolts and the the roof was raised.
Upon return to the ranch, several of us hit the beach. After a few rounds of football, and some R and R soaking up the sun, spaghetti was on the menu followed by a heartfelt reflection post-evening prayers. We ended the day with a peaceful campfire and fully inflated air mattresses.
Buenos noches!

Safe and Sound

The post OBT week here at St. Innocent's was quite eventful as we deconstructed our "big-group infrastructure", and we were certainly sad to see all of our volunteers go yet extremely happy at the work that we were able to accomplish together.

Our second-to-last group of the summer arrived safe and sound today, and after an orientation session and a nice afternoon with the boys we had dinner, chapel, and an early evening. Concrete day awaits tomorrow, buenas noches!

Monday, Stucco Day

Today we had a stucco party! After breakfast and morning prayers, we enjoyed our second-to-last quiet time and then split up to tackle a section of the perimeter wall of the orphanage property, armed with stucco hawks, trowels, and cement bags. In healthy competition, we managed to blow OBT 1 out of the water, completing 16 wall sections (compared to OBT 1's mere 11 sections).

After the stucco party we had lunch and then headed down to the beach for some good old-fashioned R&R. We swam, played frisbee and futbol, and in general just had a great time. Later in the evening we had a debriefing session with our site leaders, during which we discussed our goals for the week and how they have been achieved. After dinner and evening prayers, Geoff and Mike led us in our group debriefing, urging us to question how we will take what we have learned and seen this week back home. Add in a splash of Val Yova and a touch of Madi, and overall it was a great debriefing session. After the debrief, the goodbyes and packing began. To echo our final post from OBT 1, we hope that tomorrow will bring safe travels to all of our workers and lead them to carry God's word back home with them.

Sunday at the Ranch

And on the fifth day we rested and played sports.

House Blessings

Another work week has come and gone here at Project Mexico, and this morning we woke up with four houses to be finished and blessed. Stucco day went smoothly on all accounts, and come 2 o´clock Father Michael began to make his way from house to house to lead the services. Each time that Father set up his sawhorse and plywood altar table, the houses began to look complete as every last detail was finished.

At the end of four days of hard work everyone is a bit tired, but we all managed to squeeze into our handiwork for the blessing. It is around this time that we usually begin to realize the magnitude of what we´ve done. During the blessing, tears of joy are not uncommon both from the workers and the family, but it is afterward, when one of the parents begins to thank us as we present them with their keys, that reality hits home. The mother of one of our larger families this week (7 children, ages 3 to 12), tearfully thanked us for giving her a place to safely raise her children, and thanked us for playing with them. She urged all of us to come back and visit their family at any time. We then left our families with this strange and wonderful gift, a house that represents hope for a better life. As we pulled away, however, we felt as though we received a gift as well...a strangely similar hope in a better life. May we cling to this hope and carry it with us as we continue our lives at home.

Another Great Workday

Today is always one of the most gratifying workdays for several reasons:

1. The most visible change occurs, as the house acquires a roof, windows, rough walls, and a door.
2. Everyone likes working up on the roof, except for Pancho of course (see yesterday´s entry).
3. There is no manual cement mixing.
4. It is one of the lighter workdays, and oftentimes groups have a longer afternoon back at the ranch to spend with the boys.


The day went fairly smoothly on all fronts. Several groups were back by 4 pm and were able to relax, take bucket showers, and play some soccer, volleyball, and basketball before dinner. Evening prayers began just as the evening sun was illuminating the sky over the ocean, and were followed by a discussion of the factors that contribute to poverty in Mexico, led by our other favorite Canadian Mike Applegate. Overall, a day well spent.

The Tale of Pancho

4:13 am: The ranch's rooster crows for the first time - ugh. Pancho, our protagonist, sits in his plastic organic animal cracker container with his fellow animal crackers, awaiting the day and wondering what it will bring.
4:14 am: A few disgruntled group members tumble out of their tents, totally confused. Pancho hears them as they begin to stretch and yawn, only to realize that they still have a few hours of sleep to go!

7:00 am: Pancho hears "Gloria al Padre, y al Hijo, y al Espiritu Santo ahora y siempre, y por los siglos de los siglos..."

9:03 am: Pancho's dark house is suddenly flooded with light, as one of the summer interns grabs his plastic organic animal cracker container and loads it into one of the 15 passenger vans.
9:05 am: Wondering why the ride is so bumpy, Pancho observes the 13 workers who are all eagerly putting on sunscreen and hydrating before the beginning of the day.

9:17 am: Pancho and co. arrive at the worksite, and one of the group members who had skipped breakfast in order to catch a shower, opens the plastic organic animal cracker container and grabs a handful of Pancho's cousins, aunts, uncles, and siblings. Pancho narrowly misses being eaten, and ends up on top of the van in his plastic organic animal cracker container with a fairly good view of the worksite.

10:49 am: Pancho watches the groups as they measure, saw, and hammer with great enthusiasm, making what once used to be a pile of twobufurs into walls, doors, and windows.

12:14 pm: The site's lunch-maker spots pancho in his plastic organic animal cracker container, and pulls it down to be served with the delicious PB & J lunch.

12:19-12:42 pm: Pancho frantically dives out of the way of probing hands, until he is finally picked up by an older worker with a shirt pocket. A narrow escape ensues as follows: Pancho is about to be eaten, but as he is on his way to certain death by mastication, the worker with the shirt pocket pauses to chat with another worker and Pancho is placed into the worker's front pocket instead - to be saved for later.

3:34 pm: From his shirt pocket perch, Pancho suddenly has an arial view of the colonia as the worker ascends to the roof to help with the bird block placement. Oh no! Pancho realizes that he is scared of heights.
3:35 pm: Pancho gets nauseous.

4:49 pm: Unbeknownst to the worker with the shirt pocket, Pancho rides back to St. Innocent's Orphanage with the weary yet elated group. He himself feels a vicarious sense of accomplishment, as the day began with a slab of concrete which now serves as the foundation for a basic home structure.

5:15 pm: The group member with the shirt pocket sits down on the bench outside the Tiendita, and remembers that he has Pancho in his pocket.
5:15:32 pm: Pancho is eaten, missing out on Fr. Luke Veronis' moving oration on long-term missions. Thus ends the tale of Pancho.

The Love-O-Meter

Yesterday evening, Fr. Michael bade us to dwell on the following: Christ created us to be loved by him, and thus to be like him and share his love with others. Today we poured a concrete slab with hand mixed materials, which ranks a 9.3 on the love-o-meter.

The day began with morning prayers and a hearty breakfast of beans and soy (as per usual). We then piled into our colossal white vans and took to the dirt roads, slowly winding our way into the colonia and dispersing to our respective work sites. After meeting the families and a brief prayer (again!...we love it), we began leveling the land and pouring cement. A few hard hours of work and many animal crackers later, we drove in the last of our anchor bolts and smoothed off the last corner of our foundation. JOB DONE!

We returned to bucket showers and a dinner of beans and soy (again!...we don't love it as much as prayer, but it's good), and following prayers we settled in to hear one of our two favorite Canadians, Geoff Bray, discuss why we come to Mexico of all places, to help the poor. Now we're off to bed and looking forward to framing day en la manana! Buenas Nachos.

Arrival Day OBT2!!

It was with Open arms and giant smile that the group leaders and staff of Project Mexico welcomed all 105 trip participants to St. Innocent Orphanage. Thankfully everyone arrived safe and sound, albeit tired from a day of traveling. The activities began with a brief orientation and tour of the orphanage facilities, which encompassed the history of St. Innocent, how we were started as an organization, the history of some of our boys, and of course lots of guidelines to keep in mind when interacting and living in a foreign culture. After everyone was settled, dinner was served and we settled into our 'cathedral' ...actually a large tent, which serves as the chapel, for evening prayers and a talk with Fr. Michael Nasser about what we can expect to be happening in our hearts for the next 7 days. On that note, we all settled in and slept in our cozy cozy tents. Buenos noches!