Team 2 - Common Hope

Our day started with several group members going to San Juan Del Obispo with a Social worker to visit 4 different homes. We were able to see how the people live here, their families and the structure of their homes.  For the most part the homes are constructed of multiple fabrics of metal, cement, wood and bamboo shoots and the floors were typically dirt. Cooking was done over open fires and sinks were used for washing clothes. The families take great pride in their homes and they showed warm hospitality.

The homes are close together and it is common for the children to move between the homes. The social worker assisted the family in health education and the resources available to them through Common Hope. 

In the afternoon we got a tour of the Common Hope campus and learned a lot more of all the services they provide to the surrounding communities. We painted wooden cars that will be Christmas gifts for the children of Common Hope.

One of the groups met a family that include two children who received help from Common Hope. The family is so proud because their oldest daughter just graduated from high school last year. The other boy entered ninth grade yesterday. He is very shy and his grandmother was encouraging him to spend more time at Common Hope. It was very cute because he kept blushing and rolling his eyes when his grandmother talked of how proud she was of him. It must be universal for teenagers to roll their eyes at their elders.  

While the morning group went out with the social workers, another group stayed back and worked with Felix in the construction shop. We took a ride in the back of a beat up Kia pickup truck up the side of the mountain.  We all held on very tight through eight different switchbacks and eventually made it to a site where they were leveling the ground to build a new one room home. When we returned to Common Hope we put together walls for the home and were able to show off our carpentry skills.