Building and Connecting Communities, Costa Rica Day 4

Guest Blog by Debbie Campbell, 
Habitat Global Village Team Member 

Community begins in the heart and travels with you. Today was a day of community. We started our day with a journey up to take in the view of the Irazu volcano and what a view it was! It was sunny and cold and windy and spectacular. To see what our earth is capable of doing and what it can leave behind is powerful. The clouds moved fast and cast a  “northern lights” sort of show across the bare sand like side of the walking path and up the side of the creator on the other side. The earth moved for some of us as we walked back to the van – maybe it was the altitude – maybe it was something else. You know you are in good company when there is joy shared at the sight of cows in the road. As many of us have said all week, it is the simplest things, the small blessings that are building this trip in the hearts of each of us.

We arrived on site to continue our build and changes had been made. The trench was to be deeper, there was another construction worker brought in to help us, the job tasks were to be rotated amongst us and there was a party to attend at the end of our day. While all that sounds routine and perhaps even boring as a work day goes, it holds much more significance than you might think.

By Thursday you have taken solid ownership in the work you are doing and it is not easy to trade and to entrust what you started to another teammate. You have linked your heart not just to the tasks you have been doing but to the homeowner Marcella and her son, Heimer. A heart is not as flexible as we would hope, but in our group there is trust, caring, compassion and support for each other – and as required, flexibility.

Our community of volunteers strengthened throughout the day. The trench reached its required depth. The concrete was mixed like a choreographed piece of art. The posts were set with precision and the panels put in place carefully. This work is hard, but building a home in a community is the kind of hard work that keeps you smiling all day.

Our work day ended and we walked down the hill to a party the community was hosting for us. There was coffee, which we took at a table in the home of one of the neighbors. Our very dirty shoes were welcomed in as well. This community is gracious and supportive and joyful. We played a game of hot-potato with water balloons and watched the children enjoy a piñata. Children are the heart of any community and to play and laugh with them and then look up at the home we are building fills our hearts with more love than one could think possible. After much laughing, multiple hugs, picture taking and cake we had to say good-bye, but taking with us the connection to this community.

We came to Cartago Costa Rica as 11 individuals formed to a team to build a home, with community in our hearts and today we connected our community with the community of Marcella and her son. Tomorrow we continue to build with our hearts fuller and with some clouds of sadness moving in as our journey here in this space begins to shift from here. We are present. We are a part of a community. We are grateful.