Habitat volunteers reaching "el fin" in Costa Rica

As the sun begins to set on our trip with only one work day remaining, we’re all thinking of where we started and how far we’ve come over the past few days. The things we’ve been working on and the stories we’ve heard and all that we’ve learned. 

We’ve all been working in groups on different projects throughout the build site and we’ve all bonded over reaching “El Fin” (the end) of the first projects we started on Monday. The Miss Minnesota Team, which included Esther, Cher, Mary, Mary Kay, Haidee,Dee, Cristen, Dina (the future homeowner) and also, Jeff, finally finished removing 8 inches of heavy clay from one of the houses. The others were working on digging the septic tank holes and they reached the bottom of the great depths this morning and the crew on the first house began sealing the concrete slabs on one house in preparation for stucco. We all finished our first set of tasks and rejoicing was heard around the build site as the thought of a new task inspired us to keep going. It was a successful morning! 

We also met two new Habitat families – Yorleni and her children and Porfilia and her children. Yorleni’s son,Jackson(age 5), stole the show! He was full of excitement and could be heard happily playing and laughing throughout the build site and he loved playing games with us at break times, like tag and pretending to be a famous super hero, Chapulin Colorado (google him if you wish J).

It was another successful day of family fun, shared laughs and spreading hope. We have one more day of work and we each have a goal in mind that we want to reach before the sun sets one more time. Bring on a final day of digging in clay and a piñata to celebrate with the families Friday afternoon!

--Cristen Incitti, Global Village Trip Leader