Introduction from Sarah Smith:

To quote one of our partners in Guatemala, when celebrating with Habitat, “It’s never a party hat, it’s always a hardhat.” This week our group celebrated our love of Habitat’s mission by donning hardhats and working alongside Habitat Guatemala staff and 13 wonderful homeowners. 

Twenty-three Global Village Trip participants convened at the Guatemala City airport on Sunday afternoon, March 9th to support Habitat Charlotte Region’s tithe partnership with Habitat Guatemala. The travelers were met by three Habitat Guatemala staff, who were to quickly become the group’s trusted leaders and friends. 

Everyone loaded onto two buses and made their way to a nearby Habitat office for an orientation and presentation about the typical work done by Habitat Guatemala and their involvement across the country.  

Habitat Guatemala has impacted more than 1,000,000 people over their 45-year history with an array of housing solutions. One of their current projects is “100,000 floors to play on.” This is a partnership effort across Latin America and the Caribbean to replace dirt floors in kitchens and sleeping rooms with concrete. The various health concerns caused by dirt floors drive this initiative to protect children and other vulnerable populations. Habitat Guatemala plans to build almost 20,000 of these concrete floors by 2028. 

Late afternoon, the group rounded out their travel day by heading to their hotel in the historical Antigua Guatemala (Antigua), where they would spend most of their time when not on the work sites. 

On Friday, since the group was not working on construction activities, it was a day for a cultural learning experience. Everyone walked a short way from the hotel to a local cocoa shop for a discussion on the history and lore of cocoa in Guatemala and a chocolate-tasting and chocolate-making experience. Following that, the group attended a celebration at the home of the community leader near where the concrete floors were being made. The community came together to honor the work being done and all the people who make it happen. The joy and energy of the event was a perfect way to wrap up the week. 

Reflection from Amia House: 

While on our way home from the build day, we played a round of “Therapy Cards,” which were graciously provided to us by Susan Flynn to “lighten” our rides from Chimaltenango and Antigua. While I can’t remember the question that elicited his response, Cliff Diehl said, “I’m not special.” I believe we were talking about what motivated us to volunteer at Habitat Guatemala, and those words really stuck with me. At the base of it all, one thing I learned about the group of people that I volunteered with was that sometimes, and especially now, we were simply good people doing good work. And I don’t mean good work in terms of good quality, but good work in that we were simply motivated by the mission of Habitat to provide a decent place to live. None of us are special, but the call to be good stewards of our resources and our physical ability to be there and do the work, that’s what is special.  

That was my biggest takeaway from my week of service with Habitat Guatemala. People are both the reason and catalyst of Habitat. Of course, it is instantly gratifying to hand mix concrete, pour buckets into a room, and create a floor. But it was more gratifying to hear about the network of people that made this opportunity possible. We learned about the community of volunteers who, for years, have worked with Habitat Guatemala to identify the needs of their neighbors. Masons who have worked with Habitat Guatemala for years guiding volunteers, and who sometimes donate their labor on behalf of the families in acceptance. And lastly, the amazing staff who work tirelessly to make trips like this possible, coordinating everything from travel and meals to bingo cards that kept us busy while waiting for dinner. With Habitat’s goal of pouring 100,000 concrete floors in Central America, I truly believe that is achievable simply from what I experienced in my week of service with Global Village and Habitat Guatemala.