Monday,
May 12th
At around 3 pm this afternoon, I missed
carrying around by baggage in the train, which was the most tiring job of
yesterday; little did I know that my bags would feel like feathers when
compared to the myriad sizes of wooden planks I had to carry today. After a
tiring road trip that made us go from bus to plane, then to another plane, a
six or eight hour long slow and monotone train ride, and a final bus ride in
that felt like a rollercoaster, we had a good night sleep. I thought that
yesterday was tiring, but after todays work under the cold breeze, I am certain
that I will sleep like a baby.
When we first got next to the house,
everyone immediately found a job and started working. We were all so excited to
use the tools that were in our hands that I remember when Marius, one of the
family members who will like inside the house we are helping to build, was
trying to explain what to do, our hands were automatically repeating his
actions. I was so concentrated and devoted that with amazing speed and technic,
I took off about twenty pieces of wood in what felt like five minutes. But
afterwards, I had to help take of the wires or the horizontal wood pieces,
which were both very hard tasks that either needed great skills or decisive
strength; I had neither. So, I started
to carry the pieces of separated woods and carried them on the cart. I would
get Emma or Deniz to load the wooden planks on my arms that were open and ready
to receive the pieces: perfect 90-degree angle, open hands, arms tight and
strong. I would always say: “Put on some more, I can carry more!’’ and I would.
This ‘beast mode’ as we call it, went on for about two to three hours. Then, I started to feel the sweat of
excitement turning into sour muscle pain. I still wanted to do as much as I
could, but when I tried to pull of five different woods nailed into concrete,
and none of them kneel down, I gave up. For a long period of time, I would
carry newly separated pieces of wood onto the carrier. Whenever I got tired, I
would with either chat with Viviana or be amazed at Marius’s never ending power
was drawn from undying willingness. During the last hour and a half, that was
what I did while I was watching the guys trying to complete a room’s work while
Marius was already done with two other rooms.
But after all, his dedication comes from
his hopes and dreams. He is, at the end, going to live here with his family. He
will be living his greatest memories inside this house, with the people he
loves the most. He is working this hard, just because he loves his family so
much. And us, we aren’t just helping him build a concrete house; we are helping
him build his abstract life. With last year’s group’s on one side, and a
completely green land with cows and dogs on the other, I stand on the concrete
base of a house, which is one the most basic need of a human being, that many
in our dreadful world cannot have. One foot on a wall, the other on the next
one after the gap in between, I ask myself: will the gap between the poorest
and the richest get smaller if the work together?
Tuesday,
May 13th
With the sun in the sky, we put away our
sweaters and wore our short-sleeved shirts while getting ready to work. But
before going to the construction site, we visited a local elementary school. We
attended the fourth grade’s class and watched them shoot smiles at us. They had
prepared hand made cards with quilling art on them; and their parent also had
prepared hand made baked goods.
After taking pictures, dancing, and
listening to Deniz play the violin, we walked between the streets of the
village to go to the Habitat office. Today, there were two jobs we had to do:
shoveling and removing nails from the wooden planks. They both required a lot
of patience, which is something I lack. After shoveling for half of the day,
and not feeling like the mud pile was going to ever finish, I started pulling
nails out. That also did not feel like it would be completed. I hope tomorrow
I’ll have some more patience.
Wednesday,
May 14th
When we arrived
at the site, I was very eager to work. Even though my wrist was hurting, I
immediately started removing left over nails. Michaela and Marius,
representatives of the two families that would be living in the duplex house we
were building, had lined up the wooden planks from the previous day. After
seeing that, I was motivated to do some more work. We finished all of the
longer planks and I felt extremely satisfied.
Later, I
went to the construction site to help with the shoveling. By the end of the day
-or actually by lunch, we had completely filled in two rooms and were half way
through the second pile of mud. Today was much more satisfying since I felt
content with the work we had done.
Thursday,
May 15th
Neither the
weather nor the puddles of muddy water around the duplex today were convenient
for us to continue shoveling. So, Viviana gave us an alternative job. We were
to start and complete on the interior isolation of the floors of the two rooms
in each house that last year's group worked on. I was excited for this new job
because I had had enough of shoveling.
We started the
day with a minute of silence for the people of our nation we had lost in Soma.
Although this created a negative mood for us, it created the determination to
work. When we went into the house, I remembered how I felt when we visited our
new house at the end of first grade. The construction was not remotely
completed yet. There were pieces of stone all around the house. We had gone to
decide on the room assignments. I tried to look at the guy who was going to
live here-I think his name was Marcus- to see how he was feeling at that
moment. After all, he was finally going to get the live in the house he had
been building hope on.
With the remembrance of that happy
feeling I got, I started learning the application process of the concrete on
the styrofoam. Marcus showed us an example at the beginning. The more I did,
the better I got. This might sound like an obvious and simple statement but it
meant a lot to me. Because building on the skills that I had, or actually just
learned, helped me realize that in life, we can always learn a new skill, new
information, or even a new feeling from anyone, no matter if he or she is a
teacher, a worker or an organizer. The more technical movements I made while
spreading the concrete, the more I felt satisfied with the work I was doing.
Then, when I saw the pile of mud laying outside, I realized that we had gone
through a lot of it even though it did done feel like it at the time.
Overall,
I know that what we have unconditionally done had helped four other families
that need this financial and spiritual support. I am so glad I got to be a part
of the rejuvenating experience.
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