Shaping leaders, driving results.

Travel and Country Music - 2/28/2009

It’s hot and muggy when we step off the plane in San Pedro Sula, Honduras.  Our contact, Jennifer, meets us at the airport.  She’s with the Peace Corps and will serve as a liaison between our group and Habitat for Humanity, and will work with us at the site all week.  During the 3 hour drive west from San Pedro Sula and La Ceiba, where we’re going to be spending our next couple days building, we attempt to communicate with our driver who speaks very little English, and listen to his favorite type of music, old-school American country music.  It’s surreal seeing the bright colors of the buildings, the tropical vegetation and the landscape of Honduras with the country music in the background.

First Day at the worksite - 3/2/2009

It’s raining on our first scheduled day to go to the worksite, so instead, we pick up some supplies like work gloves, and then visit one of the communities that is being helped by Habitat for Humanity in the area with their refurbishing efforts.  The two women there tell us how happy and thankful they are to have the help of Habitat, and how many improvements have been made to their homes.  There is a lot of poverty in this country and it is saddening to see some of the conditions of the homes.  After lunch, it has stopped raining, so we go to the worksite and take a look around.  There’s a foundation that’s maybe a foot above ground outlining where the walls are supposed to go.  There are some bricks maybe 100 feet away by the dirt road, which are clearly for building up the walls.  We get to work immediately moving the bricks from the road to the worksite.  The two ex-Navy guys on our team, Dan and Chris G., organize a daisy chain. 

Later on at dinner, Liz and Chris do a formal demonstration of proper daisy chain procedure.  After that Gustavo, the Habitat coordinator in La Ceiba, introduces us to Glenda, the woman for whom we’re building the house.  She’s struggling to take care of her parents, who are both ill, and making ends meet with her used clothes business.  You can tell that she doesn’t want to say too much for fear of getting too emotional.  The mood is lightened when we all celebrate the beginning of the week together by dancing and experiencing some of the local culture with some Garifunas who have come to play some music for us and show us their traditional dance. 

We’re geared up for more work for the rest of the week to help Glenda!

Cheke Leke – 3/3/2009

Today we meet the site foreman, Don Antonio, and some of his workers as well as his son Josué, who is 16 years old and stronger than any two of us combined.  Don Antonio is tough, and even more so because he will tell you what to do, in spanish, even though you may not know any spanish.  We made good use of the few in the group who have Spanish speaking skills like Rick and Chris H.  We are all somewhat equipped with some of the “lingo” that we learned at dinner the previous night, like “cheke leke” for OK or “cemento” for cement.  The sun is hot and we have to take frequent water breaks and sunscreen breaks, but we are all sweaty and dirty and loving it!  I’m especially pleased by the attitude of everyone on the worksite.  Everyone wants to lend a hand or figure out a way to help.  And no one is shying away from the hard work.  Some of us were down the road, shoveling dirt into wheelbarrows which others were wheeling up a small hill to the worksite.  Others helped Don Antonio build the walls and mix cement.  During lunch, some of the guys in our group played football with some of the workers and kids on the worksite.  It is great to see people from our group interacting and making connections with the Hondurans. 

Sunburns, bruises, sore muscles and smiles – 3/6/2009

By the fifth day of working, we’re all used to getting up early and being ready to leave for breakfast at 7:15am.  Our driver has switched from country to 80s ballads.  We are serenaded by Phil Collins and Stevie Wonder on the way to the worksite every morning!  This is the last day and we move a lot of gravel, trying to fill in the foundation to three bricks high, and put some finishing touches on the walls.  Gustavo, the director of Habitat for Humanity in Honduras, arrived at 4 pm as we were finishing our work.  He was accompanied by Glenda, the woman for whom (and with whom) we built the house.  I remember us being quite sweaty, dirty, and bug bitten.  Gustavo gathered us around the house and delivered an elegant and moving speech to celebrate our work.  Speaking in spanish with Jennifer our fearless Peace Corps volunteer translating, Gustavo breathed life into the cement blocks surrounding us.  The unfinished walls were transformed from mortar and cinderblocks into a home for Glenda.  He said that he hoped Glenda would love the house the way that we had loved it and that she would care for it as we had.  He wished her parents recovery from their health ailments and he said that he hoped she would soon fill the house with children.  It was incredibly powerful and I remember looking around at the dozen people in our team and just feeling really good.  I was impressed at what we had accomplished and how we had come together as a team.  I was also happy to part of a project so utterly vital as giving someone a house, something that we often take for granted in the United States.

UNC Honduras Team

Quotes from some of the team:

“I felt like my trip to Honduras really made me “deserve” my spring break.  Working on the house was hard work, but it felt good at the end of the day to be tired and dirty and proud of what we did.  Working with the Honduran contractors was one of the best parts of the week.  They spoke no english, and I spoke almost no spanish, but we learned to communicate with each other with hand gestures, pointing and picking up words they would teach us.  Overall it was a tremendous experience and I am looking forward to returning next year.” – Janelle Veldman

“The Habitat for Humanity experience in Honduras was an amazing opportunity to give back to the global community and also to practice leadership, team work, and cultural understanding.  It was hands down my favorite 10 days this year!” – Liz Paxton

“I have no doubt that I will look back on our trip to La Ceiba, Honduras as one of the most memorable parts of my MBA experience at UNC Kenan-Flagler.  Above all, I am extremely proud of the hard work our team put into making Glenda’s home.  On a personal level, I was thankful to have an opportunity to really engage with the locals and gain a deeper understanding of the Honduran culture.  I can’t wait to return next year!” – Micaela Maxwell

“The two best moments of the trip for me were the first and last moments we spent on the worksite.  On the first day, the team formed a block transfer line and instantly started bonding under the strain of the cinder blocks.  I couldn’t hold back a smile as I observed this group of MBA students from around the world being transformed into a tight-knit team.  On the last day, as we stood beneath the completed walls that we built during the past week, our team had grown to include the future home-owner as well as several Hondurans from around the neighborhood.  My connection to my fellow MBA students, our new Honduran friends, and to the world never felt stronger.”  - Dan Sowder

“Some of my fondest memories of the trip will be of the children who demonstrated perfectly the warmhearted disposition of the Hondurans.  One specific memory was being greeted, when we arrived at one of the communities, by children excitedly chanting “Gringos! Gringos!” with one wide-eyed boy selecting me as the recipient of a hug that I will never forget.” – Suzi Mahrt