We soon learned the reason why we needed to double bag the groceries,after getting as close as we could to the dock to head for Stone Island, we had to walk all the bags a couple of blocks to the boat. After getting to Stone Island another line quickly formed to get the bags from the boat to the waiting taxi. A third time being placed in the community centre, needless to say the double bagging was a must. We then broke into teams of 4 and headed out around the community to hand out the tickets for the food bags. The families arrived shortly later to get thier bag.
After a quick lunch we got to work painting and digging a hole. We even had Rob H be the Project Manager to over see the progress, so we felt right at home still. The guys who volunteered to dig the hole for the light post had to move rocks first, about a city block away, to neighbour that needed them for some sort of construction job. The rest of us started painting for the afternoon. I felt right at home at the top of a ladder doing trim work. We were able to paint 3/4 of the inside of the community centre before we ran out of paint. This community centre has seen a lot of progress since last year. Last year it only had a roof and was open all around. This year, it is all closed in, kitchen being tiled, and bathrooms with running water.
We of course also played with the kids, soccer balls and badminton racquets were a hit. Chris, Warren and I made a side trip to see Chewy a young boy that has Muscular Dystrophy that hung out with us last year, but was unable to do so this year as he has a broken foot.
On the walk back to the boat kids were asking when we would be back, we unfortunately had to tell them next year, but that we were looking forward to playing with them again.
Lisa
1 comment:
The visit to Stone Island was an amazing experience for me. It was stunning to see the conditions in which people live on this dirty, smelly barely inhabitable outcrop in the busy harbour. The massive cruise ships docked at shore were an ironic backdrop to the tiny, shoddy tar-paper shacks we peered into while handing out vouchers for the groceries. Apparently, the island (it's actually a man made peninsula) had been the place where the diseased or dejected were confined, and now it's home to Mexico's forgotten families. It was a great feeling to look someone in the eye who isn't used to getting a free hand-out in life and to see how grateful they can be for a plastic bag of staples -- things like cornmeal, rice, tomato sauce, pasta -- that are abundant in most of our pantries. It was sad to leave. -Rob H.
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