Our day-to-day lives can begin to feel safe but undeniably mundane. I’m always caffeinated and always on the run. But at the end of each day, I wonder if I’ve accomplished anything worth mentioning. I’m definitely busy, but I haven’t been feeling passionate about my daily routine.
I’m attending community college, and when I’m not in class I pick up a lot of shifts bagging groceries or delivering pizzas. I’m making ends meet, but I’ve been searching for something more meaningful. I have been wanting to serve my community for a while, but I wasn’t sure how to help.
So, when a friend told me about a volunteer program, he’d done through Máximo Nivel, I began to think it didn’t necessarily need to be my community that I was serving. During my spring break, I took the opportunity to sign up for a construction project in Antigua Guatemala.
I was happy to mix things up, and eager to lend a hand. Over the years, I had spackled and painted a few walls with my dad, but I was concerned I would be in over my head. However, the Máximo staff was very helpful, and the local foreman who oversaw our building project was patient and sure to give the other volunteers and me specific tasks.
We spent the week assisting with renovations at a government-project school on the outskirts of Antigua. It was really straightforward and fulfilling to work with my hands for a good cause. I’m really grateful that I chose a construction project because I was able to make a big difference in the short amount of time I had.
It was so rewarding to walk away from the site each evening and be able to see physical progress. Throughout the week, we patched up the school buildings’ tin roofs, repainted some of the classrooms, and repaired damage from flooding the previous season.
Renovating the facilities at a primary school made me realize how often I had taken for granted community spaces that were always kept safe and up to code. In addition to the visible headway being made, creating a more suitable place for children to come and learn each day was inspiring.
Volunteering in the construction sector really made sense to me. You have to be willing to get your hands dirty and break a sweat, but the effects of your work are eminent to the people you’re helping. Repairing buildings is also meaningful for more reasons than obvious practicality.
Schools, houses, churches—they’re not just buildings. They’re gathering places. Apart from the people, infrastructure is what makes a community. Having safe places to congregate brings people together, and then they can begin to face other problems as a united front.
Before refining an education system, you need a welcoming environment where children can come to learn. Mixing cement and cutting plywood can have a much more personal impact on a community than I would have thought before embarking on my trip to Guatemala. Practical help possesses personal effects.
With its marriage of modernized and traditional building methods, Guatemala was also a very unique place to learn about the construction world. Far from the uniform strip malls of New Jersey, Guatemalan buildings might combine drywall and cement with adobe and tin roofs. This merging of modern influence and time-worn techniques spoke to the resiliency of the culture.
The surrounding community was hardworking and resourceful; they made the best of their limited resources day after day. Children still came to school, families gathered for church, everyone put in a good day’s work. My host family was very welcoming, and I always came home to steaming beans and eggs. The family’s eagerness to hear about my day and their contentment with their own routines made me reevaluate some of my own perceptions.
Being bored is such a silly concern, and if I wasn’t fulfilled by my studies or part-time work, I could pursue volunteer opportunities in my own community as well. Only one week away had taught me how uncomplicated and valuable volunteer work could be all at the same time.
For the community I worked with, it was as simple as picking up a paint brush and showing the people around me that I was there to help. As I return to general ed courses and customer service, I don’t want to lose this mindset. What seems small can actually be quite important in someone else’s day-to-day life.
Moving forward, I want to take what I felt in Guatemala and apply it to my life back home. I am even more driven now to become involved in my own community’s outreach initiatives. No matter the project, I’ve come to realize that small gestures can be powerful and develop in their impact over time.
I am so thankful for my opportunity to volunteer abroad. Not only was I working on an actual building project, I also became part of building community. Take a moment to think about your local school or park or community center; public spaces are the foundation of our relationships with the other people living in our communities. Sometimes you just have to show up to show you care.