Do you like to get your hands dirty? Does the smile of a young child touch your heart? Do you share Franciscan values like Solidarity with the Poor, Cross-Cultural Bridge-Building, Justice, Peace and the Integrity of Creation, Simplicity of Lifestyle, Community, Humility, Mission, Ecumenism, and Contemplation? Do you like making new friends and having fun?
If the answers to these questions are yes, then we may just have the service trip for you. St. Francis Builds is a opportunity to explore, live out and reflect upon Franciscan values in the context of a Habitat for Humanity Global Village trip to Latin America.
COCHABAMBA, Bolivia (St. Anthony Messenger) – The Bolivians were a bit baffled, trying to imagine what the gringos were doing in Cochabamba. “We thought, 'Who is going to pay their own expense, for their tickets for the trip, pay for their food, only to come here to help a Bolivian family?'” said Elías Agreda Dia.
Why go? Why go on a Habitat Global Village trip? It changes what you think is important, whether you realize you need that or not. On March 3, I was a shameless National Public Radio-addicted, never-miss-reading-the-Post, inside-the-Beltway journalist, who was a bit relieved that I could theoretically keep up with email and Google news at the many internet cafes in the town where we'd be staying in Guatemala. On March 13, the day I got back to town, I was surprised to realize at noon that although I'd been puttering around the house for nearly three hours, it had never occurred to me to turn on the radio or pick up the newspaper. Later, in the car, I found I not only didn't want to listen to the public radio stations, I was hunting up El Sol, the Spanish pop-rock radio station and choosing to do my laundry where I knew they workers spoke Spanish. It's been a couple of days now and I have had to catch up on news a bit. It's my job. But our experiences in Guatemala still fill my head so that many of the things that used to seem important to me just don't, anymore. I don't want them back, either. Pat Zapor