Sure, the routine of the daily grind behind the computer can at times turn mundane, but with great co-workers, an amiable work environment, and the convenience of knowing when I will enter and leave the office (read: set work hours) the job is enjoyable. Going out into the field every once in a while is always a welcomed break from this routine and, not to mention, exciting as I often plan team trips for months without ever having the chance to meet team leaders in person. The team’s arrival marks the moment when my work is complete and the Field Coordinator (FC) steps up to the dish to dazzle them. The FC will meet the team at the airport and spend the next days with them non-stop orienting them to Guatemala, translating for them when necessary, keeping them safe, and guiding them on the Habitat construction sites.
Within the Habitat family all of us have experience building and traveling with volunteer groups, others obviously more than others, so taking on the role of FC becomes helpful at moments like this when our resources are spread a bit thin. Currently, our seasoned FC veterans are reaching the end of their contracts and making moves back to their home countries. Meanwhile work continues, volunteer teams continue to visit Guatemala, and houses keep going up brick by brick. Hence, in the face of less FCs on staff, I was tasked with leading a team of volunteers as the lead FC, while taking a new Habitat employee under my wing for the week for training.
Things were off to a messy start as Tropical Depression 12-E dumped buckets of rain throughout all of Guatemala. Previously I had weathered the Guatemalan rainy season (or “winter”) without much dismay. Equipped with an umbrella every day in my backpack, it was rather easy to predict the rains, which came nearly each day at the same afternoon hour like clockwork. Sure, there were times it came down quite hard or times it came inconveniently into the night making it hard for my friends and I to enjoy the weekend night life, but since May (start of rainy season), we never had to endure this.
For nearly two weeks straight we were cursed with rains that never seemed to stop. It all seemed so Genesis-like…ok, so maybe I didn’t have to look around for Noah or worry about what time to catch the Ark, but there was a lot of rain. Rains saturated the hilly landscapes and caused mudslides throughout the country. Mudslides on main roads caused havoc for travel. Havoc for travel meant crisis for my co-workers and I. With a team I had previously spent months planning for on their way to Guatemala, I was in a frenzy to relocate them and their build to a safer area of the country free of landslides and road blocks. Miraculously, we were able to arrange a build for them in Santa Rosa, which is traditionally a drier area of the country near the border with El Salvador. However, after settling in for one day it was apparent that while the area didn’t seem in immediate danger, the rains were heavy, the nearby river was rising fast, and the earthquake prone area was still unstable after a decent quake shook the land no more than a month previously. It might not have been a scene from Revelations, but as I drowned in work it all felt very apocalyptic to me.
Anyhow, with all this Tropical Depression business going on, I was once again forced to make last minute changes for my new team coming into Guatemala for a build. Fortunately, having just made similar adjustments for my previous team, the last minute changes were not as hectic the second time around. And just as we planned for the worst, the rains turned off just as suddenly and unexpectedly as they had started. It was as if someone simply turned the faucet upstairs off. We were blessed with perfect weather for the week and, fortunately for my new arrival of volunteers, it was nearly impossible to tell what disasters had stormed through Guatemala just days before.
As I reflected on my hectic week of planning with the volunteers I realized what larger problems now existed for the thousands of Guatemalans affected by the rains. Hundreds of families now had damaged homes or no home at all even. Simple supplies and food now gone. A question I never have to ask myself now raced through the minds of many local families, “Where am I going to sleep tonight?” It all put things into perspective. As I worried about my logistical nightmare planning for the arrivals of my volunteer teams there were problems much more grave and important all around me. We spent the week helping build two new homes for local families and as we did backbreaking labor digging the homes’ foundations I couldn’t help but feel confident that these strong concrete foundations stand a far greater chance of survival in a landslide than the traditional shacks that so many families live in. These Habitat homes are here to stay.
My recent volunteer group on the build site
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