A Lull in the Action: La Copa Mundial - Americans vs. Salvadorans!

1/2/2013

"I hope you come to find that which gives life a deep meaning for you. Something worth living for - maybe even worth dying for. Something that energizes you, enables you to keep moving ahead. I can't tell you what it might be. Thats for you to find, to choose, to love."
- Ita Ford

Today I returned to Ciudad Arce to continue working on the schoolhouse. When we got there, there was a young mother and her two sons that had already begun digging a new trench. It was really nice to see their commitment to the project and the community - it made me feel like the work we were doing was appreciated and that the community was excited about making the school a better place for the children. However, when we arrived the children were waiting for us, and I jumped right into playing soccer with them. All the boys from Monday with the exception of Elias returned, and a few new boys came as well. Gerardo, who was 10 (the same age as Kevin and Irving) as well as Tony, Milton, and Negro who were 13 and 14 years old, came to play. Tony was really good, and was wearing a Ciudad Arce jersey with his name on the back. I'm not sure if he plays for the high school team, or if he is on a professional team for the town, but he had some amazing moves. He was really good when he played with the younger boys, he always gave them a chance to have the ball. But when one of the older boys or one of us volunteers went to challenge him, he would flip the ball behind his back, up in the air, or wherever he needed to in order to keep it out of our reach! I wouldn't be surprised if someday I see him on TV! He was good enough at age 13 to make any U.S. college team, in my opinion.
We played straight from 9:30 until 3:30 when we were pulled off the field by the other volunteers to get on the bus and go home! I was absolutely exhausted, but had so much fun. We even took a break at one point and I taught them how to play basketball. None of them had any idea how to dribble or make a basket, and I had a ball trying to teach them to shoot, dribble, and bounce-pass! It was nice for once to be the one scoring on them, not the other way around! Daniel began giving me lessons on how to do fancy soccer moves, in exchange for me teaching him how to dribble a basketball between his legs.
After lunch, Don Miguel and Joaquin played with us. All the volunteers were on one team, and all the El Salvadorans were on the other. We started calling it the "World Cup," and crammed at least 30 people on to the tiny court. It was utter pandemonium, and we got totally creamed, but it was so much fun to be out there laughing and falling down and making fools of ourselves with the kids. The boys remembered me from Monday, and seemed excited that we had come through on our promise and returned. They liked saying all of our American names, and started coming up with Spanish nicknames for some of us. It made me sad to see that many of the boys were wearing the same clothes as on Monday, and many only had crocs or flip flops to play in. One boy didn't have shoes at all. Tomorrow I will probably go to the other site, and I am excited to go see the house that the other group is working on in Las Delicias. I will miss the soccer boys in Ciudad Arce though! They have become very special to me, and I will be sad to say goodbye to them on Friday.
I didn't end up doing much work on the schoolhouse today because I was playing with the kids, but Lynnette explained to us in the bus on the way home that playing and working with the kids in the community is just as important as the construction project, because it builds trust and camaraderie between the people in the village and Project H.O.M.E. If the people in Ciudad Arce realize that we are nice people and look forward to us coming back, the more likely it will be that the community members will be receptive to helping out with the project and maintaining the site once it is complete. Half of our job is to build schools, community centers, and houses, and the other half of our responsibility is to build relationships with the community members. However, the schoolhouse is coming along well. Almost all 4 foundation trenches have been dug for the first classroom, and all the grass has been cleared from the site.
Tonight after dinner we watched the Oscar Romero Hollywood movie. It was really interesting, although the story was a bit dramatized. After reflection I fell in bed, exhausted from so many hours of soccer!

Hasta luego,

Julia Marie