Casa de Sion

You might have noticed the link in the upper right corner to a blog entitled "Casa de Sion". This is a blog for an orphanage in Guatemala which I will be visiting in July. I'm going with a group of....people (that I don't know) and we'll spend a week and a half there working on whatever projects they give us. I love doing stuff like this so I'm very excited to go. Last March I went to New Orleans with a group from Utah State to work on houses, etc. for Habitat for Humanity. We were able to work on houses in Musician's Village, build bunkbeds at the camp we stayed at, and volunteer at an elementary school the day it rained. Trips like these build memories and priceless experiences - if you every get the chance to go on a humanitarian trip TAKE IT!

Ready to work at Musician's Village. This was a project headed by Habitat for Humanity. The goal is to get the musician's back to New Orleans, to "rebuild" the city. The houses are all built by volunteers, so the purchasing cost is minimal. Notice the bright colors - what an awesome place to live!

Our second working day there, we were asked to build some bunkbeds at the camp where we were staying (Camp Hope). Previously we slept on cots. We began in our room and I think we built about 6 beds that first day (it took a little time to figure out how we wanted them to be built). Our supervisors loved them so much, they asked us to build more the next day. So for two days we built bunkbeds. It was a lot of fun because our group worked sooooo well together - completely drama-free! This is us with the beds that we built.

On the second bunk bed day, we had a huge rainstorm in the middle of the afternoon. It only lasted for about 10 minutes, but it was enough to soak us when we decided to do a rain dance. (The guys in our group didn't participate - they just watched.)

Every volunteer group got to take a little trip to the french quarter (home of Bourbon Street). We went our third night. This is us fresh out of the showers and ready to go.

If anyone is interested in more information about Casa de Sion, their website is http://www.safehomesforchildren.org/