Farewell Habitat Chile

Today concludes our build with Habitat. The entire team was together at Cristobal's house. We spent the morning finishing the drywall and painting the house. Everyone was in high spirit with one common goal.  At the closing ceremony in the afternoon, Cristobal's parents expressed their sincere gratitude - a reminder to myself that this was an actual house we were building for a real family.

Finishing the exterior of the house

Break time, after a long day

The most memorable moments of this trip were the ones with the amazing people that I met - Cristobal and his family who strive for the best under difficult circumstances; the Habitat Chile staff who assisted with the building logistics and worked alongside of us; and of course, my fellow Habitat teammates from Canada. I met some amazing people - the 71 year old retired banker aka our daily entertainer, the Torontonian lady on her 7th Habitat trip, our fearless leader who tried his best to organize the activities despite his asthma attacks ... and the list goes on. Particularly, there are 2 individuals who are of great inspirations:

1. Theo lost her beloved husband to cancer a couple of years ago, but today lives her life with tremendous strength and a positive attitude.  We shared a teary moment on the work site when she told me about the best weeks of her life with her husband at the hospital and the surprise Valentine's Day present she received from him after the funeral. In the dusty air, I could feel the love that they shared. Since a dear friend/extended family member of ours is also going through similar chemo treatments for cancer, I was hoping to get some suggestions from Theo.  But the only advice she could offer was to continuously show our love and support for this friend.

2. At our last team dinner, Marty gave an inspirational speech accompanied with souvenirs of pieces of rubbles - The tale of Mother Teresa and finding our own Calcutta.  The message was that this 2-week Habitat trip may not be long enough to make a significant change, but this is only the beginning, the catalyst. Charity work continues at home. Marty is a perfect example - an active volunteer in his community, from Big Brother to Humane Society. He also recently ran for city council in his municipality. As a young person, Marty has the aspirations and the sincerity that are greatly admirable.