Tuesday - poured a roof and the girls orphanage

Hi - this is Phil Starr from Trinity United Church of Christ - this is my tenth year coming down to Tijuana with Esperanza International.  This is the fifth year that we have had a joint trip with the College of Wooster.  It is really great traveling with College Students.  They are bright,  full of energy and they ask a lot of thoughtful questions.  I find that I learn through their comments and questions.

Thoughts so far:

Each year when we come down here we see improvements - especially in the roads.  There is still a huge difference between San Diego and Tijuana - especially in the eyes of first timers.  We find new businesses opened and previous businesses closed.

Today we poured a roof near the ocean.  Sorry I am horrible with names and even worse with Mexican names so I don't know the name of the colonial.  It is near Eduardo's house (Eduardo is the construction forman here)!!!   It was a 45 cement bag pour.  Our group plus the group who is sharing the Posada from Provident RI along with a lot of the neighborhood.  The work went quick with all the extra help.  The sense of community down here is amazing.   Tomorrow we are going back to the same colonial and digging a foundation.

This afternoon we rested and the college students sorted and bagged the school supplies and the bags that the Creative Woman's group made.  We also received other donations from other church members.  The workers at the orphanage were very appreciative of the donation.  We plan on donating the remaining bags the rest of the week.  Thank-you to everyone who made bags, donated toys or contributed money.

Tonight we went to the Girls Orphanage.   We spent an hour playing with the girls.  We will post pictures shortly and hope to post a video of them singing.  The girls seem so happy when they are playing.   Nice thing about kids are that they universally have fun with the simplest things - giving piggy back rides, throwing a ball or playing tag.

Esperanza is a good organization to work with.  Eduardo, Riggo, Roberto and the office staff make a good team.  We have a lot of fun with them at the worksite all while working very hard.  The staff want us to have a great experience here - as we work together to improve Tijuana.

I'm going to close for tonight - hard to believe that we have 2/5 of the work done.

Phil Starr