Elizabeth~

One night, me and Flor went to our aunts across the road for dinner. When we walked in, it was really nice! it was spacious and open. The lights were dimmed and all that was there at the time was my aunt cooking in the kitchen, and my smallest sister Yadida sitting alone in the living room. I walked in and jumped on the couch with Yadi. She instantly hugged me and stayed wrapped around me. Right then i was surprised she liked me being it that i don´t even speak her language and because my other sister never really bothered to talk with me.
Then, i started asking her how to say certain things around the house in spanish, and she´d tell me then i´d tell her how to say them in english. I was so happy to see that she was actually willing to teach me and actually wanted to try to learn some english. Then, i wanted to see what she knew so i´d say somethings in english, like letters, numbers, days, family members and other basic, easy stuff, and i was surprised how much she knew!

She knew all her letters and numbers, months and days, some family members and even some cloths. I was so impressed! Then that night in dinner, she´d say some english sentences like ´thank you for the food´and ´very good.´ I was so impressed with her english! and so happy we had that little bond then and there. She was definatly the closest person to me during the homestay experience, she was like a real sister!
I LOVE YOU YADI!!!!

Rasheed~

One experience that I want to share with you from the two weeks I´ve been in yunguilla is how my homestay family interacts with eachother. What I mean by that is the way they talk to eachother so calm and gently. You can tell that they try to avoid arguments as much as possible. Their all about family, they love and care for eachother and they don´t value money as a way of life. Back on my hometown my family are not all about eachother, were divided into pieces and they always value money as their way of life. It´s a hard life to live and thats why im going to take what my homestay family shared with me and share it with my family so we can be whole again.

Kelsi~

One morning me and my family woke up to start the day. We ate breakfast and got ready to hop on the truck that takes us up to the charcoal ovens. During the ride, my ears were getting really, really cold and they started to hurt so i put on my bandana. We finally arrived to the charcoal ovens and started working. The ovens are on a big hill in the pine forest and they cut down the small trees and stack the up in a nice neat pile and cover them up with dirt. They leave holes under the ovens so they can put fire underneath and they let them burn for days. After 3 or 4 days and the wood becomes coal. Then they uncover the coal and bag it up after making sure its no too hot.

Local Yunguilla Queso

After the morning passed of hard work, we all kind of got restless. And being it that i´m the type who likes to make people laugh, i started putting coal on one of the bags, and there was one piece of coal that was too hot and it started burning a hole through the bag, so i had this crazy idea to put the bag up to my face and peek through the hole and say ´hola!´ and my whole family laughed histaricaly! After that, all day everyone was up lifted and happy.The whole walk home, everyone talked and laughed and copied what i did, and they´re still talking about it today. Now when me and mama see each other, we say ´hola!´

Andrew~

Its the first day in yunguilla and all of us were going to meet our families. Getting nervous but also excited, my homestay and I were sent with the Morales family. I wondered how my homestay family and home was going to be like. So allc of us grabed our bags and began our hike to our homes. Little did I know that the hike was going to be uphill. Five minutes of constant walking and I was getting tired already. The first two groups arrived at their homes. I started to feel that we were almost at our house. Three minutes had passed and the third group had arrived at their home. Feeling even more tired and ticked, we continued walking up. Another five minutes had passed and the fourth group had arrived at their home. I started to feel like Im going to faint and throw my stuff off the cliff, we continued up more.

 

Finally six minutes had passed and we finally arrived at our home. Once we saw our house, I felt so relieved. After the family gave us the tour of the house, they showed me our room, I dropped off my bags, and took a very long nap ( that was how tired I was after the hike to our home).

 

Dan~

 

The moment that impacted me the most was the first day we were in Yungilla.After meeting my host family we started walking to our new home.At first I was so excited.I took in the beautiful weather and the new environment we was in. About 15 minutes into the walk I noticed everybody was gone.They all had reached there host families houses. At that point I was all ready tried I was use to climbing mountains exspecly at high attitude’s! About 30 minutes later Andrew and I arrived at our new house.

 

Another indicted that impacted me was milking cows. For 2 weeks I walked an 1/2 hour to milk them.The hardest part was milking the cow!I never realized that getting an gallon of milk could be this rough! i only had to do This was for two weeks the people of Yungilla do this everyday of their life. The next time I buy some milk at Fred Meyers or Safeway I will always remember the people of Yungilla and the hard work that goes into having it! This 2 events made me appreciate how fountunte i am to not have to struggle everyday to walk for less than Minuim wage.

View from Yunguilla

 

Roger~

 

“Alright Chivo, what are we doing today?” I asked my homestay father after eating my potato and bean soup breakfast.

 

“We are a…going to the cow house…and we..build a fence.” he replied with his pretty well spoken english.

When I heard and thought about making a fence, my first thought was something like “hmm..a fence can´t be that bad, can it?”

When we reached the storage house, we divided up the things to carry to our job site. I carried a big bundle of barbed wire, Rasheed carried a post hole digger, and our dad carried the machette, hammer, and a bag of staple presser points. As we were walking, walking and walking up, up and up a nearby mountain, I had already felt the pressure of frustration pushing roughly against my dam of patience and tranquility. The fifty pound bundle of barbed wire gained fifty more pounds and my calves were screaming at me to stop, but I focused my thoughts and energy on Chivo´s feet walking in front of me, setting the pace and idea of “If he can do it, so can I.”

Dig a two foot hole, place a tree post in it, fill the hole with dirt, pack it down with a stick, walk across the mountain to get more posts, carry as many as you can back, and do everything over again for about a hundred more yards. Then of course, go back to the top to connect the barbed wire three times.

In the process of building our barbed wire fence on the side of the mountain, I decided to remix the song “Killing Me Softly” by Lauren Hill:

“Pricking our fingers on barbed wire.
Diggin´up holes on a hill.
Building a fence on a mountain,
Killing me softly
With this work
Pricking our fingers
On this fence
Killing me softly…
With this worrrk”

Yungilla worked me to the point that I have reached a sort of second breath to life. I appreciate every step I´ve taken during the labor, soccer games, and community minga´s. The thing that I will definately take from Yungilla and keep with me during my everyday life is the strong effort to just get up and do productive things or activities – stay active, always.

Flor~

Walking in a daze, fully not understanding where i am. A flurry of footsteps surround and consume me. A young voice calls my name, such a familiar voice. Intoxicated by natures sweet melody, rustling leaves play a unique symphony imprinted in my hear. A long face with beautifull buldging eyes takes curiosity in me, moments pass before the face resumes to hide behind the sleek blades of grass. Moist and damp, tears fall from those sleek edges into a pool of memories. No experience is above the other. Day to day the wind carries a new message to my yearning ear, sweet whispers that are lost before the night gives way to the sun. Challanges are lost and seem to glide off with passing dreams that I can never recolect. A starry night slides between the crevises of my window, spilling into my room and plundging me into an abyss unlike the rest, one of tranquility. As the sun follows the drifting moon, bright rays cascade beneath my sheets and caress me with a warmth unlike any other. Sleepy eyes are kissed awake by the surrounding light ive come to know for years. Feet wonder off and I have no choice but to follow. Led into a serenespace where silence is awkward and unity is key. Casting glances at the individuals that surround me, at first im searching through a fog. As time passes, so does the fog. No longer blinded by white clouds I see these people…my second family. No longer do I find myself walking in a daze.