{"id":309,"date":"2010-11-01T04:05:40","date_gmt":"2010-11-01T04:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/?p=309"},"modified":"2013-09-25T04:11:49","modified_gmt":"2013-09-25T04:11:49","slug":"making-a-difference-in-one-small-place-by-ari-age-17","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/?p=309","title":{"rendered":"Making A Difference in One Small Place – by Ari, age 17"},"content":{"rendered":"

Making A Difference in One Small Place – by Ari, age 17<\/strong><\/p>\n

Our oldest son, Ari, had the good fortune to volunteer overseas this summer.\u00a0 While we are most jealous that he got to have international adventures without his parents and brother, it only seems reasonable that young adults get to grow into their own lives.\u00a0 Here is his report:\u00a0<\/i><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Ari<\/a>

Ari and companions shoveling materials for making brick in the hot sun.<\/p><\/div>\n

This summer I spent 7 wonderful weeks in Sovie, a small community in rural Ghana, serving with the American Jewish World Service, an organization dedicated to international social justice issues.\u00a0 As one of fifteen high school volunteers selected from across the United States and Canada, I gave my summer to build a latrine alongside the people of Sovie.\u00a0 This jungle community of about 2000 people had, at the beginning of the summer, no usable facility for the safe disposal of human waste.\u00a0 Our team was charged with providing labor, alongside some local workers, for building a facility that would meet the long term needs of the community.<\/p>\n

When we arrived local workers had already dug and cemented the three by five by fourteen-foot holes for the \u201c10-seater\u201d latrine. Although the project had commenced, there was still a lot of work to be done.\u00a0 We spent the first three days learning how to make bricks like the locals do \u2013 by hand – and creating the base that spanned the trench.\u00a0 Although we celebrated like it was quite an accomplishment at the time, looking back I realize that we had barely started.<\/p>\n

\"Locals<\/a>

Locals in front of the finished latrine.<\/p><\/div>\n

With the base constructed, it was time to create our building blocks: bricks\u2026 lots and lots of bricks.\u00a0 I am very proud to proclaim that we made 186 bricks in one day.\u00a0 Not only did this number exceed the local expectation of 150, but it was also a vast improvement over the fifty bricks that we created on our first day on the worksite.\u00a0 Then we had to move all of the bricks \u2013 again, local style on one\u2019s head –\u00a0 an eighth of a mile, to the construction site (which doesn\u2019t sound like much until you have to haul a 50 lb. block 186 times).\u00a0 Next we had to mix cement and concrete \u2013 yep, local style with shovels –\u00a0 which we used as a mortar to hold the bricks together and, later, as a plaster for the walls.\u00a0 After weeks of running through the cycle of making, moving, and building, we finally completed the structure of the latrine.\u00a0 Then came the roofing\u2026 and the priming\u2026 and the painting.\u00a0 Needless to say, by the time that we had finished the latrine everybody, local and volunteer, was exhausted, but proud.\u00a0 In celebration, every worker returned to our house and had \u201cminerals\u201d – the local options being Pepsi, Coca Cola, or Mirinda.\u00a0 Even today I feel good knowing I had a hand in the enduring health of this friendly community.<\/p>\n

\"Ari<\/a>

Ari with some of his students. .<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Balancing<\/a>

Balancing a load of mortar for the bricks.<\/p><\/div>\n

I\u00a0 also spent an hour each day teaching English to the fourth grade class.\u00a0 The kids were awfully squirmy and, although I really enjoyed their smiles and energy, getting good lessons taught was tough.\u00a0 It sure made me appreciate my regular teachers\u2019 abilities!<\/p>\n

The biggest thing I learned is that one person really can make a difference, and a lot of small differences do add up to a significant effect.\u00a0 Sovie is cleaner and healthier today thanks to the efforts of our whole team of volunteers and locals.\u00a0 It also confirmed that good people exist everywhere, and that the differences we see between individuals, ethnic groups, and nations really are minor compared to the ways in which we are all alike.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Making A Difference in One Small Place – by Ari, age 17 Our oldest son, Ari, had the good fortune to volunteer overseas this summer.\u00a0 While we are most jealous that he got to have international adventures without his parents … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=309"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":318,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/309\/revisions\/318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=309"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=309"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hilltribeart.com\/wordpress\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=309"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}