Habitat for Humanity sends students to Guatemala
This May, in accordance with their every-other-year schedule, Habitat for Humanity will be taking their international trip. This year, their travels will bring them to Guatemala. The exotic trip will take place from May 3-17. Of these 14 days, 10 will be spent working on houses and the other will be filled exploring the culture and whatever else the participants may decide to do. The volunteers’ help with the houses will vary greatly, anything from ground breaking to painting siding, depending on the needs of the family.
“The work the students will do could vary from working on foundations to putting the finishing touches on a house,” Thomas Grindberg, co-planner of the trip, said.
Grindberg and Kalli Swedin will be planning the Guatemala trip for this May. Both have gone on trips in the past, but none outside of the country. And unfortunately, neither of them will be able to attend the trip they are planning.
The faulty chaperones for this trip will be Daniel Weiler and Kilee Kadrie-Weiler. Both staff members admit to having always wanted to participate in a HFH trip but have not yet been able to attend one.
“Habitat is such an amazing organization,” Weiler said. “They assist so many people with their goal of home ownership. More importantly, Habitat’s work builds communities and fosters growth even after the builders are gone.”
Every other year, Habitat goes out of the county, almost always to a location in South America, according to Swedin and Grindberg. However, in past years, the group has usually been to Nicaragua, so Guatemala will be a new experience for the particpants. When looking for a place to send students, the planners are very diligent.
“Habitat International has a website, and we looked for a place that had great need and was politically stable. We mostly focus our search on Central America every two years,” Swedin said.
As of right now, the trip is still in its infant stages of planning, seeing that the date is three months away. However, the planners are busy as ever on the many facets of the trip, one of the main ones being who will attend. Only 14 or so students will be able to attend the trip.
As Swedin sits in her office, she pulls out a stack of application forms that students have filled out earlier in the year; they are get-to-know-you forms. Many of the applicants belong to the HFH group, but anyone is eligible to apply.
