This year, CBI traveled to Medellín, Veracruz to build a school for the local community of Casablanca. Like our previous trips, the people of Medellín fit CBI’s two main criteria: it was a community in need and it was a society that was united and motivated to improve its current condition. Our goal to build a school facility harkened back to our first project in 2000, when CBI constructed a middle school. This year's trip had the added bonus of raising public awareness about the educational need in Medellin through advocacy and press.

In 2003, the Veracruz state government declared that children without three years of kindergarten schooling could not attend public primary schools. Although the intentions likely were to encourage more children to attend kindergarten, the rigidity of the laws hurt impoverished communities without the finances to build such schools. The Union of Veracruz Teachers approached CBI last year to explain the situation of communities without resources and demonstrate their commitment to staffing the new facilities. They were already teaching classes in residents’ houses and awaited a building of their own.

From the moment we stepped off the plane at midnight, the Mayor and other town members were waiting to welcome us and show us their commitment to furthering education. They warmly shared their customs, dining room tables, and soccer fields with us so that we could all learn and grow together. Before getting down to work our first day, we were honored at a groundbreaking ceremony. The Mayor introduced our project to an audience of children and parents who would be using the school, local girls performed traditional dances and later taught us some steps, and a local teen heartthrob serenaded us. Then we got down to work sawing through wooden planks, shoveling dirt, cutting rebar, and laying bricks. A construction team helped us with technique, and then we provided enthusiastic manpower. So many members of the community, from 8-year-old kids to middle-aged mothers, asked to assist us with the construction that we often lacked enough tools for everybody to use.

When we weren’t working, we were sharing other moments with the town members. Members of the community and the municipal government invited us to join the school kids in their morning exercises and art projects, showed us their favorite local sites, introduced us to family members and friends, swam with us in the nearby river, and took us on a beautiful evening boat ride. We participated in the town’s mini-olympics and competed in relay races with teachers and students, ending with a huge water balloon fight. Almost every experience included sharing spicy meals and stories with the mothers and mayor of the community. The town even invited us to take part in a parade and ceremony, where various kindergarteners were crowned king and queen for their own community service dedication. All of these activities enabled us to truly experience the culture of the community we were helping.

Finally, we raised public awareness of the detrimental school legislation through various interviews with press organizations. Journalists from local television stations dubbed us the alternative “Spring Breakers,” who came to Veracruz to build instead of sunbathing at a beach resort. Our commitment to the project – demonstrated by our fundraising and journey to Veracruz – also helped to inspire other town members to take part in projects to personally improve their community. Hopefully, the local government will rethink its legislation or provide financial help to communities like Casablanca where children need facilities.