A stroll through San Miguel Dueñas brought home the conditions that people around the world live in… we truly are lucky to be living in Canada. This stroll through the village was an eye-opener for many. The addition of having an active volcano a few short kilometers away put the circumstances in an entirely different perspective.

“Yesterday is the past life, today is the present life, tomorrow is the future life.”

Volunteering is glorious, hard work, inspiring, challenging and rewarding. You will laugh, you will cry and you will come home knowing you made a difference in someone else’s life.

Several years ago we learned about a nearby orphanage that was started as a home for children who lost their parents in the 2004 tsunami. As there is a continuing need in the community for safe shelter and a nurturing environment for more children, DWC’s TRIP Canada agreed to complete a second building.

Following a great week of building where the team took the block walls from the foundation to above the windows, we packed away our dirty work clothes and headed for the Bardia Jungle Resort in Bardia national park. Team members were greeted at the village entrance by Thura women in their traditional dress.

Well the first day up to the San Jose Obrero school was a real eye opener! We started off from the Miraflores are of Lima, which is a beautiful, affluent seaside area that is like downtown Vancouver or Honolulu, with palm trees and beaches right by ocean. We gradually transition to less and less affluent areas to one where the unpaved roads are very steep paved and the hills are covered in small brick buildings with corrugated tin roofs.

We met our 8 new and old DWC friends (Jim, Cathy, Alicia, Terri1, Terry2, Jen, Chris and Russ) at YVR where we began a long and happily uneventful day and a half long journey to Kenya. Our first test was at the Kenya border where a very fast and efficient system accepted our on line or on site visa applications.

Team 15 – April 2019 – Lots to Build!
Get involved, make memories and be part of the DWC TRIP Canada legacy.

We arrived! After three flights and many hours we touched down in Phnom Penh. For four of us it was a return visit – for the other five it was a brand new, exciting experience!

DWC’s inaugural Costa Rica team is empowering rural communities