By Raven Ramsey
Staff Writer
In early July, Cali and Noelle Sheldon helped enrich children’s education in Tz’utujil, Guatemala by building schools in a local community.
The Sheldon sisters have been a part of the Build On organization for three years, and this year they focused their help in Tz’utujil. Build On is a non-profit organization that raises $15,000 a year to help build schools for children in need of a better education. The organization also places a focus on putting an end to extreme poverty. Cali and Noelle found this charity on Charity Navigator, an online organization that evaluates charities.
“On Charity Navigator, we wanted to get involved with an organization that would allow us to travel to another country to do service,” Cali said. “Build On provided the perfect opportunity for that.”
When the Sheldon twins first arrived in Guatemala, they were greeted by the residents in the village.
“When we first got to Guatemala, there was a welcome ceremony in which everyone in the community attended,” Cali said. “There were traditional dances, songs, and speeches from some of the governmental officials and teachers regarding the school we were building. They warmed up to us immediately.”
The twins had to walk place to place because the village did not have roads that were safe enough to drive on. However, they learned how to speak some of the native language and how to make different crafts with the native people.
“I thought the most interesting thing we did was learning K’iche, which was the dialect of the village we lived in,” Cali said. “It was so different from anything that I’ve ever heard before, and it was really interesting.”
The twins spent 10 days building schools for the children. While building, they learned about certain construction tools and how to use them, as well as helpful construction tricks.
“We learned how to do construction without using heavy tools, and we dug a bunch of holes and tied rebars,” Noelle said.
The Sheldon sisters experienced different cultural lessons everyday in the community they lived in. They had interesting conversations with the natives about political topics.
“We got a lot of hands-on interaction with the community, and we had different cultural lessons every day,” Cali said. “We talked to people about immigration and about political stuff, which was really cool.”
They also learned how to cook different types of food on their trip, including tamales, tostadas, and horchata.
“I think the most interesting thing was learning how to make homemade tortillas,” Noelle said. “[The cooking] was a nice learning experience.”
The twins have no plans for any long-distance trips as of right now, but they will continue to work with Build On to help those who are less fortunate.
“Right now, we have no official plans, but we’d love to go on another trek in the future,” Noelle said
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