By Casey Callais 7/22/2016 — What a difference a group makes.

This week we have been lucky to share our passion for education  with 23 fun-loving, hard-working individuals from Sonoma Valley, California and of course local community members from El Jicarito and beyond.

The work

So far digging has been the norm with nearly all of the foundations for the columns dug out and the trenches in between. We received another truckload of good dirt filler and expect that next week we will be moving more brown dirt than black mud. Add to that we have also gotten a jump on cutting the rebar for the footings and laid out the trenches for the walls.

Safe to say there has been plenty of work for everybody. Hopefully we will be able to finish the foundation prep work in the next few days and begin the upward construction soon.

Working together

One of the things that makes a Seeds of Learning trip special are the deep connections made between the volunteers and the local community. This week there have been a record number of people on the job site including one day when ten folks from the neighboring communities of El Triunfo and then Pedro Arauz came out to work in solidarity with their friends in El Jicarito. At one point grandma, three of her daughters and two of her grandsons were all moving dirt, laughing and enjoying the morning with the Sonoma volunteers. Language was no barrier for non-Spanish speakers who communicated with hand signals and gestures and listened with their eyes as much as their ears.

It’s a beautiful thing when you feel the pride of the community at that moment when they realize that there are people far, far away in a place they will never know who know about them, care about them and work alongside them to make their community better.

We will be posting regular updates about the project as construction continues. In the meantime we are offering an amazing deal for people who are interested in this project. Donate to help buy whiteboards, desks, computers, etc. and receive Knitknot’s architectural plans, Precision Structural Engineering’s structural design (compliant with the 2012 International Building Code), Seeds of Learning’s complete construction report AND a 2-hour phone call with the Seeds of Learning team. This is ideal for anyone who is interested in building their own superadobe project and the money goes to cover school supplies and resources.