Farewell Ahuachapán! Until next time!
Today was our last day on the work site and our departure celebration. We were each able to put in our final efforts to get as much of the house done as we can. Today really involved the entire group working as a team and thus, helped us to bond even more as a group on our last day. We built an assembly line to move over 800 cement bricks in a fair amount of time. Looking back, we have seen a great deal of progress done in the house but are disappointed that we will not get to see the final results.
Very efficient assembly line thanks to Babson operations classes!
The celebration was the most emotional part of the trip for me. Everyone from the students, to workers, to the family we built for was there to make sure they said good bye. I cannot express how much it seemed that they really appreciated us there. It was here where the group began to realize all the new relationships we have made and will now have to, not say good bye, but until next time. As I was more involved in the teaching than the building it was especially nice for me to hand out the certificates to all of our students. Throughout the week I was most impressed with how motivated and happy all the students were. I reminded the students to approach their businesses with the same attitude and motivation that they came to class with and that as long as they take one thing from my class and apply it to my business I will be more than proud and sure that they will succeed. The departure was a motivator for me as well to go back to Babson and improve the program that is currently in place. This year we realized that students were coming from a town over called Los Buenos, and I can begin to see a great deal of potential for this program. I cannot wait to go back and see what progress all my new friends have made.
Emilio Siman ’12
Emilio and one of his students