BUILD DAY!
More than 400 people joined us to build a park for the children of San Pancho!
Build Day started at 9am on Saturday and was a festive affair. Volunteers signed themselves in, received free t-shirts and nametags and then joined the work group that they were most interested in. …actually, then they went and had some of the amazing breakfast that the school moms had put together, AND THEN they went off to join their teams.
Parents, community members and volunteers from all over worked together in teams to create elements of the park. There was plenty to do for everyone and people moved from group to group as they finished a job or became interested in a new one.
One of the principles of RECICLA PARQUE project was to utilize recycled materials in the construction and to teach sustainable building techniques. Groups of volunteers bui
lt walls from glass bottles, walls that used plastic bottles filled with sand as “bricks,” and benches from sacks filled with dirt and covered with a mixture of concrete and paper, a technique known as “papercrete” and experimental in this climate. We sanded and painted old CFE spools to use as tables, refurbished found iron works to use as doors on the kids area and cut tires to use for swingsets and other play equipment.
Led by Christy from A BROKEN ART MOSAIC GALLERY in Bucerias and her team of helpers, women and children used recycled broken tiles to make beautiful mosaics on the street side wall and on recycled concrete “plugs” that will eventually find a use in the park.
The beginning assembly of the play equipment was installed thanks to Anwar del Castillo, our amazing Swinging Bridges designer and his strong helpers from the Three Swallows Foundation. The Swinging Bridges Play Structure will use netting and ropes recycled from commercial fishing boats. Parents and kids from ESCUELA DEL MUNDO joined us to create a plaza bench area made from sacks filled with earth and covered in a concrete/paper mixture known as “papercrete.”
The highlight of the day was watching the kids roll themselves around in some tubing that will eventually be used as table bases and slides in the park. The novelty of this unexpected “toy” kept the kids entertained well after we had all tired out!
BUILD DAY was an amazing example of a community in action. Parents, teachers, kids, business owners, passers by, San Pancho residents and groups and organizations from Bucerias, Sayulita, Guadalajara, Punta de Mita, Colorado and California joined together to create a park for the children of San Pancho in an action of solidarity and goodwill that left us thankful, inspired and awed.
THANK YOU TO EVERYONE!
