Service Project

Triceratops toy at the park

The Consulate was part of a service project this morning. I went to help out. The service project is part of a greater project called Somos Juarez (I think that's what it is called) which is a project to get the community involved in cleaning up the town one location at a time. There were actually several locations being worked at yesterday. We were at a park to clean up trash, weeds, and cover-up graffiti.  There were a couple other organizations involved at this location.  It was quite a morning.
I started picking up trash, but the up and down motion was making me light-headed, so I stopped and started helping with the white-washing. At first, I just had a roller sponge without the handle. It was difficult to use, but I made it work. Then, as more people came, we got more supplies and I was able to get a roller handle. That made things much easier.

Some of the graffiti (see the wall along the base of the
basketball court)

We had a short break about half-way through the project. There was a group of local artists who played some trashcans for us. They were really good. I was especially impressed by the little kids and their ability to keep time and remember a very long song. After the show, we got back to work. By that time, we were out of white-wash, so I started helping with picking up trash again. Since I was still having a problem with getting dizzy, my main job was to hold the trash bag open for the two people I was working with. Then we got brooms and I was able to help with that.
We finished around 12:30, cleaned up and headed out. It was really starting to get hot at that time. At least for me, I think it would have been better to finish by noon. Tonight I'm going to a talent show in El Paso. It should be fun.

Covering up graffiti with my roller
After I took this picture, we stopped covering
up this graffiti because the kids told us
this is where the drug dealers so their
business.

Covering up the graffiti

Covered up graffiti

The drummers

Remember the graffiti from the picture above?  Now it's
covered up

All the trash/weeds we picked up

We cleaned out this area and covered up the graffiti
there as well

Can you tell I spent the morning painting?