Hello Friend.
The day I last posted, there was an earthquake. A magnitude 8.8 struck the coast of south-central Chile sending shockwaves throughout the continent and tsunamis through the Pacific. At 3:30 a.m. on a Saturday morning… technically my Friday night… I found myself under a door jamb watching disco balls swing and listening to beer bottles fall off the bar as the angry rumble of the earthquake endured for 90 seconds. Calm and collected during the earthquake, I quickly melted into an adrenaline-induced fervor as I left the club. Cell phones that didn’t work illuminated panicked faces, some with tears, most with shock. The street lights had all gone out which made the blue-white light from the numerous phones even eerier. People tripped over bricks that fell off of building fronts as they ran across the street looking for friends. Police sirens shrieked by and their whistles blew, providing little structure to the chaos that the city quickly became following the initial earthquake. Within minutes the streets were clogged with worried drivers trying to get home to their families; their drive was slowed by dangerous intersections and fallen overpasses on the highways. On my way home, I nervously tapped the armrest of the seat as I watched people out the window. Girls huddled in groups together had wide-eyed looks of confusion and fear. Couples holding each other tightly tried to flag down cars. Entire families stood outside the lobbies of their apartment buildings fearfully awaiting the coming aftershocks. Groups of strangers stood huddled around parked cars listening to the radio… the only form of news for several hours. After talking to my roommates and looking at the huge shingles that fell seven stories onto our patio, I decided that it wouldn’t do any good to extend the experience longer than necessary, and I went to bed. A phone call from my old host family woke me up, thankfully they were all OK, just scared. Minutes later, the aftershocks started. I fell back asleep after the first strong one. The second one kept me up.
And that, in essence, is the story of my Chile earthquake. Still, “aftershocks” continue. Their epicenters move throughout central Chile, and they are weaker and weaker every day, but the fact that a month after the initial quake, we are still experiencing related seismic activity is astonishing.
The earthquake was devastating for so many people; if not physically because of damage to their homes, then emotionally.
Now, a month later, on Easter Sunday, I didn’t find myself in a church. There were no eggs to be dyed, no pastel colors, and no chocolate bunnies. Brunch was more of a light breakfast of bread and jam and lunch was noodles with tuna. My hunt for Easter eggs was replaced by a search for 4-inch nails as I wandered the construction site of an earthquake relief community in south-central Chile.
My volunteer trip down to Constitución to help build houses is one of the reasons that this installation is so late. Being nearly completely unaffected by the quake, I felt it necessary to do something to help those who were affected. No, sorry; “affected” is an understatement. The people who we helped survived an earthquake and a tsunami that took everything but their lives. Before moving into the houses that we built for them, they lived in tents in a parking lot. They’d been like that for over a month. My Catholic university gave us two days off before Easter weekend, so we had extra time in my group made purely of students to go build houses.
We left around 9 at night on a Wednesday and arrived tired and cranky at 3 a.m. to the high school that let us sleep on the floors of their classrooms. Five hours later, we were up eating breakfast getting ready to start work.
We were divided into ten groups of about six volunteers in each. Close to 1/3 of those volunteers were from my exchange program. In the four days we were there, each group was responsible for building two houses. Each house measures 3 meters by 6 meters with two windows and a door. We first dug the holes and put in the pillars to support the house. The floor and walls all came preassembled from a charity group in Chile dedicated to eliminating homelessness. Once we created a level floor, we had to put up the walls and put the roof on, made of corrugated aluminum. We were a pretty efficient group once we got over the numerous corrections we had to make to the pillars on our first house which were not level and continuously out of place. The second house was up before lunch on the last day, so we helped other groups to finish theirs. During this time, we had help from an international Christian missionary group as well as military personnel from Chile’s Armed Forces.
By the end of the trip, we added 20 houses to an encampment for earthquake victims that already housed 120 families. A trip through town showed that these people literally have nothing but the clothes on their backs and their families, and now their small house. Entire residential sections of the town were taken away by the tsunami. Large, flat patches of dirt exist where houses and markets used to be filled with life and people. Entire boats sit stranded on piles of rubble… I wonder if the house crumbled first or if the boat destroyed it. Roofs lie caved in and cars are overturned and crushed. On the walls of the houses that still stand are words letting people know that the former occupants are alright.
Overall, it was an indescribably amazing experience that I would consider to be one of the most gratifying things I’ve ever done in terms of helping others and as an experience in general. Being with new people from my university who I previously didn’t know as well as friends from my exchange program created a fun and creative social atmosphere from which we drew most of our energy to keep going during the third and fourth days. I can’t imagine not have going, but I do know that had I not gone, I might be a little less stressed at the moment. Let me explain that situation-
I thought I picked easier classes this semester. Or at least classes that wouldn’t give me a bunch of unnecessary, uninteresting work. For the most part, that has proved to be true. But I couldn’t ever have anticipated the amount of reading I’d have to do. It’s ridiculous. I always have some sort of reading material in my backpack, which makes my days productive, but it also makes them tedious and tiresome knowing that I always have something more to read. Taking four whole days out of my study schedule set me back slightly, but I can bounce back. (I don’t think I told you my class schedule, so if you’re interested… here it goes: Media History, Chilean Folklore, Spanish, Self-health and Volleyball)
The other thing that has me on edge is the Santiago Marathon on this coming Sunday, Apr. 11 (two days after my birthday). It’s not exactly a marathon, it’s a 10K, but regardless, I just want to run fast and get that cool t-shirt that comes with registration. I’m not sure how it’s going to go, but it will be interesting. I know that.
What else is new?
Not much. Being back in school is refreshing and more enjoyable. I’m surprised to find how much more I understand in classes this semester compared to last semester. Oh, I’m also in a new apartment. After putting up with a (legitimately?) crazy landlord, moldy walls, water heaters that didn’t work, ridiculous building “rules” and racist roommates, I couldn’t take it anymore. I’m currently living in a much more central, much more ideal location with a Chilean and a guy from France. They’re super relaxed and super cool. Much more my style. The apartment is nice, but it is TINY. It’s ridiculous. My bedroom literally could not fit a double bed in it. My twin takes up a ridiculous amount of room and I’m left with walking space which, because the closet is extremely small as well, is taken up by clothes. Whatever, I can put up with that for the 3 months that are left. Which brings me to the fact that this whole year has gone by so fast! I can’t even handle the fact that in 3 months I’ll be home. I’m way excited, but I’m also sad and torn between getting back to the U.S. and seeing everyone I left there and between leaving everything that I’ve built and come to know and love here in Santiago. It will be tough. But that’s how things are I suppose.
Anyways, friend, I can’t think of anything else to tell you at the moment. It is, however, my 21st birthday tomorrow. Party, right?! Not exactly. I’m compromising between my need to celebrate and my hope to run fast on Sunday by celebrating a little tonight (Thursday) and then hitting it big next weekend with a joint birthday party with a good friend from my exchange program. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.
For now, check out the pictures I took of the reconstruction trip.
Much love to you.
Derek
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