Greatest Accomplishment of My Life

“Greatest Accomplishment in My Life”

One Big Water Storage Hole

Who would not want to wake up every morning at 7 AM for two weeks in a foreign country and dig a 7ft by 7ft hole during their summer vacation? I, fortunately, had the honor of undertaking this task last summer. Every summer for the last three years, I have traveled to Bogotб, Colombia, to volunteer for a non-profit organization, Children’s Vision International, which takes in homeless and needy children. The children are given a home, three meals a day, a chance to go to school, and a chance to have a new beginning away from the horrors of their childhood. While each experience has been priceless and breathtaking, I have never in my life faced a task as arduous and rewarding.

June 15, 2005 was the day my adventure all began. After a long day of traveling, Jeanene, the founder of the organization, unveiled her master plan to us regarding our two-week project. Children’s Vision had recently purchased a new building which was undergoing renovation to become a new school. Although the building was new, there was one still large setback. Bogotб’s biggest problem, water shortages due to terrorist attacks which cause the water pipelines to be dismantled often and for an unknown duration of time, would prevent the new school from becoming functional. Therefore, our job was to dig a water tank that was 7 feet long by 7 feet wide by 9 feet deep. The hole would be beneath the school, and capable of holding enough water for three days for at least one hundred and fifty people. At first, the idea of digging this hole seemed close to impossible since the tools in Colombia are primitive compared to the machinery available in the United States. We were mixing concrete with shovels and wheel barrowing dirt out of the hole using wood boards as planks. Overall, there were about seven men and four women working on this project. Three of the four women were under the age of seventeen, I being one of them. The small numbers and lack of experience intensified my fears of not completing this project. Looking back, I think it is safe to say our work ethic surpassed our muscular ability. For two weeks, I felt pain in places I never knew pain could exist. Unable to chew without cringing, we never once stopped. We kept on going, putting in more and more effort each day. Each day we got a little closer towards our ultimate goal: