Day 2

Day 2: (Moving) Rock(s) On!

After we had a quick taco breakfast we headed to the service site for the first time. There, we worked with Valley of the Moon and Habitat for Humanity to build the garden area for a youth center. Valley of the Moon is an emergency shelter for abused and neglected youth who have no place to go. We moved dirt, bark, pounded nails and dug through solid rock to make some holes for trees in heat reaching 108°F. Then, we went to wash the dirt off in the pool back at the Bishop's Ranch. In the early evening we discussed our definitions of social justice, and we considered it from a biblical perspective. We finished off the night with stargazing; the sky at the ranch is clear enough that one can see all the constellations and some satellites.

Coming to Santa Rosa, I assumed that I would be doing something fire related. Although we did not rebuild or do prevention, we learned that the poorer people were affected by the fires exponentially. I was able to see in a very real and raw way how these people were stripped of everything by nature. It really impacted me to build a youth center for people my own age, because I realised how the only thing  that separates me from them is circumstances.

Camilla