At the risk of shamelessly plugging my own article, I wanted to share a couple of paragraphs from the article I recently had published for GoNOMAD. Let me know what you think, because I'm really much more interested in improving the writing than getting a few hits on the article.

We all waited anxiously in the dark, huddling by the window in the hopes that the last few specs of light coming over the horizon from the already set sun would give some visual aid.

Heat from the day was still trapped under the newly hammered in tin roof, baking the people inside.

But when it finally seemed like the event was starting to drag on, a light bulb was hung over a beam and plugged in, revealing the new house to a cheering crowd and appreciative family.

As many college students took their spring break to head off to popular beach destinations, a group of 30 students from the University of Massachusetts, the University of Illinois, and Yale University chose instead to travel to Montevideo, Uruguay, and construct emergency houses for the poor.

Through Hillel Uruguay, the three schools participated in a program called Un Techo Para Mi País — Uruguay, which means A Roof for My Country — Uruguay.

Working on the outskirts of Montevideo, we spent two days of our community service trip working with Techo in 24 de enero (24th of January), a barrio that has been set up for Uruguayans living below the poverty line.

This barrio is the kind of town you’ll see on TV with the missionary or celebrity asking you to send money. But there were no cameras there — only volunteers who were trying to do some good for people they’d never met before.

The government lets the people live there without taxing them because they consider the wooden shacks they live in to be tents.

This also keeps them from getting welfare, which continues the cycle of poverty. The people who live there are hardworking and care for their families, but they have hit hard times and can’t get out of the hole on their own.

Breaking off into groups of four to build four new emergency houses, I went to work on a house for 54-year-old Richard González. Richard is a kind man with an old shrunken look to his face, the years having took their toll.

Always the hard worker, he took the lead and was always on top of the construction. A generous man, he shared whatever water or Mate tea he had, and when he had some packs of freeze-pops to give, he passed it around.

If you liked this you can read the rest of it here.

Let me know what you think.

Jon