Letter from Susette Horspool
April, 2009
I have wanted to help with this kind of project ever since I heard about the work Habitat for Humanity was doing several years ago. Esperanza's work is more comprehensive than Habitat's, which I appreciate, and I was really excited when I saw an opportunity to go to Tijuana to help build.
My sister was looking for something to do that weekend, so i asked her to go too. She refused. She was worried about the violence being reported in the news. I had the feeling the media was exaggerating as usual, that the violence was probably real, but probably only in a certain few areas of Tijuana where there was heavy drug activity, and that we would not be going near those areas. I trusted the leaders of the Esperanza Project to know what they were doing and to help keep us safe.
I'm happy to say I was right. We had a wonderful, productive time and there was not even a hint of violence anywhere we went, although there was a lot of construction (lol). The people were great, it was fun working as a team to help them out, we did good work, I got some great photos and I'm very happy I went. I thank everyone who helped organize this event, and also Eduardo who "made" me practice my Spanish. Let's do it again.
Susette Horspool