Helping out clean up and fix up basketball courts

basketball courts before we refinished them... community helpers

Gwen (switzerland) and teen helpers from the community

Abeba (ethiopia) painting a surrounding wall of the court

Jimena...aka Slow Poke (Mexico)

uppies working away

jackie (denver, co) always smiling :)

having fun after work... dancing with the local teens

group picture...
finishing effects.... Yo con Sonora is the organization we worked with that week to be able to finish all the courts....
this was the logo placed in the center of the court... 'Viva la Gente' is Up with People in Spanish ... we were able to leave our mark ;)
Our major community service this week was to re-do 20 basketball courts with the assistance and support of Yo con Sonora. Yo con Sonora (I'm with Sonora (Mexican state)) was an organization that was once affiliated with the Sonora government but is now a non-profit that helps out the community. We spent 2 half days and one full day working on 10 basketball courts a day, our cast was split into 6-10 groups each day. I personally worked on at least 4 basketball courts. When we arrived to most of them it was hard to believe that they were even basketball courts or parks... most of the courts had huge cracks in the foundation, missing nets or just plain hoops, surrounding walls full of graffiti, trash everywhere! and overgrown with weeds. Some of the tasks I was involved in was sweeping out the cracks on the court so they could be refilled, painting new lines on the court, painting the surrounding walls, weeding the park area, picking up garbage (which included an injection needle) and pruning and picking up tree branches, leaving many scrapes and scars. It was amazing to see the transformations of the courts.... it was only sad to see the children throw the garbage on the ground after they helped us pick up all the other garbage on the ground. It just seems hard to instill a habit when it was never there and is never promoted by the government. It could be as easy as putting communal garbage cans near the courts. The children and community members were amazing help, there was often glass scattered everywhere around the courts and the 2-8 year old children would be on their hands and knees helping us pick up the pieces. At the end of most of the days some cast members would perform BTS's for the communities and everyone from around would come to see!