DE FENCE

When I heard that we were building a fence, I thought to myself, "Wow, this is going to be so cool! I am definitely telling my friends what I did after."   I never built a fence before, nor have I ever did any real construction work, so I was really looking forward to this project..
On the first day, we started tearing down the fence. The fence that they had were those wire-y gate ones, and enclosed in it was a garden full of weeds and various plants and trees.  We also moved the trees to different locations, ripped out the weeds, and flattened the soil.  It took a lot more work than I expected because the metal posts of the gate were solidified in concrete, and not to mention, it was extremely hot!!
The next day, we started building the fence with wooden planks and posts.  There was a lot of teamwork involved because one person would hold up the wooden post, another person would position and hold the post in the place, and the third person would hammer in the nail.   Every time I looked back to see our progress, the fence was coming closer and closer to enclosing the backyard.  Before I knew it, we were finished and celebrating with tortas and fruit that the family provided for us.
It amazed me to see how grateful the Macias family was. They were so cute!  The neighbors often brought over food and told us to take a break.  They gave us sweet bread, tortas, and fruit! By the way, this was my first time eating watermelon with lemon, salt, and pepper, and it was amazing! They continually to greet us with smiles, and within that I could see their appreciation.
After the whole experience, I realized that finishing the fence wasn't the important part of the experience.  Instead, the more important part was what we accomplished by building the fence.  We beautified someone's backyard, and we provided them with something that they couldn't afford.  Of course, we would not have been here without the organization that we paired up with, Fresno Urban Neighborhood Development (FUND).  Basically, what they work with a neighborhood to see what houses are in need of fixture and remodeling. The community themselves get together and decide which house is in need of the most, and they prioritize which house gets worked on first.  This showed me what a community should look like.  So really, it wasn't the fence that I'm proud of but of the people that we helped with.  It inspired me to see what we could do in so little time and how we could change other people's lives in the midst of, and it's all thanks to God.

- Joyce Wang, UCLA junior.