Many people would consider my job boring, and sometimes I can be counted among those people.  Working as the bodeguero, or warehouse manager, includes many tedious tasks.  There is lots of cleaning, organizing, waiting and unpacking to be done.  The cleaning and organizing is done before containers or brigadas arrive to make space for their cargo.  After I finish that I often find myself waiting.  Most often I wait for the container to arrive which can take hours, or if the brigada arrives late or gets stuck in traffic, I have to stick around to help them unload their suitcases.  Then the unpacking begins.  A container load can take about two hours to unload and a couple weeks to unpack all the pallets.  The suitcases take all day if I unpack them alone, but the brigada usually lends me a hand and we get them unpacked in about three hours. 

I didn´t mention one aspect: the delivery.  After all the cleaning, waiting and unpacking I get to deliver the contents of the containers and suitcases.  When I make these deliveries I get to see the results of my labor and the result of all the people that work in the St Paul warehouse.  I deliver educational tools to the teachers, furniture for the New Hope school, drugs for the pharmacy.  I load pick-up trucks with medicine and equipment for local hospitals and stuffed animals and diapers for orphanages, among many other things.  I am always welcomed with a warm smile and commonly a tour of the organization and a small refacción, or snack. Granted, the delivery aspect of my job doesn´t take as long as the rest, but seeing the success that our contribution can produce in schools, hospitals, organizations and orphanages during these visits is exactly what makes it all worth while.

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