Ben Smith, 28 years old, Long Way Home Crew

Ben is a passionate man with two hopes for the future: to find his life's meaning and to see his favorite sports team, the LA Lakers, win another NBA championship.

Ben grew up in Los Angeles where he worked as a real estate agent and mortgage broker during the sub-prime era.

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Ben first travelled to Long Way Home with Aaron Colvin, his best friend and the LWH Assistant Construction Manager, on a mission to donate fire-fighting equipment in January 2009. He immediately connected with the work, the people and the project and signed on as a volunteer green builder with LWH. He says about his decision to move to Guatemala: "I needed to push the reset the button on my life. I needed to be happier. I needed to do something really productive that was really helping people, and not having to lie to myself about what I did." Ben's day begins with the sunrise at 5:30am. Next comes breakfast and coffee with fellow volunteers at Parqué Chimiyá. Work begins between 7:30 and 8.