An old playground was given new life by a group of volunteers from Gateway Community Church. A team of eight hauled the disassembled park equipment to Mexico last month.

The playground was taken from Burbank Park on East Olive Avenue, where the City of Merced removed it to drill a new water well. Instead of discarding the equipment or selling it for scrap metal, the city agreed to let Gateway donate it to a school in Mexico, where it works with a mission agency called Amor Ministries.

After clearing Mexican customs, the playground equipment was shipped to El Jardin De Ninos, a school for 4-to-6-year-olds in the Rosarito community of Baja California.

When volunteers arrived in Rosarito, they discovered the ground was too hard for their gas-powered auger to dig more than a few inches. So the group rented a jackhammer in Tijuana, and after struggling with the hard-packed ground, finally managed to dig 18 inches, deep enough to anchor the playground posts.

"We looked like a bunch of gophers on the side of a hill cleaning out every ounce of dirt," said Connie Barrett in an e-mail message.

Barrett said the group was warmly welcomed by city officials and school teachers, and that parents of students cooked daily homemade meals for the volunteers.

After three days, the playground was ready for use.