Crack On!

They finally put us to work today. The 16 of us loaded up on the bus this morning and rode about 10 minutes to a section a bit out of town. Our project is to make an addition to 7 existing houses, built by govt subsidy, but the existing houses are one bedroom, VERY small. This is a country that is 89% Catholic ...one bedroom is not sufficient. How humbling to be in a group of priveleged others, helping these families help themselves, to improve their humble conditions. They are all working together with us, and Habitat, to construct these rooms. Today we dug ditches, hauled dirt away with a few wheel barrows and even buckets, hauled sand and rock to the small cement mixer, and hauled cement to fill the ditches for the base of the foundation along the perimeter. I then helped cut the pieces for the forms for the slab... yes Mother, they let me use a power saw! I still have 2 hands! After work we were bused back to the Hogar Bautista (Baptist House) where we threw down our gloves and hats, and walked a block to the supermercado, where we proceeded to stand out front and drink a Cerveza...es necesario! My back is sore. working on a computer is not the same thing...

It is an eye opener to see how other people live. I dot know why these people are poor, and why they cant afford to build their own houses, but they work with Habitat, they contribute, they work alongside us, and they welcome us into their homes as we work, to eat, drink, use the bathroom and rest. These houses cant be more than 400 or 500 sq st, the inside is unfinished sheetrock, the floor is simple wood (barn quality almost), with a few simple appliances. They are friendly and warm people and fun to work with. The kids were onsite today and we used our simple spanish and tried to teach them a few good phrases in English. Did I say my back is sore? my God is my back sore!!!

I will post an email from Kristian, I am sure it will be more fun to read!

Ciao, and thanks for posting comments.
John