A few eye openers for us all

On the way to the worksite

I’m having first world problems when it comes to blogging this week, so I skipped workdays two and three in an effort to not be completely grumpy about spotty (at the best) WiFi in our hotel. Both days I decided it was just not something I wanted to try and squeeze in between getting back from the worksite and meeting for dinner.

Working the back wall

We’ve made quite a bit of progress on the house this week. In our orientation meeting on Saturday we were warned not to expect tremendous progress, as we didn’t know what state the house would be in when we arrived and what jobs we would be doing throughout the week. I’m happy to say, I think things are progressing well and our team works well together. Sometimes it can be surprising how well a group of adults who didn’t know each other five days ago can come together and make things happen.

Progress after Wednesday

I’ve had a few eye openers this week. Which I expected to, but sometimes it just catches you off guard. One of mine has to do with making concrete and cal; no explanation needed for concrete, and cal is something similar to concrete, but with more elasticity.

Ready to cement some stuff!

I was in charge of mixing concrete and cal Monday and part of Tuesday. With this comes the need for water. So, Tuesday morning I go to get water from the hose, but the hose is frozen. So CL gives me permission to go into their bathroom and get water directly from the spigot. I appreciated that she felt comfortable enough to let me do this, but I didn’t really realize that I was essentially walking into their outhouse- a tiny makeshift room on the outside of their house. At the time I was thinking to myself holy crap I would not want to take a shower in here…it’s 30 degrees outside! Also, this family has no indoor plumbing. No judgment of course, but at that moment it sank in a little more just how much this house would absolutely change this family’s life. Something simple, that most of us take for granted- they will be able to shower and use the bathroom inside, with running water. And honestly that’s just the start.

Old house on the right, new finished Habitat house on the left

Today we took some time after lunch to visit another Habitat house in the neighborhood. It was really impactful. We visited with S and her family, she showed us around her house and she spoke of how much excitement she felt for CL as she builds her own house. Translated into her own words, “Before her Habitat house, she was just surviving. Now she is living.” She spoke of when it used to rain and her house would leak, meaning the kids did not go to school because everything the owned was wet and also that they wouldn’t eat because they could not cook inside. Now when it rains, they are joyous and can sit inside and watch the rain. It has completely changed her life and the lives of those around her.

Us with the kids

After leaving the worksite, we also visited a local Boys & Girls Club type group that one of our construction supervisors runs with his wife. It’s a neighborhood gathering place for kids and parents and is open Tuesdays and Thursdays. The kids can come to the house for a snack and to play, and during school come for tutoring and reading help. In addition, the wife collects items from the neighborhood and puts them out for people to trade for what they need. She asked tonight why we all came from so far to help people we did not know. She lovingly commented that we all must be “a little crazy” to leave our families behind for others around the world. If she only knew where we come from and what fortunate lives we lead.

Yogi BK leading us in warm-ups in the morning

Today is our last workday, and will be a short one. We’ll end our day at lunch with a barbeque with the family to celebrate the work we’ve done. Then tomorrow night we’re having a dinner of empanadas and malbec then will be headed to Tango lessons to end our time here in Bahia Blanca. I also forgot to mention before that BK leads the group in stretching/warm-up every morning to get us moving before long days of work.

This has been an impactful trip in so many ways. It’s also been one where we’ve worked incredibly hard doing manual labor and learning things that we’ve never done before.

That’s all for now. More work to be done today.