A Good Foundation

No one could ask for a more beautiful work site. Halfway up Volcan Agua (note: dormant) lies Santa Maria de Jesus, the Mayan community for which From Houses to Homes has been building. Blue, red and orange houses dot the landscape—proof of their tremendous work.

Today was our first building day. Sara and I laid the foundation for the house with Tom, Juan Jose (for some reason they call him “Cutchie”) and Isaias. This entailed mucho digging. First we shoveled sand and cement. Then we dug out the perimeter for the foundation. We mixed together cement and formed a factory line to transport the buckets (see photo). My favorite part was smashing up the cinder blocks to raise the iron mesh. Considering I've never built a house before-- and the only tools I ever really use are pen, paper & my mac-- it was a new, gratifying and strenuous experience. We got a bit sunburned, ate peanut butter and jelly for lunch, and felt so exhausted by the end of the day that we punked out on making dinner and just went with the local Pollo Campero (Guatemala's finest fast food restaurant). Chicken, french fries and 7-Up.

Muchas gracias to all of you who are sponsoring a home for Marian Elena, Valentino, Eduardo, Yoselin, and Mirza. This young family previously lived in a cornstalk shack, and by next Monday they'll have a home! We're planning to buy them some groceries, too, since (according to the FHTH survey) most families need help with food. If you are still interested in donating, and feel moved by our blog and pictures, please feel free to offer sponsorship! Sara has also inquired about constructing an irrigation system for the family (just a few pipes, really, to act as gutters) because the citizens of Santa Maria de Jesus have a difficult time getting water. Sara's father has generously agreed to donate 1000 quetzales (only about $125)

The two children at our site are so sweet. Mirca is teeny-- strapped to her mom's back all day-- and Yoselin is only about two. I shared a banana and some stickers with her today, and she couldn't stop playing with them. Every time I glanced at her, she was trying to stick them onto the basin where her mother was washing clothes.

After our day was finished, we met another group of workers at the second site. Three volunteers from England-- Nick, Stewart & Luisa-- laid the foundation for their family's house. This location was much more open, which means there were many more children around, and we got a chance to play, give out more stickers, and take lots of photos. One boy named Alex, who had a Redskins shirt on, somehow got Luisa's hat and decided to keep it. He's quite an entrepreneur, because once he got a hold of our bag of stickers, he started selling them to the other children! We also met John, a pretty little girl named Anna, and a number of other local kids. They made us promise to bring dulces tomorrow. So much fun!

Showering & tea were bliss:) Looking forward to morning yoga and day two.