The House That Love & Cement Built

Days four and five were all about concrete: it took about five hundred buckets of it to lay the floor on Friday. Well it seemed like that many anyway. Sara, Tom and I (just barely) each carried two cement bags down a slippery dirt hill to the site, mixed in a huge pile of dirt (heavy digging!) and then added a whole bunch of rocas. It was exhausting but fun (except for the part where Tom covered us with half a bag of dry cement-- we looked like ghosts from the waist down).

For the record, I'd like to note that Tom is one of the nicest guys I've ever met. He has an incredible heart, he's warm and generous and is absolutely devoted to working with From Houses to Homes. A trained carpenter, he wasn't able to find work in England, so he decided to come to Antigua to volunteer. He fell in love and decided to stay on for a total of seven weeks.

One of my favorite moments of the project was when Isaias asked Marian Elena where she wanted her window. I don't know if the house was real to her before that, but then the builders blocked out a space for the door and window, and suddenly our collection of cinderblocks began to look like a house!

Friday was a half-day because once the floor is poured, there isn't much else to do. Valentin, the father of the family, found a soccer ball, and we challenged the other building team to a game of futbol. On our team were Cutchie and Diablo (the builders), Tom, and Sara and I. On the opposing team were Louise, Nick, Stewart, Fernando and Ernie. Only one goal was scored during the 1 1/2 hour game, because the goals were two water bottles, one at either end of our field (the narrow cobblestone street). We ran up and down the street like a thousand times (avoiding the horse poop and pausing for dogs, kids and people walking their donkeys home) and never scored! Sara and I spent all Saturday and Sunday really sore.

See video, care of Louise. (Coming soon!)

The weekend was filled with relaxation and nutella crepes (Confession: I have had more crepes in a week than I have my whole life. The guys at Luna de Miel wave at me from across the street, because they know I'm addicted ). We finished our walking tour of Antigua, ate some imitation pizza, and went for (decent) immitation Indian at Pushkar. I do miss Asian food.

Monday was painting day. We were all excited and in disbelief that our time with From Houses to Homes was coming to an end. Three new volunteers joined-- Sisel (architect, Mexico) and Rachel (student, US) and Susanna (Ireland) -- and we painted the outside red/inside yellow. To get the top few levels, Rachel had to get on Tom's shoulders. The guys installed the gutters and the roof, and then the family made us delicious Peppian, a local soup served with rice and tortillas. The chicken was the best I've had in Guatemala! It was an incredible meal, one I'll never forget. The family even bought us a 2-liter Coca Cola.

The closing ceremony was deeply moving. Suddenly, all of the extended family members arrived and we all crowded into the finished house. Oscar, the Program Director of FHTH, said a speech in Spanish (which we all proudly understood...more or less) and then we were given beautiful shawls by the grandparents. Sara and I handed Valentin and Marian Elena the keys to their new home, and everyone celebrated by beating the crap out of Spiderman (Note: pinata). We stuffed it with two giant bags of candy and a bag of plastic balls. Even the adults dove into the pile! Then Sara and I handed out the little parting gifts (toys, clothes, crocs) to the family and we said goodbye.

Valentin said, Thank you always. It was hard to imagine being thanked for this. It felt so effortless, so worth it, and unquestionably necessary. We were grateful to get to know his family and to help in this way. Thank you all, of course, for your support and donations.

And now Sara and I will return to America in April and build our own cinderblock house. We know a nice little piece of property in Mount Tabor...

But, really, we hope to come back next summer to build again, if we have any money left at all!