Construction Day 5

A day filled with joy and sadness.  Sadness that our journey was coming to an end. Joy in celebration of the opportunity to build together with friends and a beautiful Guatemalan family. Joy that a family will have their first home with a door that locks, a window and a concrete floor.

We gave the family a photo album that  chronicled the home build and included many photos of the family at work and play. Mom  especially loved the photos of her needlework, the kids bathing and Dad reading to the kids. She was very excited to share the album with her mother, sister and husband.








We also gave the family two large boxes of food. The boxes are filled at From Houses to Homes at a cost of $30 a box. The boxes contained dry goods like pasta, beans, rice etc. Each box should provide food for the family for one month. 














Today the home was painted inside and out and a roof, window and door were installed.

The children helped to paint the home. We also painted each other of course.

Joe and Oscar (the program directors)  came out for a closing ceremony with the family and all of the workers. 

Joe explained to the family that the money to build the home was provided by Woods Charter School Foundation and asked several things of the family;

1. To care for their home and keep it clean and well maintained. 

2. To continue to support the children with their education . 

3.To give back to others

 

A plaque was placed on the outside of the home. Their home is #514. Changing the face of poverty one home at a time. From Houses to Homes Guatemala has  completed 514 homes, a health clinic and almost 2 schools.

The family gave each of our team members a drawing that included individual notes of gratitude. Our new friend Tere translated each note and read them aloud.  Tere Ligorría G. is the Director of
USAID|Alianzas.  She spend the day with us on Friday.  The notes expressed gratitude for all that we had done for them during the week. The family said that  we would all be in their thoughts and prayers and that they would never forget us.  We gave them the key to their new home and wished them great happiness, health and prosperity. We explained that we too had received so much from the opportunity to spend the week with their family. We asked that all they give in return is to keep the children in school. The ceremony was emotional for all of us and many tears were shed.

There are so many things we have to be grateful for that we sometimes take for granted. This week reminds us of the simple and important things in life. Relationships, family, sharing our skills and resources with others, taking the time to slow down and listen and see all that we miss as we rush around in our lives.  We didn’t just build a home this week , we built relationships with each other, with the family and with the amazing workers at From Houses to Homes Guatemala. 

Many thanks to:
-From Houses to Home Guatemala for this incredible opportunity and for your commitment to improving the quality of life for so many families in Guatemala
-Woods Charter School and Woods Charter School Foundation for supporting this project.
-Amanda Ketner (teacher extraordinaire) for giving up your spring break to participate in this project. We hope that this is the beginning of a sustained relationship between Woods Charter School students and faculty and From Houses to Homes Guatemala
-The Students from Woods Charter School who demonstrated leadership, team work and great compassion through the project development, fundraising and project execution.

Construction Day 4

Today we spent the morning at Escuela Kemna'oj de Santa Maria de Jesus.  The school is run by From Houses to Homes Guatemala and provides an education for 100 children from 3 years of age to grade 3. Santa Maria de Jesus is a very poor community. They only have water for a few hours every other day. From Houses to Homes Guatemala has built over 100 homes in this community and has been committed to assisting with the educational and health care needs of the families.  The families pay no tuition and education sessions are available weekly for mothers and monthly in the evening for fathers.

We were so touched by the children.  They were excited to share their work, songs and hugs. They were so proud and happy to be at school.

 

The school uses a Montessori model and the children are taught in both English and Spanish. The current long term goal of the school is to educate the children through 6th grade. Education can dramatically change the cycle of poverty. Santa Maria de Jesus is primarily a Mayan community and most of children's parents have not had the opportunity for an education. Afterschool support is also provided at the school to assist with homework completion and reinforcement of key concepts.







School rules

 

You can imagine the challenges of running a school without an adequate  water supply. The toilets are unable to be flushed and hand washing is a challenge. Currently they are leasing space for the school and building a new school. The new school will have underground cisterns  and a grey water re-use system to collect and clean rainwater for use. Rooftop photovoltaic panels will absorb and convert solar energy to provide for the electrical needs of the school space. From Houses to Homes Guatemala has raised 300, 000 of the total 500, 000 dollars required to complete the school. The architect for the project is Guatemalan and is collaborating with an American architect. The project has only employed workers from Santa Maria de Jesus. Another way to give back to the community.

The new school will also have 2 rooms that will be used as a health clinic for the children. The most common ailment is digestive problems. Creating a generation of children with knowledge about proper hygiene and nutrition, paired with access to healthcare can help to change health outcomes.

Please see the From Houses to Homes website for additional information about the school.www.fromhousestohomes.org.    They are currently looking for sponsors for the children at the school. You can sponsor a child for 60 dollars a month. This will provide education, health care, school supplies and daily lunches for a child and allow the project to be sustainable long term. From Houses to Homes will provide you will updates on your sponsor child every three months.


House update: We have poured concrete flours in the house and tomorrow the house will be completed. It just needs a roof , a window and a coat of paint tomorrow. Hats off to  the team.  Parents, you would not believe how hard your teenagers have worked!  The work ethic has been incredible. They have demonstrated phenomenal kindness and compassion with the family. The best moments have been when they read with the children. We bought one book for each child and the students read to the younger children or patiently listen as the older children read to them. Moments to treasure, we could not ask for anything better! Ms Sabbagh and Ms Lee, you would be so proud!

Tomorrow is our last day! Thank you parents for sharing your adolescents with us for this incredible week. Thank you Woods for supporting this project. Amanda Ketner  has been an incredible mentor to these children and a  joy to have on this trip. I know as parents we never get to see our children at their best! We often hear of those moments when they are with others. I have seen your children at their best! Rest assured you have raised self- confident, compassionate, responsible children that will go on to do great things in their lives.

Dawn

 

Construction Day 3

Another beautiful day in Guatemala.  The morning always starts with the taking in the gorgeous views of two volcanoes on the way to the construction site, Agua and Fuego. The family is happy to see us and excited about their new home. The students are quickly bonding with the family as we work and play together.   Small holes are made in the lids of used water bottles and then the bottles are refilled to wet the concrete. They also make great water pistols. The children giggle with delight as they spray each other and us.  

 

Kelby and Niamh carrying a 50 kg bag of concrete

 

Asucena (the mother) shares her  weaving with us. She weaves very detailed flowers and birds and makes the weaving into bags and belts to be sold at the market. One inch of weaving takes one day to complete. We purchased a small piece of weaving to display at school for 300 quetzales (40 dollars).

The children are polite and kept very clean despite not having any indoor plumbing. They quickly change out of their school uniforms when they arrive home from school. Antonio having a bath.

The children happily join in with filling in the cracks. They are much more agile at climbing on the scapholding than I even though they have sandals and skirts on.

We asked the family what they need. They said that the children really need new shoes. Chelsi’s shoes are too small and her toes are coming through the front.  Dad is working in a worn pair of flip flops.They also said that they do not have a bed to sleep on. The cornstalk house that they lived in was torn down to build the new home because space is very limited. While we are building their new home they are sleeping on the floor in Grandma’s kitchen.

After work we walked to the Mercado  and bought a new pair of shoes for each family member. The children got  “school shoes” which must be black to wear with their uniform. We also bought some Spanish books for the students to read with them.

We have ordered pizza to be delivered to the construction site for lunch tomorrow. Can you believe it Dominoes two for one day.  Pizza is expensive and quite a novelty for the Guatemalan workers and the family. Most  homes do not have ovens so bread and pizza is not a possibility. 

 Dawn

March 27

Aubrie, Niamh and Troy working hard on cement mixing. It was made up of stones, water and cement. We used this to pack cinder blocks and fill cracks. Today, we built 6 cinder block levels on the house.

Everyone after a long day of building houses.

Kelby's last name is Caballero. We took this photo outside the store that Dawn, Aubrie, Troy and Amanda got some cowboy boots.

Josephine helping build her house.

Josephine and Chelsea chilling.

 

 Back post:Hiking Pacaya on Saturday! The horses follow you just in case you can't make it to the top. Sandwiches and marshmallows cooked in a lava oven

Build Day Uno: Today we began work on the house we are building for a Guatemalan family of six.  In order to get the build site we had to take a 30 min. ride in the back of a pick-up through a few small towns.  Upon arriving we meet the family and then continued the day with lots of hard work and even more fun!

Family has 4 children. Mama, Chelsi(4) and baby in photo. Other two children are at school.

 The family lives on the same piece of land as Grandma (Abuela)

 

The plot of land we are building on is very small.  You can see the surrounding trees and  line markers for the foundation and walls.

Building materials, cinder blocks and cement and lots of sweat!

Chelsi  and Emmanuel (7)

First we put 20 wheelbarrows full of dirt, followed by 12 bags of concrete and 10 wheelbarrows full of rocks. Then add water and mix and mix and mix and shovel and shovel and shovel!!!

Making U blocks for level 6 of cinder blocks.

Bonding with the kiddos!

Hey family, teachers and friends,
Just checking in for a second update on all of our Guatemalan adventures. We woke up this morning to meet our amazing tour guide, Hugo Suarez.   We all packed in the back of his range rover and headed off to our first stop, a restaurant off the highway famous for its delicious fruit pies.  We ate breakfast and learned how to make tortillas with the local ladies.   

 




Then we drove a bit down the road to some ancient Mayan ruins in an area called Iximché.  The site is best known as the very first capital of Guatemala. 












We were also very lucky to be able to witness a traditional Mayan ritual complete with flowers, incense, rum, candles, corn, and a Shaman.   

Our next drive was full of amazing scenery as we drove beside the shore of Lake Atitlan passing waterfalls and colorful graveyards along the way.

One of the highlights of everyone's day was the zip-lines.  It was amazing to see the view of the lake from so high up!

When we arrived at the zipline place we were given our equipment we hiked up to an observation deck where were could see wild monkeys and another type of mammal like a raccoon that we had never seen before.  We fed them bananas and they came just feet away from where we were standing! 

Our day was full of even more adventures including swimming in the lake and watching a parade in the streets in accordance with Easter, but we all have to get to bed so we can be well rested for our busy day tomorrow at the work site.

  The streets are adorned with carpets made of flowers.

 

 Floats are carried down the street in processional. The floats each represent the stations of the cross as part of the Lent celebrations. The processional walks over the beautiful flower carpets.
We will keep you posted!
Aubrie Phillips