End of Day 1

Wow, what a day! We began construction on the five homes that are slated to be completed by Thursday. All are small, with a kitchen, bathroom, laundry sink, living area and a bedroom.  About the same size as Acora´s stall plus half of Skeeter´s stall.  They are all constructed of terra cotta blocks which are made locally. Their is a crew of seven +/- paid masons per house working with eight Habitat volunteers.  Carlos and Learndro (sp?) will be the homeowners. Leandro is a teacher, part of the cooperative of teachers who had the land donated to them.  The land, a beautiful walled area has a pool and will later have about 40 houses. A weathy second homeowner donated the land to Habitat. We hauled blocks, tarred roof tiles and dug holes for the septic system.  Needless to say, we are exhausted, but feeling very proud of  the work we did.  The families cook meals and provide snacks for their teams while at the worksite.  Mega carbs but yummy food.  We should have the walls complete tomorrow and start on the roof.  My team, mostly women and two men, were having a tough time with the holes.  However, we had several military men helping today (as the husband of one teacher is deployed) and one studly guy felt sorry for us and did some serious digging.  So now it is beer, dinner, and the Super Bowl (at least we hope).   So for the Packer fans and Tom, Tina and Nick, have some nachos and beer for me and go Packers!  Love to all, Karen

 Julianne our team leader meeting Leandro.

Carlos and Leandro.