Guatemala_Building (Day Three)

Above are some pictures of the finished house we have been working on. The team from Kentucky bought at wood burning stove for the house. This way Patti can cook inside in here kitchen, and not have to cook on the little porch our outside. This is especially nice when the rains come. I was not able to be here on Friday when the finished the house, I had to be back for volleyball practice since Hannah and Sam were in the city watching some kids. It was a great experience being able to help build a home for people, and even better being able meet the people who will be living in the house, here about their families, and work along side them.  

Guatemala_Building (Day Two)

 

Well, We got some more walls up. Another outside wall and the two interior walls. The first two pictures of this post are from another build site only four blocks from ours in the same village of Magdalena. The are adding on to a existing house and building some chicken coups. Both houses are going to be getting a stove that the team is donating. This is make cooking much more enjoyable for Patti and Paula. Patti is in the last picture of this post. She helped us to hammer some nails today and hung out for most the day. We all enjoyed a watermelon break with her and her sister. The kids have no connection to the family other then they life next door to the house we are building.

Guatemala_Building (Day One)

Today I helped out a team from Kentucky start building a house for Patty and her Mom. It's a 20 by 20 house with three rooms. Three of the men on the team took point with a majority of the construction and planning of everything, I tried my best to keep the three high school kids that were with us occupied. I have never been on a build site like this before, where you can't just run to the home depot and pick up some extra screws or rent that tool you may need. It makes things a little more difficult. I also felt like their was a lot of standing a round watching a couple people work. Maybe that's the nature of these type of projects or maybe it's my go go go, produce produce produce attitude. But, If I was not the designated translator to talk with Carlos, one of the contacts in the village were we working with, I would have been pretty bored. Now my spanish is much better then when I arrive, and can manage ok with misconjugated verbs and poorly pronounced words. But for me to be the goto in a situation like this was a little nerve wrecking, but actually enjoyed it. And it was a great experience to practice my spanish more. I will be helping out till friday and will hopefully have pictures of a completed house then.