Lunes

Monday

First day at Los Buenos “The Good Ones”

We had our first day at the worksite today. We had an early start and arrived at the worksite just after 8am. The drive was down the mountain, about 25 mins. from our hotel. This area of the country is quite mountainous- we see one of the large volcanoes on our drive to and from (don’t worry, last active in 2005, years ago…), and it is so lush and green.

The Getsemani Community sits a ways off the main highway on a very rocky, muddy road. There had been heavy rains in the last few days, which made the roads especially soggy. We were greeted by the leader of the community, Rosa Alvido Presidente (coincidental that her last name is president and she is the leader of the community?), along with the masons and some of the families that we will be working with.

The community is already established, many people already have homes, though they would be classified as substandard housing. Some don’t have running water or electricity. It is a very lush area, so many different fruit trees and lots of vegetation. The roads are narrow and most of the houses have paths in between.
The community is called Los Buenos (housed with the Getsemani community, which is divided into three communities), because most of these families are related with the last name Buenos. As of right now, there are 115 children in the community. There are currently 19 Habitat homes, with the goal of 45.

We found out that Paz Isabel, who made our lunch for us, lives in what is now marked as a condemned house. She had a Habitat house built for her, but was gracious enough to give it to her son and his family, feeling they needed it more than she did.

We started the day with devotions and broke up into three groups to work on the houses. There are currently three houses in construction and we will not be breaking ground for any new ones this week. The houses are all about in the same stage. The cinder block frame is up, but there need still needs to be a roof, the floors dug out, etc, so plenty of work for us to do. We sanded and white-washed (a kind of sealant to the blocks) the house, and there was plenty of digging for those anxious to do that job. I think we wore some of our men out. We are hopeful that the houses will be very close to being finished this week.

The wonderful thing about the worksite was all of the children that came to us. They were very eager to help, though a construction site might not be ideal for them. They brought us flowers and fruits and were just eager to pronounce our names or ask if we were married and had children. This is amazing, as they see volunteer teams every week, yet seem to be eager to get to know their new audience.

For the repeaters, we were happy to see Jovel, a mason that we have worked with in the past. We also reconnected with Alex, one of the Thrivent liaisons. It is so amazing that they recognize us, for they see so many volunteer teams. They are great to work with and make the worksite fun.

We found out that Alex has been working with the children of the community. Habitat believes in not just building the community, but expanding on what being in a community means. He has asked the children to sign a covenant to be examples in the community, teaching them values, and committing to good behavior in the community. There were at least 20+ children surrounding Alex, and it was very clear how much they respected him.

After the worksite, we stopped at Super Selectos, a local grocery store in the city, to pick up a few essentials (cervezas and snacks). However, it wasn’t until we left muddy footprints in the front of the store that we realized they had just mopped the floor. We all stopped in our tracks, walked back to the mat, attempted to wipe our feet clean, and apologized profusely. It was a very comical scene and thankfully, they were very good sports about it. Watch out for the gringos…

We look forward to a great second day at the worksite. We are so thankful for the relationships that have already been built.

Hasta…