Oaxaca Trek, Day 5, Part 1

Our day’s work included work in the Los Olivos del Sol community: pouring the floors at Laura and Manuel’s houses, pouring the foundation at Alberto’s house, and re-digging out the foundation trenches after a night of pouring rain at Mauro’s soon-to-be-home.

2nd ESPERANZA HOUSE: Laura´s!

Laura.

Andrew. Prepping the rebar for the floor.

Juana and the Cacalote community pitching in!

Eduardo. Aimee. Dan.

Everyone pitching in to load the cement mixer for Laura´s floor!
*****

3rd ESPERANZA HOUSE: ALBERTO´S

Mason laying the rocks in the foundation trenches of Alberto´s home.

Hard to stay clean when mixing cement!

The bucket line. Pouring foundation of Alberto´s house.

Rosa and Erin. (note Rosa´s barefeet: community members showed up to help with whatever clothes they had - from barefeet and flipflops to skirts and blouses.

Erin pouring the concrete into the foundation trenches.

*****

4th ESPERANZA HOME: MAURO´S
Romeo (our driver) with Mauro, soon-to-be Esperanza home owner!

Breaking ground for Mauro´s home!
Hardest worker of us all. This man isn´t even associated with Esperanza, he is a neighbor of the Los Olivos del Sol community who showed up to dig foundation trenches at Mauro´s home before we arrived and was still working when our group left. Amazing.

Josue and Rosa digging in.

*****

While wheel barrowing the heavy cement from the cement mixer to the floor of the house is most often the task of men, Aimee rallied a few of us ladies to take over the task while pouring the floor at Laura’s house. Maneuvering the heavy wheelbarrow up the tentative boards to the house was a tricky ordeal, but we ladies persevered, with big ol’ smiles and a lot of laughter!

The all-ladies wheelbarrow team!

Katrina, Hana, Aimee, Laura, Erin, Deana

Laura and Aimee lining up to pour the concrete floor.

Rosa joined in on the fun!

*****

By the time our group took a break for lunch, Eduardo was covered from head to foot in cement dust, among other things that had been loaded into the cement mixer! Lunch was provided by various community members of Los Olivos del Sol, a spread of delicious Oaxacan food for both our volunteer group and the many community members who showed up to help out for the day.

Oh, Eduardo!

Lunch time at the worksite!

Lunch buffet: fish tacos, sopas, white rice, beans, mexican rice, mac n´cheese, hot dogs, mole chicken, fresh coconut water, salsa´s galore! And that´s just what I ate, I don´t know about everyone else! :)

Oaxaca Trek, Day 4

LOS OLIVOS DEL SOL

CONSTRUCTION OF THE 1st ESPERANZA HOME!

Friday, August 20th

A generous, gentle and grateful man; his face says it all.

Don Willy is the soon-to-be recipient of the first Esperanza home here in Oaxaca. His community chose him to be the first, knowing how deserving he is. For a man in his seventies, Don Willy’s energy and work ethic is awe-inspiring. He lost his wife two years ago to a drawn-out illness and now rents a small house for himself, his daughter and his two grandkids. To pay each month’s rent and provide for his family, Willy has worked as an ice cream vendor at a high school from 9am-3pm Monday – Friday for the past 15 years. Each morning he walks to the town center where his ice cream cart is parked and pushes the cart along a bumpy dirt road about a mile to the school.

Willy sharing with us his ice cream and his story.

Though my encounters with Don Willy have been brief, he is never without a huge smile and a humble heart. As the recipient of an Esperanza house, it is expected that at least one member of Willy’s family is at the worksite helping to make blocks and construct the home. When our group arrived at the worksite today, not only did we meet Don Willy, but also his daughter and her two children, who will be sharing this new home with him. Even the youngest grandchild, no more than 2 years old, helped in construction of the foundation, carrying rocks no bigger than his little fist to his Grandpa, who received the help ever so patiently and placed the rocks in the foundation trenches with the most delightful smile.

Construction begins for Don Willy`s home!

Don Willy`s daughter and grandson.

Both the grandsons at the worksite.

Carrying rocks to be used in the foundation.

Building a foundation. Together.

Not only did Don Willy`s family show up for construction of his home today, but so did more than 30 members of Esperanza`s four Oaxaca community groups: Los Olivos del Sol, Cacalote, El Venado, and Rio Grande. Each community group is at different stages of preparation for the construction of their Esperanza homes. All have purchased land to build on, and many are in the process of saving money for construction, which will begin in January or February 2011. The Rio Grande community is in the process of making 2400 Ado-blocks for each home to be built in their community, as you saw in day 1 and 2 of the blog. The Los Olivos del Sol community, of which Willy is a member, has begun construction on the homes! Today we helped to dig the foundation trenches of a man named Maoru`s home, as well as pouring the floor of Willy`s house!

Willy preparing the floor for the concrete pour.

Katrina with members of the Los Olivos del Sol community: Rosa and her children

Members of the Cacalote community showed up to help in construction of Willy`s home.

Members of the Los Olivos del Sol community begin a bucket line in preparation for making the concrete floor of Willy`s home.

Deana and the Cacalote community get in on the bucket line.

David, Andrew and Dan.

Even Willy gets in on the bucket line.

Eduardo passing concrete to Deana and Dan.

Erin preparing sand for the cement mixer.

Pete getting the buckets of rocks ready.

Dan loading the cement mixer.

Eduardo mixing the cement.

David loading the final product.

Manuel, Los Olivos del Sol member and soon-to-be-Esperanza house recipient, pouring the floor.

The hired mason attending to the finishing touches.

Happiness IS.

Don Willy and his NEW floor!

*****

Oaxaca Trek, Day 3

¨The miracle is not to fly through the air or to walk on water, but to walk on the earth.¨ -Thich Nhat Hahn

THURSDAY, AUGUST 19th

We haven´t even been here three full days and already we have been received with incredible hospitality by the local community. A Catholic parish granted us the use of their ¨Casa Parroquial¨ or Parish House, which consists of a 2nd-story open-air, thatched palapa hut where we have pitched tents for the week and taken in the immaculate view from the church bell-tower.

High up in the church belltower.

Andrew, Pete, Katrina and Erin setting up our tents for the week.

Andrew and our tent city.

Erin. Pete. David. Kickin back on the roof after a loooong day.

Views of Rio Grande.

Eduardo taking in the view of Rio Grande.

Hana. Katrina. Erin.

******

One family in particular has opened both their home and their lives to us. Javier aka ¨El Profe¨ and his wife Susi are a remarkable couple, both professors here in Rio Grande and active in promoting eco-consciousness. Their house itself is worthy of an eco-tour... mango, papaya, coconut, lime and various fruit trees I have never seen before provide food and shade in both the front and back yards. For El Profe, anytime is a good time to machete-open a coconut for visitors and family...

¨El Profe¨Javier

His wife, Susi!

While our group was enjoying the coconuts that El Profe and Susi had prepared for us this afternoon, their niece brought over a 2-day old baby goat. Their family´s property next door is an urban farm, home to goats, sheep, ducks, chickens, geese, pigs, parrots and the usual dogs and cats.

Hana with 2-day old baby goat.

Deana drinking fresh coconut water.

*****

El Profe Javier is the Director of a primary school here in Rio Grande and his care for the environment was evident as we toured the school. All over campus there are sets of waste bins labeled ¨Organic¨and ¨Inorganic.¨ For all inorganic waste, there is a very small dumpster sitting next to a rather large compost pile where all the organic waste goes. At the time we saw the dumpster, it was full, but from last SCHOOL YEAR´s worth of waste. Not much inorganic waste at all. Students are not allowed to bring disposable waste to school, for example chip bags or plastic bottles.

El Profe´s school.

As a daily reminder of the importance of caring for the earth, students painted a mural on one wall of the campus. It is symbolic in that the future of the earth is in our hands.

The following message is painted on the wall next to the mural:

¨DO YOU THINK IT´S IMPORTANT TO TAKE CARE OF OUR NATURAL ENVIRONMENT?

The kids are the future of the world. This is the reason why we have to educate them with values of conserving the natural environment; this is the only way that life on our planet can be sustained.

TAKE CARE OF YOUR CHILD´S WORLD, BUT DON´T JUST THINK ABOUT IT AND REFLECT ON IT...MAKE IT HAPPEN ALREADY!¨

One way that the community of Rio Grande is ¨making it happen already¨is through a weekly day of community service. Both students and adults alike take one day out of the week to do a form of community service. Doctors may volunteer their medical services, while El Profe´s students may clean up trash at a nearby hiking trail. Several weeks ago, over 300 parents showed up at El Profe´s school as a day of service to paint and prepare the premises for the new school year. This weekly community service day is a cultural tradition that both lowers overall taxes for the community as well as reflects the spirit of community collaboration that is so prevalent here in Rio Grande.