Last day on site and dinner out on the town

Today was our last build day on site.  We were joined today with 8 national volunteers from Banco Central.  Today was only a half day, with the dedication celebration taking up the latter part of the day.

We were able to complete the 3 ft deep leech field and start to brick in the sides.

 We also made great progress on the cess pool.  By swapping between teams of national ad international vounteers, we were able to dig out another 16 inches of dirt, bringing the final depth to 4ft 7in.  The dirt was mostly clay and really tough to dig through, but we did our best in our short time here.

The most exciting thing is that the foundation was fully completed and the first row of brick was completed.  The compacting of the dirt in the main room was started as well.

There was also great progress on the metal supports, with the completion of the second large support and 4 of the small ones.  There are only 2 more small ones to complete for the house.

We then had a huge lunch with Paraguayan barbeque.  There was beef, chicken and sausage, along with sopa Paraguaya, bean salad and other sides.

After lunch we had a house dedication ceremony and the family was given a special bible.  They handed out certificates to all of the national volunteers and our team as well.

We then prayed over the house and wrapped up our time on the work site.

We had a great week on the work site, we did a lot of work that will help Carmen and Marcos move into their house in the next 2 months.  They are looking forward to having their first Christmas in their own house.  We will receive an update from Habitat Paraguay once the house is completed, and will post that information here.

We ended our night at the Paulista Grill Churrasqueria, which is a Brazillian style steak house in Asuncion.  It was a night of so much good food and relaxation.

Tomorrow we will be doing a walking tour of Asuncion and then have some time at the market for shopping.

Chacarita Alta and Baja, Barrio San Francisco, a quick day on site and a visit with Julio and Rosanna

This morning started with a trip through the center of Asuncion on our way to the Chacarita.  The Chacarita is an area that is located along the Paraguay river.  The area of Chacarita Baja floods regularly, which drives the people of Chacarita Baja to higher ground.  These people usually do not own the land on which they have built their house, so when the floods come, they are displaced.

Habitat Paraguay is a part of a project called Barrio San Francisco, which is working to move up to 1,000 families to San Francisco. This is open to people who can prove that they either have owned the land they currently live on or can prove that they have lived there for a number of years.  This a planned city, with all the infrastructure such as a hospital, police station and grocery stores already built in.  Habitat Paraguay will not be building any of the houses, they are responsible for the social work portion of the project.  The people who choose to move will be able to move in starting in December.

Here are some photos of Chacarita Baja:

Here are photos of the Barrio San Francisco:

There is also another social project called Mejormiento Integral del Barrio Chacarita Alta.  This project's main focus is to support the residents of Chacarita Alta with doing surveys of what needs are not met for the community and what projects can be used to help the residents.

Here are some photos of Chacarita Alta:

After our tour was over, we headed over to the work site for a shortened day.  We were still working on digging the cess pool and leech field, mixing cement and leveling out the foundation in preparation for the brick layers and continuing with creating the metal supports.

For lunch we had roast chicken thighs and legs, with cake for desert.  Super yummy!

We ended up our short day with some good results.  We made some measurable progress in both the cess pool and leech field, and with the foundation filled in with cement.

 Currently at 2ft 6in, the goal is 3ft.

 Currently at 3ft 6in, goal is 6ft.

We headed out to the other side of Luque to visit with Rosanna and Julio whom we helped build a house for 4 years ago.  Julio had spent a full year just doing the foundation on his house before we had arrived on our Global Village trip in 2013.  To check out that build, click here.  

Here are some photos of the house 4 years later:

We brought them a cake as a thank you for allowing us into their home and we all sat down to enjoy it together.

It was very nice to see them once again and see what the house looks like 4 years later.  And here is one more photo for old time's sake.

98 degrees and on to day 3

Today was the hottest day so far on site.  It got up to 98 degrees with 30% humidity.  This was our longest day on site, starting at 7:45am and working until 3pm.  We were asked to continue digging the cess pool, start digging the leech field, continuing to fill in the foundation and to start making metal reinforcements for the walls.

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We worked hard throughout the day despite the high heat.  The foundation was taking shape quickly.

We also had to manufacture metal supports from the rebar that was cut yesterday.  These were made from a template that the masons made from materials from the work site.

The metal supports were then tied with wire to larger rebar to create a structure that will be used in strengthening the house.

For break we had empanadas that were filled with boiled eggs and seasoned beef.  They were muy delicisioso.

For lunch we had chicken fried chicken steak, which was super good.  We also had Budin de pan for dessert once again.

After lunch we worked very hard to complete the foundation and continue to dig in the cess pool and leech field.  The cess pool is currently 3ft deep and the leech field is almost 2 ft deep.

For dinner, we went to the Arpa Roga, which translates to the Harp House in English.  We went there 4 years ago, so it was nice to go once again.  They played traditional Paraguayan harp music for us as we ate a wonderful dinner of Paraguyan barbecue.

 The Harp House is a harp school during the day, and they sometimes host private events in the evenings.  They also showed us their harps and let us play them.  They also had their daughter come out and dance for us, along with one of the harp teachers.

It was a great night and a great experience.  Tomorrow we are going to visit another of Habitat Paraguay's projects in an area known as Chacarita Alta and also check in with Julio and Rosanna"s family who we built for 4 years ago.