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.