Build day 4

Thursday was bittersweet for us.  It was our last day building in Pelican Park, the last day we would spend with the homeowners, and the last day we would be spending with the Habitat South Africa staff as well.  When we arrived on site, our main job was to bring in some 90's for the interior walls, bagging the walls and filling them with dirt and debris and cleaning up the site.


We got to watch the roof tiles being dropped off and to see the trusses being delivered.  Our houses were almost finished and we were really feeling a sense of accomplishment.  Just to see what we were able to accomplish with the help of our masons and homeowners was so fulfilling.

We ended our build day by with a quick recap by our block leader Glen, crew leader Bernie, John Bailey and Lea from Habitat South Africa.   We got to say a few words about our experience,  and we thanked them for taking us with such short notice. It was a touching moment for us all, so much so that I do not have a picture to post of it at this time.  I will get one and post it as soon as I can.  While our build days were behind us, we are due to fly out to Johannasburg in the morning for a short drive to Pretoria to meet with Habitat Regional Africa, Asia and Middle East staff, and also the director of Habitat Lesotho, Mathabo Makuta.  

Langa pictures

Here are some pictures of when we toured the town of Langa on Sunday.  You can get a feel of what we experienced while we were there.

Build days 2 and 3

 During lunch on day 2 of our week, we were joined by the Vice President of the Pelican Park Homeowner's Association,  John Bailey.  He has lived in Pelican Park for only 9 months, but has such a passion for what they are trying to accomplish: no drugs, no gangs, no chickens :).

He was kind enough to spend his entire lunch answering our questions.  We continued to build relationships that we may not have expected, but have been incredible all the same.  By the end of the day we had our dugha routine down pat, our brick lines were running like a well oiled machine and our bagging as smooth as a baby's bottom.

On Wednesday, day 3 of our build, we arrived to find that the builders had completed the exterior walls and had started building the interior walls in the end unit, which belongs to Wayne, who was working on another site for the week.  The builders needed more interior bricks, called 90's.  Those are our favorite because they are the lightest.  The 190's were for separating the houses, which we filled in with dirt, debris and dried dugha to help provide soundproofing and fireproofing.

 During the course of the day, we took aside one homeowner, Deborah and went inside her house.  The interior walls had yet to be built, but the one interior wall was only halfway built.  We told her about how back in Longmont when we build a house, we sign the studs and write prayers and words of encouragment for the families.  Since there aren't any studs in her house, we wrote prayers on paper, read them to Deborah and placed them inside the brick wall of her house.  Later, we were told by our crew leader Glen that he had never seen anyone do that before and that it was such a powerful thing to see.  We hope that they will carry on with this newfound tradition in the future.

World Habitat Build day 1 and day 2

We ended our day with having 6 courses of brick over the majority of the 4 houses we are building on.  We had dinner with our guide Carl and discussed the issues that face the modern, post-apartheid South African, such as taxes, availability of housing and the issues that they face.  The overwhelming sense of positivity and ownership of the welfare of the country of South Africa as a whole is refreshing to see and experience.

We started day 2 with another orientation, clouds overhead and a steady breeze, making it a bit chilly; then it was back to the brick line and dugha mixing.  We ended the day with the final 6 courses of brick going up on the back of the 4 houses and with 2 of the interior walls being half built.  Tomorrow should bring the completion of the rest of the exterior walls and finishing a majority of the interior walls.  We should be able to get everything but the roofs up by Thursday, which is quite exciting!  You really get a sense of just how different our building styles are.  We finished the night with buffet style dinner at a traditional Cape Malay restaurant. The food here has been amazing so far and quite varied as well.  You may have bobotie one night and fish and chips another.

On Sunday before we went to Langa, we went to Cape Town Gateway International church, where we observed mass and joined in on singing and dancing.  It was a very energized service, and at the end we found out that most of the parishioners would be joining us at the build for the week, most helping out as caterers for the over 200 people that were expected each day.

There will be pictures from Sunday and Monday posted separately, so you can see what we have been up to.

Getting acquainted with Cape Town

World Habitat build update

Today we were part of a large group build in Pelican Park on the Western Cape.  We started the day with a opening ceremony that included speeches from many dignitaries.

After the morning meetings, we were taken to our worksite.  We met our crew leader Bernie.

Then we started our day of mixing concrete, or what the locals call dugha, and hauling bricks.  

Happy World Habitat Day from Cape Town!

I hope everyone is having a great World Habitat Day, we sure did!

Blog update

With the lack of affordable and reliable internet in South Africa, the blog posts may unfortunately be delayed by a day.  At the moment, we have the ability to at least put out updates, although the ability to upload pictures at this time is limited.  There will be pictures uploaded when we are able to do so.

On Sunday, we took a walking tour of Langa township and we're able to tour the shanty town, the hostels that would house 16 families in 6 rooms no larger than an university dorm room, try traditional Xhosa beer called utshwala and we also got to see the Gugas Thebe cultural centre.  While at the cultural centre, we we treated to an impromptu performance by the after school program that allows children to come and learn dance and also get help with their school work.

On Sunday night, we had dinner at the hotel and got to meet Carl and Lea, who are a part of Habitat South Africa.  They held an orientation for us and explained the Habitat South Africa model of serving the community while also building houses.  They let us know what to expect in the coming week, being a part of the World Habitat Build week in Pelican Park, on the western cape.

There was an article in the Times Call on September 30th that talked about our trip to South Africa.  There is a group photo to check out and another picture that shows the art project that we brought with us to South Africa.

Safe and sound in Cape Town

So, a majority of us are now in country and well rested from our travels to beautiful Cape Town!  We will be beginning our build on Monday, in Pelican Park.  We spent today sightseeing and taking in the amazing natural beauty that surrounds us.  The food here is amazing as well.  Tomorrow there will be pictures and more of an update as we find out the details of our particular build.  Thank you for all your well wishes and thoughts and prayers!  So far we have been safe and well cared for.

Building in Dacono and Lesotho Global Village Trip Update

On September 6th, the Global Village team held a build day in Dacono.  The purpose of this day was to get to know each other better before our trip and to help out locally as well as globally.  The team helped frame the front and back walls of the house, lay the rest of the sub floor and build the window frames for the house.

We also worked on an art project that will becoming with us to South Africa; which inspired us to leave a little something behind on this house, a blessing of sorts.

We had a great time helping build this house and helping out our community in general.  Please keep our team in your prayers as we head out next week for our Global Village Trip.

Due to a military coup and continued political unrest in Lesotho, our group of 17 volunteers is unable to work alongside of our tithe partner at this time.  Our Global Village trip has been relocated to Capetown, South Africa, where we will work with Habitat for Humanity South Africa.  We will head to Pretoria to meet with the Executive Director of Habitat Lesotho and the Regional Director of Habitat for Humanity International: Africa and the Middle East.  While not being able to meet with our tithe partner, we are still able build new relationships and help support other Habitat affiliates around the globe.  Please keep Lesotho in your thoughts and prayers as they work to overcome the difficulties that they are facing at this time and to bring peace to the area.

Come Join us at the Front Range Film Festival!

On June 28th, St. Vrain HFH has an unique opportunity to screen the first ever feature film to be produced in Lesotho!  The Forgotten Kingdom deals with a young man who reluctantly embarks on a journey back to his ancestral land of Lesotho to bury his estranged father and finds himself drawn to the mystical beauty and hardships of the people and land he had forgotten.

This screening will help to highlight the International Ministry of HFHSVV.

The screening will take place at 7pm at Central Presbyterian Church located at 402 Kimbark St. in Longmont.  Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.  Come early for the best seats!

Director and writer Andrew Mudge will be attendance for a question and answer session after the screening of his first feature film.

We look forward to seeing as many of you as possible!

Day 5: Final day on site and closing celebration

Today was going to be our last day on site.  We had a few tasks to complete before we were done for the week.  These included painting roof tiles with tar to help with waterproofing, tamping down the rubble we had place inside the house, plastering the septic drain and hauling plenty of brick.

We also painted on a layer of tar on to a brick course to create a capillary break, which keeps water from leeching from the soil into the house.

We completed the plastering of the septic system, hauled load upon load of brick closer to the site and completed painting 700 roof tiles.

We were treated to an amazing lunch of chorizo and steak, cooked by the homeowner Julio.

After an amazing lunch, a small siesta was in order.

We then participated in a closing celebration, where the family, volunteers and members of the affiliate had the opportunity to share what this week had meant to them.

Rosanna thanked us for coming out and making such an impact on the progress of her house.  She also spoke of how grateful her and her family were to participate in this experience, meeting the members of the affiliate and our team, and getting to know us during our stay here in Paraguay.

Ken spoke for all of the volunteers, telling the family how much of an honor it was to be able to come and help them accomplish their dream of getting their house completed.  He also spoke of the gratitude we felt towards the affiliate for being able to spend so much time with us and growing that relationship for the future. 

Milena interpreted for another affiliate member, who spoke about how the mission of Habitat is to put God's love into action, and that us coming to help their affiliate build was a sign of that.  She also spoke of looking forward to continuing to strengthening the relationship with our affiliate and was very positive about our combined futures.  

We were presented with certificates for our service in Paraguay, and were also presented with a small gift from the family.  

Nanduti, which means spiderweb in Guarani, is a traditional lace made only in Paraguay.  It has multiple origin stories; the one we were told was about multiple tribes were in competition for a princess.  The one  who came up with the best offering would receive her hand in marriage.  When the mother of one son heard about this, she plucked gray hairs from her head and woven them into this pattern.  While other tribes offered up cows and other gifts, this one won due to it being the most unique.  It is given as a token of affection to others, and is held in very high regard.

The family was also presented with a certificate from HPHPY for participating in our build, and were also given a bible that we all signed for them to keep in their home and as a remembrance of those who came to help build their house.

We wrapped up the day talking with the family and masons one last time, and found out that they should have the house completed within the next 2 weeks.  

It has been such a great experience for all of those involved.  We were blessed with such an amazing team and we look forward to all that the future holds for ourselves and HPHPY

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Day 4

Today was a very eventful day.  We got to lay brick in the actual house, finish off laying brick in the septic tank and finish back filling the rooms with soil.

We took joy in the little things, like this baby chicken;

a sweet moment between grandfather and grand daughter;

and a conversation with Julia's cousin about the typical school day and plans for his future.

We were able to get a lot done on the house as well today, filling in the rooms with rubble so they would soon be able to pour the concrete slabs. We also completed 4 courses of brick on the house and finished filling the house with rubble.

We also were treated to a homemade dinner of green chili by Andy, who spent his morning slaving away over the coal burners.

After our day on site was done, the local affiliate took us on a tour of other Habitat houses they had built in the area.  

This house is their most basic layout; kitchen, 1 bedroom and a bathroom.  Here is the homeowner is telling us about the progress on their house.  They were still waiting on the city to come and allow them to get electric and water to the house, and then with their Christmas bonus they would be able to turn those utilities on and have their daughter and granddaughter move in.

Here is another of their type 1 houses.  This one is not covered in stucco like the other.  We were unable to enter the house, but we did get to take pictures and meet the owner and his son.

Here is the last house we were taken to.  This started out as one of their Type 1 basic designs and the owner expanded to include 2 more bedrooms.  

This house is owned by a locally renowned mariachi, who is quite famous in this part of Paraguay.  His brother lives on the plot behind him.

We had a long, hot and exhausting day, but ended with the opportunity to learn more about the locals and what the typical Paraguay house looks like.  I would like to thank the HPHPY affiliate for taking the time to educate us on what they do.

I close with a picture of the view from that last house.