3rd day own site

Today, we had a very physical day on site.  We finished off the second coat on the walls, with the top 3 feet set to be finished between Friday and Saturday.

We also started digging the drainage trench, with one team starting at each end, with us meeting in the middle.

We were joined by 2 members of the Habitat Armenia office, Luiza, the Executive Director and Seda, the Resource and Development manager.

During lunch we were given a presentation about how Habitat Armenia serves its community. Almost all work done is renovation, to help provide access to finance to help families improve their houses. Habitat Armenia works with micro-finance companies to provide small loans to the lower and upper middle class people who would not qualify for a traditional loan.  This economic class earns between $40-364 USD a month.  The also provide basic financial education on how to budget to be able to get and repay a loan, construction advice and referrals for laborers if needed. We will be hearing more about the specifics tomorrow when we meet at the head office in Yerevan.

After the presentation we went back to work, smoothing out the walls and finishing the rough cut on the trench.  We are aiming to have both projects completed by Saturday at the latest.

While we were waiting for the bus to pick us up, the neighbors were gracious enough to allow us into their backyard to see their personal business,  They purchase fish from the market then gut, smoke and can their own fish for both personal use and for sale.  It was a nice way to end the day.

To see other pictures of what we have been up to, check out Habitat Armenia's Facebook page here, where they are also keeping track of our trip.

additional pictures from our first day on site

Here are some additional pictures from our first day on site.

Day 2 on site and first day of school!!

Today was an eventful day on site.  When we went to our first break, we were treated to a visit from children of the family after they got out of school.  Today had been the first day back to school for the children, and the occasion was commemorated by a book shaped cake.

 The cake was decorated with pens, rulers, erasers and other school supplies and September 1st written in icing.

We spent our morning doing the second coat on almost all of the walls, filling in the gaps from the previous day's work with more sand plaster.  Here is the before:

We also were able to apply a final coat, leaving a smooth finish that will be ready to accept paint once it has fully dried.

Before we headed home for the day, we stopped at a church that was 2 minutes away from our build site.

This church was from the 9th century and was being slowly rebuilt by the community through the donations of Armenians around the world.

 The khachkars outside were salvaged from ruined churches around the country, awaiting their new home.  It was definitely worth the 10 minute detour.

First day on site

Today we headed out to the chosen work site for the week.  Our site is located in the village of Noratus, off the coast of Lake Sevan, approximately 59 miles northeast of Yerevan.  We got to learn about the family we would be helping before we arrived on site.

3 generations of Yura Hovhannisyan's family share a home in Noratus.  Yura is a 62 year old widow whose wife passed away from a brain tumor.  He himself was just diagnosed with a malignant tumor in his lung and will be starting chemotherapy in the coming weeks.  Yura has 3 sons and daughters who are all married and have children.  According to Armenian tradition, one of the son's should live at home with the parents to help take care of them and their ancestral home.  The family's main source of income comes from cattle farming and agriculture.

Arthur is the middle son and has chosen to be the one to stay at home.  He is married with 2 children, Yura who is 9 and Eric who is 6.

Recently the family has made some renovations due to the growing size of the family and increasing lack of privacy.  They added a kitchen and a bathroom, along with new windows and doors, but could not afford to finish the interiors.  With the help of Habitat Armenia, friends and family, we will be helping to finish the interior of the bathroom.  We will be using a cement sand plaster, mixed all by hand to help finish the walls, and if time provides we will also be helping dig a trench for the new drainage system.

We were greeted by the family upon our arrival, and given the traditional Armenian welcome of fresh bread dipped in salt.

We then got to sit in on a Safety meeting before being shown what our assignments of the day were going to be.

Some of us sifted sand to be used in the concrete.

Some of us mixed the concrete.

Some of us got to sling the freshly made concrete onto the walls.

We were treated to homemade pastries, fresh fruit and Armenian coffee for our first break.  It was all delicious!!

For lunch the family cooked a meal consisting of freshly made cheese, kefir, roast chicken, tomato and cucumber salad and fresh yogurt.

We spent some time during  the day talking with the family and interacting with the children.

By the end of the day we had gone through 3 batches of concrete and almost finished plastering the walls.

To learn more about what our partners in Armenia are doing, please click here to check out their website and feel free to follow them on Facebook to see more pictures of the work we are doing here!

First day in Armenia!!!

The team arrived safely in country and we had a very full day ahead of us!!!

First, we had lunch with 2 of the Habitat Armenia staff where we were given a presentation of what types of work they do in country.

Then we went on a walking tour around downtown Yerevan, going through Republic square.

After that little tour, we made our way over to the Genocide Museum for a long, contemplative experience.

The spire in the foreground represents today's Armenia, and the 12 sided monument in the middle represents the old Armenia, which houses the Eternal Flame inside of it.

The wall alongside of it has the names of towns that were lost and destroyed during the Genocide.

There is a small cemetery there that houses the remains of some of the heroes of the Nagorno-Karabakh War.

Above is the entrance to the museum.

Here are some photos from the inside of the museum.  

I believe that it can be said that most of us left knowing far more about the genocide than before we came here.  It indeed was a very emotional and moving experience.

To learn more about what we experienced and to take a virtual tour, click here.

 After that experience, we continued on with our tour, heading over to Victory Park.  We saw the statue of Mother Armenia and and the eternal flame.

After we went to Victory Park, we headed over to the Opera House and Freedom Square to complete our walking tour of Yerevan.  There were some very interesting sculptures and art pieces to see and interact with. 

Then we went out for dinner with our Habitat Armenia counterparts at a restaurant based off of the Russian movie "Kidnapping Caucasian Style."  The lead characters can be considered the Russian equivalent to the Three Stooges.  

All of the food we have eaten today tasted amazing!!!  All in all, today was very full with learning, sightseeing and eating.  Tomorrow is our first day on site, where we will meet the family that we will be helping during our time here.  We look forward to getting down to work after such a great day getting to know Armenia.