Just call me Carla the Builder!

Hola!

Day one of the building project is at an end....man it was HOT today on the site. Our volunteer group is building two houses...one is for a family of 9 and the other is a school on the site of a church. We have been split into two groups and the race is on to see who gets theirs finished first....am pretty sure my group is leading at the moment.....no thanks to 20 hands, 20 hammers (Oh and joy I found a air gun hammer thingy which beats a normal hammer anyday!!). The foundations were already laid when we arrived so we got straight into hammering away and getting the walls up - within no time we had all four walls up, the roof started and the paint going on! For those builders reading this....our site would definitely be an OSH or building inspectors nightmare lol......nail guns going off above people painting and hammering and people all over the place......very amusing.......I spent a good 5 hours on the roof, putting in nails and then putting the shingle tiling on the roof. I have become a pro at using these nail gun things that are just so lethal man!! Im loving it and am now queen of the roof apparently. My body is definitely feeling it now tho after using every muscle available to stop myself from falling off the roof all day!
We met a lovely local family who live right next door to where we are building in a tiny little run down shack with one window and the front door - it must be so hot in there i just couldnt imagine! I had a great conversation with the old lady and her grandson in spanish - i seem to be one of only 2 or 3 spanish speakers in our group so i am being used to translate a lot! The lady was so adorable and her grandson so cute...she told us that all except one of her children have died and so she only has her daughter and the one grandson left. They were so excited, especially the boy David, because he will start attending the school that we are building. A lot of the children dont go to school at all and this is going to be such an awesome opportunity for them to get educated a have a better life in the future. We should have the school finished by the end of tomorrow (amazing i know but the houses are so basic and with 20 people we are able to get so much done in such a short time) and they will have their first class on Wednesday! I hope we get to attend it!
The actual slums are an eye opener - just so amazing to see how people live and survive on so little....and it is very dry and dusty - everything is brown brown brown..........am looking forward to visiting an orphange on Wednesday after the two houses are done.
Adios mi amigos.......xxxx