House Project weeks 6 and 7

House Project Weeks 4 and 5

Right to start I would like to apologise for not writing the blog last weekend. This was mainly due to the fact that there was not all that much to write about so I deceided to roll the two weeks into one post. Progress has slowed down over the last two weeks due to the fact funds were getting tight. That leads me on to the great response I have has to our latest plea for funds. Aunty Mary, Jose Luis, Miren, Everybody at JT Magen. I cant thank you enough. Literally a week ago I was pulling my hair out thinking of ways to get the money together because we were about 2,000 euro short. I asked, and I can honestly say that even being 300 euro short of the target figure we will have a house at the end of September for Dona Eulalaia and family. Thanks to everybody who has donated in the last week and throughout the whole project and even before going back to before I left home. This is the biggest and proudest project of my life but you made it possible... Thank you.

The bill for the lamina and 1st fix plumbing and other bits and pieces for the next phase of the project comes to about 540 euro. We didnt have the funds so we did what we could possibly do without spending much money. The first task was putting the lapped sheeting on the gable end walls. In the photo below you can see there is a window left out for a fire escape on the first floor. Hopefully never needed.

Pedro and Diego cutting the last of the tablas on the gable end without a window. The reason there is not a window on this side is that the two bedrooms are connected by a large hall on top of the stairs which will have no actual doors just curtains so access to the fire escape is not an issue. It would also have been looking directly into the neighbours garden and as it is not needed for a practical purpose was left out to save money, and arguments....

This is the most buetiful stair case I have ever seen, well made anyway. Bit on the steep side to be fair but it works and doesnt take up too much space in the living area downstairs.

This is Dona Eulalia trying out her new hammock. All the way from la cumbre...

This was both the first and last supper. First in the house, and final for the Pandora volunteers so they decided they wanted to eat in the house. Lucky enough the rain held off. The chances of getting seven decent, hardworking, warmhearted people in any random group must be a million to one. They all however were I can say hand on heart. Good craic too which always help. Will be missed but there contribution to the project wont be forgotten. Bif thanks to Ivan, Juan, Jose Luis, John, Amaia, Mariana, Miren and Paula. Son mas o menus perfecto.....

As you can see the house at the minute looks like a 5 star chicken coop. The chicken wire is there to tie, the adobe walls that will surround it, to the structure so that is want fall on somebody in an earth quake and it also acts the same way steel does in concrete, as re inforecement. Fixed with U nails. If anybody out there doesnt like the look of their hands, spend two days hammering U nails, they will never be the same again I promise. Anyway, after we got the maya fixed we then painted it with cement and water. This is to ensure a good bond between the maya and the adobe, when we eventually get to building them after the roof goes on. 

We also took the opportunity to do some more levelling up to the site boundaries. Tis a fine site now sure....

Sorry about the quality of the pictures. I was taking photos all day friday and didnt realise I had no memory card in so had to retake them again in the night. I also can assure you that Gavin was actually here working this week with the cement on maya and also the soak away. Thanks Gav, sorry things were bit slow and there is no proof of your endevours...

I will have a better pic of the soak away in next blog. I will give a brief explanation of it now. There is 4 inches of sand in the bottom of the hole to ensure that the waste water is evenly spread helping drainiage. On top there is a layer of small stone and on top of them are a lazer of larege stone with another layer of smaller stone on top. The idea of the stone is to seperate the solids from the waster water so that the water can pass through the soil and the solids will degrade quicker. The rock walls were drilled and rebar placed to build the concrete and stone wall on top. There will eventualy be a concrete roof on top with access hatch along with a vent pipe.

To be fair none of the tasks carried out in the last two weeks were critical but we have them done now none the less and will be less work later on. We are waiting on the funds to pass through the banking system so next week there literally is nothing to be done other than going ahead of ourselves and doing things arseways. The week after however we will be full steam ahead with the roof first then the walls and floor. There will probably not be a post next week but the week after there will be for definite. With some progress I would hope too......

Thanks again to everyone who has volunteered, donated money or given support in anyway...........

If anybody would prefer to keep up to date in spanish. Diego has started writing a blog in spanish which is very well done, to the point and informative.....    http://unamanoparaguate.blogspot.com/

House Project Week 3

This week for was full of activity and we still managed to make great progress on the house as well. On Monday we all went to Bodiga with Semillas de Ayuda for a range of projects from water vessels to agriculture. I concentrated on bottle lights. Well to say I concentrated, I delegated mainly. This was for two reasons. For one I know how to make and install them so it was more important for the volunteers, and especially Roberto and the womens group to learn. Secondly I am fed up to my eyes looking at them at this stage. The new design I talked about in the previous post is the best I can do and I can only hope that Semillas de Ayuda see it worthwhile to continue with them and eventually the people in la cumbre might start making them for themselves. I think they are a great addition to the houses for only 1.50 euros but im not sure if they will become the norm in la cumbre. For example we installed three examples in Bodiga on Monday but it was with limited success only. In one house I am fully convinced that the woman was so enthuiastic becuase she just wanted a hole in her roof fixed, she said there was a room in her attic but there was no sign of life. Suppose it benefited even if it wasnt for the intended use. The other was in a house that had more light than a green house so was more of a fashion accessory than a light. I hope the benefits will be seen eventually but am not fully convinced the amount of effort put into them will be worth it in the end, or more importantly if its worth the effort of Semillas de Ayuda to continue with them. This is the way with a lot of projects, it is hard to justify the initial effort without much benefit but then to be fair it probably is worth it for the times you are suprised.

Jon and Amaia teachin the women of Bodiga the fabrication of the bottle light and below Roberto installing the light.

Below is an example I installed in the doctors room....

Work on the house contiued from Tuesday to thursday, most work concentrating on the roof structure but also

Work on the house contiued from Tuesday to thursday, most work concentrating on the roof structure but also important mini projects like the repairs around the tyres with lime and sand (1 to 3 mix) to prevent water ingress by Jose Luis and Miren and the painting of all the timbers with borax as can be seen below being carried out by Jon and Amaia. In case your wondering, im delegating and trying to get some tan on my legs at same time.

Had to put this picture in x large because it was the only one I could find with me looking like I was working......

Myself anf John standing proudly with the first of the roof trusses up.....

Roof structure completed in record time thanks to everybodies hard work and drive.....

On Thursday nigth there was a special night in the hall in Chiantla for the school Sylvia attends, Fe y Alegria. We went with Dona Eulalia and family. We walked in and were ushered to the front seats like VIPs. Great for the family but there is no doubt it was a pure example of critical whiteness. They are white, must have money, must be more important than anybody else in here. Totally wrong by anyones standards but cant see it changing anytime soon.
The nights main event was something else that didnt sit well with me. It was basically a beauty contest of the girls from different towns and villages that attend the school. It is fairly typical kind of thing for Guatemala but for me I cant see anything good about it. On this night there were girls of 12 or 13 wearing typical clothing from there town parading up and down a stage watched by hundreds of their piers and other onlookers. It is fine for the girl who eventually wins maybe but what does it tell the other girls, your not pretty? Or as pretty? Now im not an expert by any means but at that age couldnt be a good thing surely. The other thing that got to me about it was that it basically was a popularity contest too, some girls had cheers others got more booing. I walked out and it was about 2 seconds before the rest of the gringo brigade were with me. Maybe we just dont understand the culture but you have my opinion on it now anyway.

On Saturday we went on a Family outting to La Cumbre. We didnt get a chance to bring rio san juan last weekend for her birthdaz because the weather was too bad so this was a second best choice and the volunteers got to see laguna magdalena as well.

The view from el mirador where we had the chance to see the peaks of 6 volcanoes. The sky looked bad but thank the gods the rain held off until we were on the way home.

Dona Eulalia showing off her indigineous skills. The walk to the lagoon was about 20 mins down a rough track and there was not a problem with her balancing the heavy bag on her head, Diego tried to balance it standing still without success so there is definiely a skill to it.

At the lake.........

Family photo at the viewing spot of the waterfalls........

View over the waterfall..........

Diego and Dona Eulalia getting the fire started for lunch. Me delegating..........

Saturday night on a different sort of outting to Huehue for a beer or two or..........

On the way home myself and Diego obviously hadnt done enough dancing. Dirty eigits.......

Sunday we went to Huehue again to the ruins. Think ive mentioned it before but the ruins were repaired by the United Fruit Company in the 50s with cement and brutal workmanship. The United Fruit Company or Chiquita as they are now known are also the instigators of the CIA backed coup around the same time. The socialist government wanted to pay United Fruit Company the same amount of money that they declared their lands worth in their tax returns for lands to be distributed to local indigineous people. They didnt want to take lands that were in use only the land that was not being used. But if people had their own land where would they have got the near slave labour from... call in the CIA and start a civil war that lasts almost 50 years. Sounds more sensible alright....  

After Zaculeu we headed for a town called San Juan Atitan. I posted the photo above in penance for my own stupidity. To be fair the hangover didnt help but after 10 months you would think I would know better than to be going around dressed for the beach in Huehuetenango. Below is the typical dress that still a lot of people wear and is Unique to this town. The nicest I have seen so far.

For the week ahead the plan is to continue with the roof and possibly the walls and floor too. The problem with the earth at the moment is that there is massive rainfall everyday so the site, along with the neighbouring properties will become a bog. Ideally we need a couple of days of dry weather before delivery but im not sure if this will be possible as it has rained consistantly every daz for a couple of hours for the last two weeks or more. There is also a possibility that the roof material will come in the form of a donation so I am reluctant to buy that just yet also, that along with the fact that the cash flow is not great for next week meaning that a lot of progress might not be made. We will see next Sunday I suppose..... Hasta luego......

House Project... Week 2

Above is a nice picture of the family. You cant really see Kimberley too well so below is a pic of what looks like Kimberly bringing the pig for a walk..... thats what you get for hiding... thats not actually a bow by the way its just a makeshift collar made from a piece of material that looks like a bow. Baaarrrrammmmuuuuu

We made good progress this week which I will explain below. We had help great help from 7 Spanish volunteers who travelled here with an organisation called Pandora http://www.aipc-pandora.org/ and are working with Inlex. Inlex also made a donation of 1,500 Q towards the building project which is greatly apreciated. With Alex and Paula the representatives from the two organisations and Roberto (for the week) we had 13 on site for one day. Wasnt always smooth to keep everyone busy but I would like to say a big thanks to the volunteers for their enthusiasm, interest and patience. Dona Eulalia is also doing the cooking of lunch and dinner for the volunteers during their stay which myself and Diego jumped in on everyday for lunch and managed to get the odd dinner in too. Must say its hard to beilieve that quality and variety of the food for an untrained cook nevermind the tools she has to work with.

 Diego explaining a bit about the project to some of the spanish volunteers (strangely only the girls)

The foundations took longer than I frist imagined and for a couple of days I thought my back was broken. Definitely we would still be at it if it wasnt for the hard work of everybody.

The foundations getting built. And before anybody writes any smart comments in the comment box. Yes, work has just got a hell of a lot more interesting, and no, the sheep in la cumbre still have a nervous look in their eyes. Joking aside, I would be doing the volunteers an injustice by saying they all work hard. From the time they arrive on site to when they leave they are all full of enthusiasm and energy.

Diego and the girls again...

The timber for the entire structure arrived on Tuesday afternoon. 1100 euros for the lot after a bit of bargaining and then some more bargaining...........

Bit of a theme here alright. Diego helping the girls......

Above and below can be seen the foundations of site stone and lime mortar, sitting on top tyres with the inside rim cut off and cut in half, with the base plate of 6 x 4 pine notched and bolted together also with steel rebar bent over the top tied to the RC ring beam below the founds. I had first planned on using the tyres as rising walls in the whole with stone packed inside, however due to the difficulty in digging the foundations, the lack of enough fill on site and a bit of re thinking on my part we decided to use them as a DPC and cushion to absorb seismic pressure.

The first of the columns going up..............

On Friday evening we all took a break as Diego decided he was going to let the kids cut off his dreadlocks. GET A HAIR CUT YOU HIPPY----------

This is the progress to date as on the end of day today Saturday week 2. You can see below that its starting to take shape. The small room top left corner is the toilet and shower room, the rectangular shape bottom left is the porch, top right is Dona Eulalias bedroom and the large room is the kitchen/dining/living room. Upstairs the room to the behind the stairs ope is for Luis and the bigger room closer to us is the room for the girls.

Before the spanish volunteers left for the lago Atitlan on Friday afternnon, the lucky bastxxds, we built some bottle lights which we are going to install in a place called Bodiga (which has no electricity) along with some other projects on Monday. It will also be the 1st opportunity for the volunteers to go to La Cumbre so they can see how they get on with the altitude etc.

The new improved design..... Instead of bending the cut flaps up I bent them down, this allows a better seal to be made around the joint of bottle and lamina where its most likely to leak, it also allows the use of epoxy mil in dabs just enough to stick the two elements together and not as an actual sealant. I also decided to use heat silicone arounf the joint instead of normal silicone and pop rivots will be used in installation to reduce the need for excessive silicone use. All in all we built 8 for a total cost of 84 Q (8.40E) and the installation should cost no more than 40 Q. So about 15Q or 1.50 euro for construction and installation cost combined. It was about 35 Q before with a far inferior design. Even if I do say so myself as the man says...........


Next week starting on Tuesday we hope to get the roof structure completed, the adobe (earth) floor in, the foundation walls tidied up a bit and the sewerage line completed. Myself and Diego plan on going to buy bambu for the roof and walls next thursday also.

Tomorrow we are going with Dona Eulalia and the kids to Rio San Juan for Dona Eulalias 40th birthday. I will have a few good photos for next week im sure..................

Big thank you to everybody who has donated or plans on donating to the project. We are still a bit short on funds to complete but we are getting there. Even so all donations would be greatly recieved. Send me an e mail if you would like the account details of Semillas de Ayuda. Muchas Gracias.....