The Pepper of Doom

Hola amigos! Como estas (how are you)? 

         Today, the group returned to Rosa’s house, a place that is very dear to our hearts, because the site underwent such a metamorphosis during our last mission trip. Rosa and her family now have a working bathroom, complete with a shower, toilet and pilla, but are in need of a bedroom (not to mention furniture to go in the bedroom). Now, the job at Rosa’s house is to add a 16x9 ft bedroom, so today the team at Rosa’s house had to dig a 22 in. foundation and 29 in. footers, make rebar support columns, and lay the foundation for her soon to be bedroom.

         During our first few minutes at Rosa’s, we carried cinderblocks from the road to Rosa’s house; which was very reminiscent of our first job at her house. Unfortunately, after the morning workout, there were not as many tools as there were people. To give all the members of the team something to do, Danielle proposed that a group of us venture further into the mountains to work on a stove for someone. We had already worked on another stove previously in the trip and were fairly comfortable with the task. Tracey, Madison, Will, Cooper, Kay, Lorraine, Russell, Chris and myself decided to go. 

         Danielle promised us a ten-minute hike to the other job site, but was misinformed, at least by American standards. What might take a Honduran ten minutes, instead took us Americans forty five. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that we were either walking straight up the mountain or straight down the mountain, with hardly any level ground in between. Our path was simply a washed out creek bed provided by mother nature. Nobody fell or got hurt, which was a miracle of God. Even Danielle was huffing and puffing by the end of the walk. The rest of us were just hyperventilating.

         After the feelings returned to our legs, we finally got to work on the stove. The stove was in a very dark room. The only light came from the doorway and the person in charge of holding a flashlight so Danielle could actually see to measure, lay out brick, and fill in mud. Madison, Tracey, Lorraine and I alternated between muddin’, while Danielle laid the bricks. When Danielle needed the bricks to be cut, Will used a machete to trim the bricks down. Chris tried a few times, but then gave the job back to Will, much to Danielle’s relief. By end of the day, the only part of the stove that was unfinished was the pipe that lead up to the ceiling and we began our long journey back to Rosa’s house.

Here are photos of the stove instillation group:

Mooking the stove

Laying bricks for the stove

Mudding the stove

Here are photos of the job at Rosa's:

The site of the foundation before the digging started.
The batter boards and batter strings - this time we didn't have
to use fishing line. 

Digging commences

 

Becky and Pat wiring the rebar frames

 

Hunter digging the footer

29" footer after the mook had been poured into it

Duct tape is the international tool of choice.
Stabilizing the rebar frame by duct taping it to
wooden boards

Lorie