Tito’s daughter Beba wrote a very touching note in both Spanish and English on behalf of the whole family. This was read out at the farewell with the families:-

“Thank you very much for giving us a little bit of your time....For helping us to continue the construction of our home, for the enthusiasm, the sympathy, and the effort.

Thank you for sharing with us the beautiful experience. You all were not only a help but also a visit, and we will be waiting for your return with anxiousness.

It will be a great pleasure for Argentina and for us to receive you again.

It would be a pleasure for you to return to visit us, not only to help us though it will always be well received. We would love for you to return so that we could share a little more time together.

Thank you so much and we hope to see you soon”.

All good things must come to an end and sadly our build days are now over…

Our last morning saw a hive of activity on all the sites as team GB rushed to complete tasks in hand before we all – UK volunteers, Habitat for Humanity staff and stakeholder families – congregated at Concordia for a communal lunch and farewell gathering.

There was opportunity for everyone to express their thoughts and thanks. From initial scepticism from the local community 2 weeks ago – why on earth would crazy foreigners want to come and work with them, and for nothing! – there was now a growing interest in the work of Habitat for Humanity and a realisation that working together as a ‘team’ seemingly difficult tasks can be made that much easier.

All of the families expressed their thanks to the volunteers and invited then back to La Matanza in the future as their guests with no work required!

All of the families had expressed their thanks on a series of cards cut out in hand shapes presented to each member of the Team GB. And many also wrote individual notes of gratitude.

The whole experience leaves so much more than the physical evidence of our intervention in the 22 de Enero Community – all involved have left with a renewed sense of humanity, and the realisation that, despite geographical and circumstantial differences,  we are all not so very different and should assist one another. It has been very humbling to see how people can retain dignity in very difficult circumstances, and the cultural experience has been amazing. I would heartily recommend volunteering to everyone.

See also: Day 12: Farewell with the families in pictures

Hola

Over the course of 5 days I have been working with Tito to improve his home for his family: his wife Graciela, and daughters Beba, Daniela, Daiana and Camila.
They are a very close family, and were very happy to share what little they have with us volunteers.

I have been working with a number of different people from team GB, but latterly with Rob and Jas. Our task was to construct internal walls to create a bathroom, using the lightweight ‘honeycomb’ bricks commonly used in Argentina. We had to mix the mortar by hand in buckets, and I assisted Habitat for Humanity’s technical advisor, Hernán, in setting out the walls.

The mortar mix differed for the bottom 2 courses, with more cement included in that mix. The walls are built directly off the concrete floor slabs, which are far from level, and I had to use my ‘architect’s eye’ quite a lot for judging the level and straightness of the walls as we did not have such luxuries as spirit levels. That is why there are quite a few pictures of me ‘squinting’ at the wall!

Understandably Tito, like many of La Matanza’s residents, needs his materials to stretch far and nothing is wasted. Mortar was scrapped off the floor for re-use, and we made our best attempts at hand cutting the bricks to achieve cuts for the stretcher bond of the wall.

The work got hotter and slower the higher the wall went. The heat of the sun on the crinkly tin meant that the underside of the roof became unbearable hot, and the house had minimal ventilation making it very stuffy. After a day of balancing on plastic crates we were able to borrow a pair of step ladders from Concordia which certainly helped. After 5 days of building we finished our task and completed the wall – with Rob having to finish off the highest course due to mine and Jas’s lack of stature!
Hopefully we have given Tito a good start towards completing his bathroom. He and his family certainly seemed very grateful for our assistance and also the opportunity to meet people from abroad.

Hernán and his assistant were very impressed with the work of 'las chicas', bricklaying being regarded as a male task up to now. But our efforts have persuaded them that  they should train females for bricklaying tasks in the future!

[Nicola and Tito]

See also:

A brick wall, yellow paint and a concrete column

A higher wall, more yellow paint and a bedroom extension

Nicola & Brian work together on Tito's wall

Nicola & Brian at Tito's House

Day 10 at Tito's House in Pictures

Hola

We are settling into a routine now for our build days.

The group leaves the hotel at 9am for La Mantanza where we are split into smaller groups for tasks.

I now must be regarded as a master bricklayer as I was re-assigned to spend the day at Tito’s house continuing in building his bathroom walls. Our small group – Rob, Julia and myself - managed to build another 3 courses, with Habitat volunteer Trevor offering translations. We did have time to spend with the family over a shared lunch and some tango and salsa dance demonstrations!

Unfortunately Brian had the camera so I was unable to take any photos of our progress, nor indeed of the ‘Sol du Pan’ – an amazing solar oven, which looks like a space satellite but captures the sun to heat up an oven which we were taken to see this afternoon. This is a local enterprise which is used to bake cakes and bread.  We were all given a little cake which looks delicious and will probably not survive the evening!

Brian was off in another team – this morning more last minute painting at the community centre, and at Ramones house this afternoon – digging a hole for a column footing and cutting wire for reinforcement ties. He is becoming a skilled concreter (if such a word exists). The team’s efforts were working towards a bedroom extension to a small house currently housing Ramone’s extended family of 9.

We will try and post a blog tomorrow but can’t promise as there is the inauguration of the community centre in the afternoon – hopefully a good party – and we are off to Confiteria Ideal  for tango in the evening – muy bueno!

Hasta leugo

See Day 6 in pictures

Hola

Another day of hard work over.

Today the team split into 3 groups to carry out tasks in 2 houses and at the Concordia Community Centre.

I have spent the day assisting Tito and his family start to build internal brick walls to create a bathroom. Bricklaying is certainly more difficult than it looks, but with some expert tuition this morning from architect Andreas, our little team of 3 volunteers and Tito managed to set out the wall and lay 3 courses. I was particularly impressed that Habitat for Humanity’s architect can turn his hand to demonstrations of basic construction techniques – something which I think many UK architects would struggle to do.

Brian was working with another group this morning at the Concordia building, painting the walls yellow that he helped prime yesterday, and in the afternoon at Maria’s house mixing concrete and assisting her husband, Germán, to pour a column. The evidence of this ‘playing with concrete’ is all over Brian’s T shirt (sorry sponsors!).

We are both really enjoying the experience of offering practical help to families and working as a team with our fellow volunteers. It is a great way to understand more about the country and the issues faced by many, and certainly puts the current economic crisis in the UK into perspective.

And despite feeling a bit tired our muscles aren’t aching too much....

Hasta manana.

See Day 5 in pictures

Hola mes amigos

Today the group travelled to 22 de Enero to start our Global Village Challenge. We were all working together as one large team assisting a young family build themselves some private quarters at the family home.

Daniel, his wife and daughter, sisters and mother Mercedes live in a more established part of 22 de Enero. Daniel’s  plan is to eventually build 2 bedrooms, a bathroom, kitchen and living room above the existing house and he has been working on this project for 2 years.

[Daniel and his mother, Mercedes]

Tasks completed by the Habitat for Humanity Team included shifting 2 large piles of bricks and lifting up precast concrete columns to the upper storey, shifting a rubble mound, and tidying material supplies. The team also part built an internal dividing wall and poured a concrete floor.

I finally got to lay 2 bricks – very badly – but after nearly 20 years practising as an architect that was a great  experience!

The family  showed great hospitality  inviting the entire team to share their home over lunch and later over a Mate session.  Daniel was very grateful for the team’s assistance and it was good leaving site being able to see a tangible difference in a few short hours to Daniel’s property.

Bring on tomorrow and hopefully another new skill!

¡Hasta manana!

Tonight we attended our last tango class at La Bordona at Sloans (@SloansGlasgow) before we set off on our travels. What started as a social activity at the beginning of the year has now taken on more significance with our decision to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity in Argentina.

Whilst our main focus is our charity work we do hope to have the opportunity to visit a tango salon or two – our weary limbs permitting! This will be a great way to sample Argentinian life.

We must thank our fellow dancers for their support in our charity challenge and our patient teachers Bert and Rena and Dominika and Andrew for the tips on tango etiquette which will hopefully prevent us from embarrassing ourselves too much on the dance floor!

Some information about La Bordona at Sloans

Blog Update - January 2010: Tango is no more at Sloans: For more information on Tango in Glasgow: www.tangoglasgow.org.uk

Hola

This weekend we had the last of our classes in Spanish and we must give muchas gracias to our patient teacher Natalia and the helpful staff of Centro Español Lorca.

This brief course has shaken my memory of the Spanish classes I undertook 5 years ago and I can now confidently say ‘hablo un poco de castellano’.

Brian however, as a complete beginner struggling to remember basic English grammar, can say ‘hablo un poquitito de castellano’, or the more useful phrase ‘no comprendo’.

And when all else fails…… ‘¿hablas ingles?’

With only 10 days left before we set off to Argentina we are both really looking forward to being able to practice our new skills!

Hola mes amigos

We have had our penulitmate Spanish class at Centro Español Lorca this weekend.

Today we concentrated on how to express how we are feeling - hot, cold, hungry, thirsty and scared of spiders!

"Estoy muy cansado" will be the phrase we will use a lot I'm sure after a full day of physical labour!

Having some basic Spanish grammar I am finding the irregular verb structure much easier than Brian, but I'm sure that he will be able to remember key phrase like "lets take a break now" - "Vamos a descansar".

Our departure date is fast approaching so we are trying to squeeze in some Spanish practice into our busy lives before we have a recap session next Saturday.

¡Hasta semana!

We have yet another generous Corporate Sponsor: theatre consultants Theatreplan LLP.

At Page \ Park Architects Nicola has worked with Theatreplan on a number of projects involving performance spaces.

The Eden Court Theatre project in Inverness was the first collaboration which has gone on to include the new Kirkintilloch Arts and Cultural Centre. Page \ Park now frequently draw upon Theatreplan’s expertise in places for performance ranging from flexible theatre and studio spaces and conference rooms.

For more information on Theatreplan’s work visit their website at theatreplan.co.uk.

Theatreplan’s generosity will help us improve our performance for Habitat for Humanity!

Become a Corporate Sponsor like Theatreplan by making a minimum donation of £200 at JustGiving.com/argentina2009