by Nicola Walls
19. November 2009 19:15
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
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