Today we bought 10,000 bricks and a load of rocks (thanks to all you donors)! You have to imagine it, but that is about 3 truckloads full, and enough to support all the walls for 5 of our homes. It is a pretty awesome sight to see the trucks pull up with the bricks and to know that we are making progress here.
It's also pretty tough work! It took a team of 11 of us a few solid hours of non-stop work to unload the trucks and place the bricks strategically around the lots so they will be close to the 5 houses we are starting first.
As we were unloading the bricks, I was struck again by how closely we work in community with each other here. I have a pretty awesome community back home, supportive parents and brother, a great extended family and amazing friends.
But my reliance on others here is much more fundamental and visceral on a daily basis. As we
unloaded the bricks, each person had the option to place them close to the truck (the easiest thing to do since it involves carrying them less distance) or to carry them further away (more work!). And each person could carry 2, 3, or 4, depending on how tired they were. It was pretty neat to see how much everyone worked together, carrying 4 bricks when possible, stacking them as far away as necessary to ensure we had room for all the bricks. When we would tire, inevitably someone would make a joke or say "un poco mas", just a little more to go. When we took a break, whoever held the bottle of water made sure to pass the cups to everyone else first before serving themself.
Last night, in a discussion with the families we talked about the sewage system for the neighborhood, and I observed the same sense of close community as we decided to cut through some of the families´ land to make sure we had enough room to build safe sewage for all the families. We also decided to build a shelter and have each family take turns spending the night in the shelter to protect our materials for all the homes.
Of course the flip side of living in such close community is that it can be somewhat like being under a microscope. Women here don't drink beer except at parties (men drink whatever they want, whenever they want...), so my attempt to buy a beer last night at my little store near my apartment to drink at dinner after the hard day of work was somewhat scandalous! The woman asked me 3 different ways if I wouldn't perhaps prefer a yogurt. And while I like yogurt as much as the next person, it isn't quite as satisfying after a day of moving 10,000 bricks. :)
Still in all, my sense of community endures in a positive way here. Thank you for your support for the new community you are helping build. More pictures of the progress this week (breaking ground, building water trenches, moving around bricks and rocks) can be found by CLICKING HERE!
Warmly, from Villamontes,
Saludos!
naomi
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