www.buildchangewithnaomi.com > Weeks 9 & 10: Inauguration and Homes in Tarija

Three of the kids in the families
That massive pile of bricks on the right is only about 1/3 of what is required for 1 home
For this home the family itself is building the home so they have a good job for a few months
Another couple that is building their own home, this woman is wearing the traditional Aymara dress
Inauguration day, in 90 degrees!
Jasmine, a minister here that I like, blessing the land and families for the inauguration
We all got a little choked up over the course of the inauguration
Norma, the head of the Habitat office here, blessing a brick with wine
Preparing a fresh batch of concrete for me to ceremoniously scoop into the foundation
Here's the metaphoric "Laying the cornerstone" where I am pouring concrete into our foundation
Then, like any good South American home, we blessed the home liberally with wine
Here's one of the families giving a speech of thanks to you and Habitat
A few of the kids for our new community
More speeches, the only time all day that work stopped!
I'm in love with the little girl in the yellow shirt
This family is already emerging as community leaders
The Ibarra family blessing their home
This is one of the first families we selected, so I am quite close to them and their kids
Toasting with the Habitat team
Some of the kids for the families
Here's the group of families you are supporting! Thank you deeply from them and me.
The families arriving for the Inauguration
I've never seen a pickup carry so many people, amazing even by Bolivian standards
We have 38 people on the ground working fulltime on the construction!
The guy in green is Florencio, who is teaching me a ton already!
You can see how beautiful the mountains are in the background
New homeowners
Here you can see a small portion of the 100 lb bags of cement for 1 home!
It takes about 1000 gallons of water to support the cement for a home for 2 weeks
Ricardo, one of the dads, helping us prepare for the Inauguration
Carolina helping me pass out the programs for the Inauguration ceremony
My buddy Sarah, a Peace Corp Volunteer, joined the celebrations with us
Me with Arianne, a very funny kid who has suckered me into correcting her homework regularly