Thursday: The Kids Pitch In

There have been kids from the family and the neighborhood around us all week.  First the boys and then the girls came out.  They wanted to be a part of building the house and playing with these people from America.  By Thursday they were even organizing their own work crews while we were on break.  Kathryn told them that she could play only after we got our work done, so I guess they wanted to play so they though they had to finish the house.  Don brought a soccer ball to play soccer during the breaks.  Also wheel barrow racing was popular, see the following video of one race.

In terms of building the house we were working on digging trenches and leveling the trenches for a sidewalk around the house and outdoor kitchen that will be on a back porch.   When we got there on Thursday morning they had aready put the roof on and welder was finishing up welding the roof to the rebar that was in the walls.  The house is really taking shape and we can clearly see the progress from Monday.

Picture of digging out the trenches for the sidewalk and back porch that will be used as a kitchen

Picture of the local kids digging out the porch while we were on break.  The  masons said we were the first group the kids hung out with and helped with building the house. 

Picture of Kathyn, Gail and Pam with the kids helping build the house, the boys  favorite thing was pushing the wheel barrows, on kid brought his own from his house, which was a big help since we needed to move alot of dirt.

Picture of the back the house while we were on break.  This picutre shows the roof and the side trenches which will be like a smakk sidewalk all away around the house, probably to help drain water away from the house during the rainy season.  The slope of the side walks will move water to the fron of the house and the road.

Picture of the inside of the house with the roof on.  This room would be the main room or I guess what we would call the living room.

Picture of Kathryn, Gail and Delilah "tamping" down the sand in the trenches to prepare for the concrete side walk.

Picture of the road looking north by the house to give you a sense of the surrounding area and the mountains in this part of El Salvador.

Picture of the road looking to the east.  The Habitat hosue is the second house on the left.  The people standing outside the house are mixing concrete in the middle of the road.

Picture of the road looking south, this is the road we took to get to the job site every day.  We drove about 5 miles an hour due to the ruts and pot holes.

This picture is a view to the west.  There is a corn fiels and in the background more mountains.  Don kept challenging kathryn to run to the top and back, since she was a cross country runner.

Picture of a chicken in the road.  They and many other animals roamed the roads.   But this one reminded me of my naighbor Betty hughes who is a artist and one of her favorite topics is painting chickens.

Video of the wheel barrow race down the road