Sunday, January 22, 2006
Mexico Trip
I just recently took a trip to Juarez, Mexico to build a house in 3 1/2 days! I really enjoyed it. I went with my school's Christian Club, and some Dads through an organization called Casas por Cristo. The Dads came in handy when it came time to swing hammers and sink thick 16 penny nails into the 2x4's to make the walls. First, here's the neighborhood.
The Neighborhood
On the first day we poured the concrete slab. I got to "screen", which involved raking each batch of concrete away from where the small concrete mixer would drop it, and until it filled in our wooden mould. Then we would move a piece of wood like a saw over the top of the concrete to smooth it out (i.e. push down the rocks) and make it level. After we screened the entire slab we smoothed it out even more because it was going to be the floor of the house. The house was only 11'x22'.
slab
On the second day, we put the walls and ceiling up. We hammered together each wall on the ground and then put them all up one after the other at the same time. Our Casas staff guy, Mark, said that our house was the most exact--in terms of being square--that he had made! The second day I got to hang out with Raymundo a lot. He's the father of the family we were building the house for. He would watch as we would try to hammer in the nails, and then they would go crooked, which would make them harder to get in. So he would come over and help us out. I got to translate the instructions we had for each section to him using a combination of Spanish and pointing :). He helped me with some of the words after a while. "El techo" is the roof and "el agujero" is the hole. "El agujero" was very useful when we drilled holes in the walls for the electrical lights and fan and fed the romex through the walls.
walls
On the third day, I did sheet rock with three others. I like power drills :). We started sheet rock in the morning and we finished just as it was getting dark. The others put a black board on the outside of the house, and then chicken wire, and then stucco. They also did the roof.
On the last day, we just did the finishing touches: We hooked up all of the outlets and the lights. They worked :). We also poured a step for the front door and the back door. We decorated their front step with a cross and Olin College.
Done!
Raymundo
Each day, the family gave us lunch! They were not required to at all, but they wanted to. It was usually a bag of tortillas, rice and some type of meat. On the last day, Raymundo asked us if he could make fish. We certainly accepted. He and his wife made us amazing fried fish, served us fancy cheese and a spicy soup with jumbo shrimp! We had come to build the house because we have been blessed and thus, wanted to give to others. Now, he had been blessed and wanted give to us.
The Neighborhood
On the first day we poured the concrete slab. I got to "screen", which involved raking each batch of concrete away from where the small concrete mixer would drop it, and until it filled in our wooden mould. Then we would move a piece of wood like a saw over the top of the concrete to smooth it out (i.e. push down the rocks) and make it level. After we screened the entire slab we smoothed it out even more because it was going to be the floor of the house. The house was only 11'x22'.
slab
On the second day, we put the walls and ceiling up. We hammered together each wall on the ground and then put them all up one after the other at the same time. Our Casas staff guy, Mark, said that our house was the most exact--in terms of being square--that he had made! The second day I got to hang out with Raymundo a lot. He's the father of the family we were building the house for. He would watch as we would try to hammer in the nails, and then they would go crooked, which would make them harder to get in. So he would come over and help us out. I got to translate the instructions we had for each section to him using a combination of Spanish and pointing :). He helped me with some of the words after a while. "El techo" is the roof and "el agujero" is the hole. "El agujero" was very useful when we drilled holes in the walls for the electrical lights and fan and fed the romex through the walls.
walls
On the third day, I did sheet rock with three others. I like power drills :). We started sheet rock in the morning and we finished just as it was getting dark. The others put a black board on the outside of the house, and then chicken wire, and then stucco. They also did the roof.
On the last day, we just did the finishing touches: We hooked up all of the outlets and the lights. They worked :). We also poured a step for the front door and the back door. We decorated their front step with a cross and Olin College.
Done!
Raymundo Each day, the family gave us lunch! They were not required to at all, but they wanted to. It was usually a bag of tortillas, rice and some type of meat. On the last day, Raymundo asked us if he could make fish. We certainly accepted. He and his wife made us amazing fried fish, served us fancy cheese and a spicy soup with jumbo shrimp! We had come to build the house because we have been blessed and thus, wanted to give to others. Now, he had been blessed and wanted give to us.
# posted by Sazzly @ 10:21 PM 
