The following entry was contributed by a Global Village team member.
Costa Rica 2014 | First Day On-Site
Today absolutely ROCKED! It was our best day on site yet!!! Yes… it was our first day, but we couldn’t have asked for a better start to the week. The morning started out bright and early with a rather loud cock-a-doodle-do and a delicious breakfast cooked by our amazing hosts. It was pleasantly cool in the early hours, but the temperature rose quickly with the sun. We boarded our buses at como a las 6:30 (6:30ish) and excitedly ventured down our favorite, slightly bumpy, gravel road to our work site. After shuffling over all of our tools, applying sunscreen, and then applying some more sunscreen, we were ready for our morning talk with Adrian, Juan Carlos and Gloriana. After getting the safety talk and low down about the day from our field guides, we began our lovely new morning tradition of a full team backrub circle! Ahhhh!
Under the guidance of site supervisors Marco Tulio and Eisinho we were off and running! The team was broken into two groups at two different houses. The charge of the week is to continue the work of the previous volunteer group and hopefully finish up the three homes that are currently being built. The homes are all in the same area, and nearly in the same phase of construction. Both teams were working on trenches and holes for septic systems. After the digging was complete, the trenches were backfilled with a virtual layer cake of ROCKS (and yes, ROCKS quickly became the theme of the day!). Grande ROCKS, followed by ROCKS mas pequena, gravel, sand, and eventually dirt, which were then tamped down to make the ground level. Of course instead of using any sort of traditional tamping method, we decided that Kathy should lead us in a tamping Conga line! Obviously, this was followed up by shovel limbo. These building strategies will live on in Costa Rica long after we are gone, I’m sure. We will also be bringing their tradition of wheelbarrow lounge chairs back with us!
We were a well oiled machine of teamwork and assembly lines as we shoveled, hauled, stomped, shoveled some more, wheel-barrowed, dumped ROCKS and repeated throughout the morning. During morning break and lunch we were fortunate to meet women from the Asomoa association of women. They were so kind, resourceful, and wonderful cooks! While we were wrapping up lunch, one of the women gave a presentation to the group about their incredible organization and all that they have done and plan to continue. Over the last few years, these women were responsible for creating the beautiful community center where we are hosted for breaks. They are also artisans, and we can’t wait to bring back some of their handmade treasures!
With full bellies, orange skin (from both the sun and the orange clay), happy hearts, and renewed inspiration, we headed back to site to ROCK the end of the day. Since we ROCKED our morning shift and were so efficient, we were ready to move on to new projects in the afternoon. Broken up into two groups again, one team worked on connecting the cement panels together and filling cracks while a few others helped level the walls in a different house. There is a small debate about whether the tuck pointing (Dave’s word, I’m still not convinced it’s real) is 5/6 or 6/7 complete. The construction of Habitat for Humanity homes in Biolley differs greatly from how we build back in Minnesota. These homes are primarily cement, with metal beams and tin roofs. Part of the process of leveling the concrete wall panels involves using large iron bars to pry beneath the lowest panel and push upwards until they all fit tightly together and meet the roofline.
Rebecca, Dave, Bruce and I got to spend a couple of hours as the leverage dream team. Dave hoisted panels toward the ceiling and acted as team eye candy (quote: Rebecca) while Rebecca and I flew through the house leveling walls and Bruce finished up by shimming them into place. Admittedly, we were not very successful the first hour or so of trial, error, and frustration as we figured out the best way to move the walls (weighing almost 500(ish) lbs each!). Remember everyone, a rolling stone gathers no mas :)
Once we discovered the ROCK magic, we were basically professionals! Bruce brought in leveraging ROCK version 1.0 which was a little too rounded on top. I went out to find a new and improved version and low and behold, gracefully perched atop one of our lovely ROCK piles, was ROCK version 2.0, basically built to be a fulcrum. The perfect ROCK, large iron bar, and two feisty, hard-working women… were the perfect recipe for wall success! Silly photo shoots, a few too many ROCK jokes, ROCK themed songs, and an impressive amount of work being accomplished by both groups rounded out the end of an incredible day. A special thanks to Dave, for proving that the standard site supervisor stance (arms crossed saying “no a little to the left”) travels abroad as well. We are getting so spoiled by our hosts and hostesses, with fresh fruit, delicious food at every meal, and incredible spirits which are already making us feel like family.
With big smiles, and a great sense of fulfillment we headed back to our home base to enjoy some relaxation and drinks on the ROCK (Rebecca and I brought our newfound best ROCK friend back home for drinks in thanks of all the help!). The day ended with another delicious meal and a heartfelt team reflection with beautiful words by Millard Fuller. ROCK on team!
- Kate
Becky Engen
Becky Engen : 12:31 PM on February 28, 2014
