To balance up our volunteer teaching we also do construction around the school and the community… and now with the school closed because of swine flu, we will be spending more time doing this and assisting Teadora building a mud brick house.
Teadora has no husband and a young son. She has been living in a one room house with her drunken father and brother.
Her original house was knocked down by the community for a road with the promise that they would rebuild it… didn’t happen.
Everyone has given the hard manual labour a go which has pushed us all out of our comfort zones… Having a crowd shifting a pile of dirt and shovelling makes a difference as you can see results FAST!
The first step is to make the mud.
make the bricks
Leave them to dry…
this is where we are up to… hoping to build the house or at least get it started in the next week.
We are walking to the school this morning… about one and half hours UP… thought it would be good training for Machu Picchu!
Wow, how fantastic, I am so impressed . You must feel so empowered to have helped someone real and not simply @ the end of a queue of a relief cheque. Your new skills will be well rewarded, who knows when you may be called upon in the future. The pics were fantastic, So informative and they do tell a great story in their own right. Thanks so much for keeping up the regular stories. Amazing.
Lots of love to you both. Good luck with your prep prior to the big trek.
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I’ve always been interested in mudbrick houses – talk about labour intensive. Imagine building a mudbrick Mcmansion! You’ll have muscles you didn’t know existed. All good here. Tracy and Graeme are coming for dinner tomorrow. She’s been enjoying your blog too.
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Forgot to ask… have you heard anything about the Community College’s Spanish course?
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Wow! Can’t believe the amount of manual labour you’re all doing… building houses!!!
Am glad to hear Gordon in feeling better… wouldn’t want him to miss out on any more shovel or pick axe action!
Andrew Kennedy has just come by looking for you. He (referring to ‘Team Larapinta’), I and others are interested in getting the details of your Spanish teacher here in town. We’re going to try to get a class together…
Not much to report on this end… still in a holding pattern.
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Sonia – how proficient are you becoming…..first you build a ger in Mongolia AND now a mud brick house in Peru…..soon you will not have to call on your academic degrees – just list your achievements on the internet and the world will come to you!!!
Am so pleased Gordon you are well and ‘on the go’ again.
You will be happy to know I “smell” very delectable – spent the Myer Xmas voucher from you guys….Thank you again…..lots and lots of love…Mum
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