Lucrecia and kids...the house before construction.
Lucrecia's husband and kids....he's been paraplegic since an accident last year.
Wood delivery day at Lucrecia's house...thanks Juan Carlos!
Lucrecia at work
The family was very flexible, living outdoors for a couple days as we worked on their house.
Ruben pouring the floor...he's a godsend, a master cement guy who's working for reduced wages on these jobs.
Jorge, Ruben's helper.
Our friend Lucho, a Baptist minister, is one of the few local volunteers who'se insisted on volunteering for no pay.
Jim and Andrea, cutting wood for Lucrecia's house.
Lots of wood!
Ruben taught us how to string together the wood "palos" with metal wire to make walls...traditional Maya style.
Lili and Marta, cleaning up the debris from the old "walls".
Lili and Martita, with Lucrecia and good ol' "Lupita" the truck that Scott and Peggy lent us for the day.
Marta is collecting leftover wood bits for their fire pile.
Ruben and Jorge posing with Marta in the first finished house...it's just waiting for doors now.
Lucrecia and Juan Jose are very grateful...they say thanks to all of you who donated!
Jimmy, hard at work wiring their house for electricity....he spent all day at it!
Jimmy and Ken spent another day in Chetumal picking up donated scrap wood (and unfortunately we have to pay to get Ken's truckbed fixed, as it got busted by the heavy load).
The heavy load!
Micaela Mexx Canul is happy with her share of the wood.
One portion of the scrap wood is at Dona Anita's house, ready to be used.
Another portion went to Lucrecia's house...Katie the lovely carpenter was able to select some choice pieces for use in the door and window frames.
Katie at work in the shop making doors for Lucrecia's house.
Micaela Mexx Canul and her husband Emilio.
Micaela's current front door. They lived under their collapsed roof after Hurricane Dean until they collected enough wood and tarps to create this temporary shelter. It's not structurally sound, so we are building a new house in front of it.
Micaela
Micaela's polvo and grava, ready for the cement mixing day.
Hotel Casita Carolina sent their employee Modesto for the day to help with framing. Here he is with Ruben.
Gracias Modesto y Carolina!
The framing process is very interesting...these guys are good!
Micaela and Emilio are helping here, rolling metal wire around a stick...these will be used to lash the wood together for their walls.
framing the floor
Modesto leveling out the floor.
The crew: Jacqui, Micaela, Lili, Ruben, Modesto, Jorge, and Vicente.
Hotel Laguna generously sent Vicente for the afternoon to help with the floor for Micaela's house. Gracias Vicente and Hotel Laguna!
Ruben, the artist at work.
Lili, showing the boys that she's an old farm hand. They are awed by women that work like "men"!
The second load of palos from Huatuzco, which is a town a little over an hour's drive from Bacalar.
Steve, Jimmy and Lucrecia are cutting up the excess scrap wood for Micaela's fire pile.
Micaela's hous, half-way walled.
Another friendly volunteer, Ken, helping get the walls up at Micaela's.
Emilio is working on the bathroom excavation. Previously he and Micaela haven't had the luxury of even an outhouse.
Emilio hard at work.
Micaela with the addtion going up behind her.
Micaela's daughter-in-law, Carmen, and her father Ishmael, running electric cable.
Carmen is happy to share her electric service with her parents-in-law, grateful for our offer to pay for the materials to connect the houses.
Jimmy posing with Micaela at her new front door.
A family hug in action.
Door painting...a family affair!
Ilda de Feria Dominguez, the neigher in front of the Maria and the Estrella Poot's, a single mom 7 people living with her. She'd like help finishing her outhouse. I noticed that her walls need some work too.
The load of palos from Huatuzco, on the road to Ilda's house...
Ilda's son, carrying palos.
Ilda's son-in-law and friends make quick work of nailing up the palos for a new wall.
Out with the carton, in with the wood.
Ilda's eight year old daughter.
Ilda's son-in-law, peaking thru the last gap in the new wall.
Ilda and crew.
Another family shot.
Ilda's family was happy to receive the gift of a mosquito net, a tarp, and a hammock that our friend Aamon left behind in Bacalar a couple years ago. Gracias Aamon!
Maria Genoveva Poot's house...the materials have been delivered for the new floor, which her husband Antonio and other family members will pour on Sunday (their day off work).
Thanks, Al, for delivering water for the Sunday floor pouring.
Maria and Antonio's kids.
Ruben and his son were the only family volunteers, so I managed to recruit some neighbors.
The morning crew included Cristiana and Israel, who worked hard moving earth and rocks to level out the new floor.
Ruben on his day "off", laying out the boards that will retain the wet concrete.
The morning crew was long gone, so we were very thankful when a group of tourists agreed to help out.
These five, from the U.S., Mexico City, and the Basque region of Spain, spent the rest of the day doing hard physical labor.
Troopers! We didn't finish until after sunset, and were pouring the final section with candles.
Antonio is showing Arturo and Alan a loadful of polvo. Arturo brought chicken and refreshments. Gracias Jefe!
Corina, a Mexico City visitor, brought smiles to all the crew with her sweetness.
Maite, a Basque traveller, taking a break from the floor pouring to hang out with the kids.
Anita and her daughter Esperanza, who'd like to build a little addition to their one room house that'll serve as a kitchen and living space.
Dona Anita, a classic Mayan beauty!
Esperanza's old kitchen, ravaged by Hurricane Dean.
Dona Eulogia, a blind woman with a beautiful outlook, has fallen a couple times in her little room due to the uneven floor.
Eulogia's current room, which her adopted family cleared for her after her own house collapsed in the hurricane. The plan is to help with the framing, concrete floor, and metal lamina roof for Eulogia's new room.
Carmen with Donato Ranjel and his father, a stately gentleman who suffers from dementia. Donato does his best to provide for his ailing parents and his kids since his wife's death He would love help in adquiring a new place to live for the family, who've been in a borrowed house.
Donato has helped out with Micaela's latrine project for a couple days.
Giselle and Manuel at Bacalar's Mabacasa have been a main supplier for materials on the rebuilding projects, giving us a discount.
The family at the Tlalaperia Negritos have been wonderful allies as well, giving advice and discounts. Gracias!
Katie and Dugo installing windows
Micaela in her outhouse
Micaela's new house
Micaela enjoys sleeping in her new room, but she's yet to unpack the gov't gifted washing machine and fridge. She plans to give them to her sister when she visits.
The bathroom of Maria (Estrella Poot, if I remember correctly) and her family.
Maria's house...we poured the floor (about 5 x 8 meters) and gifted the tarps, which are temporary. Ojala!
The make-shift door
Hilda's lovely daugher with BOTH of her new necklaces. Thanks Lili!
Hilda's family has a working toilet now too!
The ever resourceful Hilda managed to stucco part of the new wall, then ran out of money for more cement.
She's looking forward to the Mahahual cruise ship dock repair, which should be done by Dec 2008...at which point she will go back to work as a well-paid cook there (25usd daily!)
Hilda's latrine and house
Eulogia in her new house. The metal lamina roof is starting to cause an oven effect in the Feb heat, so I've taken her a fan and extension cord. Hopefully she'll stay cool enough through the summer!
If anyone would like to "adopt a grandma", this woman is a great candidate! She LOVES the small gifts that I manage to take...yogurt, fruit, Vick's vapor rub, clothes.
