Thoughts from Argentina

From Donna:

DONNA (L) AND BARBARA (R)

Prior to departing for Buenos Aires my mind was filled with apprehensive thoughts:

• Would all the months of preparation and planning be executed flawlessly?
• And what about the team, would we all mesh into a cohesive group?
• What about the wide mix of ages, four under 23 years of age, six over 60 and others in between?
• Arriving in the city, my apprehension escalated to trepidation when learning that our worksite neighborhood had been flooded and there had been mass evacuations....

Now, two weeks later, and preparing to head back home, I am reflecting on our time together. And I feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

As I evaluate team Paterson:

• We were able to complete our work on the 3 houses and made a lasting impact on the lives of three families, despite neighborhood flooding and mud.
• Our group of 14 strangers and acquaintances became friends and had a wonderful experience together that we will remember for a lifetime.
• Working with the under-23 group, I learned that indeed our country is in fantastic shape with its future leaders. 
• I also saw firsthand that our group members over 62 kept pace, and then some, with our younger members. And to think I was worried about that...

We came to help our tithing partner, Habitat Argentina, build houses.

We leave having been enriched  by the local team of Anna, Connie and Victoria. They taught us how to be creative in finding housing solutions in a housing market that offers very little opportunity for low income families. I am thankful for the crash course given us on the history and culture of Argentina. It helped us navigate the land and understand the people who live here. We leave with facts not impressions.

Thank you team Paterson, for making the time and effort into planning this trip as it was worth every second. I am proud to have been a member of this fantastic team. We stood out as individuals and worked as a well oiled machine. We accomplished the job that put in front of us and made Paterson Habitat shine as an affiliate.

This team leader exits with pride and a big smile on her face. 

 :-)

 

Last day, wrapping up

With everyone wearing the Paterson T-shirt, the "official" team photo was taken in the morning before work began.

Today there were a few projects to complete: additional rebar columns to make, more concrete to add to the walkway to the front door and one wall to finish. Late morning, Connie would lead a small group on a neighborhood tour. At 2 p.m. a Bbq for everyone was planned at Graciela's house. On the schedule in between would be house dedication at Claudia's and some recognition of the other homeowners with whom we had worked side-by-side.

On the site today:

WALKWAY (CAR AT R IS NEIGHBOR'S)

GREEN NAILS BUILDING THE REBAR FRAMEWORK

House Dedication:

The Paterson team members each signed the Bible which was presented to Claudia as a special memory of friendship. Standing in front of today's completed wall, Barbara Dunn, executive director PHFH, explained to Claudia that this was how Paterson dedicated their houses back in NJ.

CLAUDIA (AT L) AND TWO SONS THANK BARBARA
AND PATERSON HABITAT FOR THEIR VOLUNTEERING
AND THE HOUSE BUILDING HELP THIS WEEK.

FRONT: ANTONIA
REAR: MARIA, GRACIELA AND CLAUDIA WITH BARBARA

Lunch was an Argentine Bbq with all the volunteers, all the homeowners and all the local Habitat staff who had been on site these days.

Graciela shopped for all the food, prepared salad and sauces, grilled beef, chicken and sausage, plus opened up her home with table and chairs set up in the unfinished new dining/living room. Desert an coffee followed. It was a fine feast.

GRACIELA AT THE GRILL

INVITE A FEW FOLKS TO LUNCH.  :-)



Monday, the 27th

Our team worked at only one site today: Claudia's house. And a lot was accomplished.


WES (L) AND DAN

Concrete: Wes and Dan worked on a concrete walkway from the street to house. Carting earth, mixing the concrete, pouring and smoothing. Scott was helpful with doing the shoveling and sometimes moving by wheelbarrow and sometimes by bucket load. Also completed laying the base concrete on the floor of the house. (Later a finish concrete layer will be added.)






Rebar: This was 420cm long rebar, fashioned with support bands, bent by hand and twisted into place. These were tied vertically into the ends of the brick wall and will be filled with concrete for support. Cutting the rebar to length, cutting the bands and fashioning into the columns which we jokingly called "cell towers".

It was a mini production line and if you follow the photos, you may get the idea.

THE BANDS

RENEE (L) AND ALEX (R) WORK ON THE REBAR.

DIANE STEADIES THE COLUMN TOWER

Iguazu Falls

The highest falls in the world is Victoria Falls.
Niagra Falls has five tiimes tthe water spilling over the edge than the others.

But Iguazu Falls in Argentina is #1 in width at 1.8 miles wide.

And Iguazu is also #1 in the number of falls with a total of 270 falls making up the total.

Over millions of years the Igaucu River formed the basaltic rocks canyon where three countries of Argentina, Partaguay and Brazil meet in a triple borderline. This union is the location of Iguazu. Four decades ago, the waters ran clear, but since then, with forest clearance in most of the watershed, each time it rains, water washes away unprotected soil and the falls show red streaks. Click to see video below:

Here's a view (below) of the falls known as Devil's Throat:

MARIE, DONNA, NANCY, MARYANN AND ALEX



Three homeowners

No work today. It is Saturday and the team is off on various adventures. Some on day trips in the Buenos Aires area and five others to the famous Iguazu Falls.

We introduce the three homeowner families.

SITE ONE, Claudia:

Claudia is very appreciative of all the help given in the work on their "seed house". Her seven-month old baby is usually present watching the work from his stroller, while Mom helps with some of the projects. Dad is a skilled worker and very valuable helping our Habitat team. Even their seven year-old son is an enthusiastic presence on site after his morning hours at school.

CLAUDIA AND SON

SITE TWO, Antonia:

It is the same with Antonia, she is very grateful for the Habitat help. In addition to removing the roof and providing space for future improvements, Jan got her started on an organization path. Antonia's husband is working in the metallurgy industry.



ANTONIA'S DAUGHTER AND GRANDSON

SITE THREE, Graciela:

Struggling with water and humidity in her home for years, Graciela is finally getting a house solution with Habitat's help and our volunteers. Mother of 4 children, her 16 year-old daughter, Bianca, is an art student and proudly shows off her favorite work. Bianca has a strong interest in art and said that she travels one hour by bus each way to and from her school.




DAUGHTER BIANCA

GRACIELA AND NANCY

Friday: a little of everything

Rain accompanied by thunder for most of the night and into morning. Plus it has turned cold, 4 degrees C. Our work departure was delayed until 11 a.m. when we learned that only 7 people would be needed to work inside on Site Three, Graciela's house. The others could go to Site One, Claudia's house and work outside in the rain, but there was little enthusiasm for that idea, so 7 who decided to headed out on the bus.

Next to our hotel, the oldest bar in town, Cafe Tortoni, was the ideal spot to wait out the couple of hours of our delay. For more than one hundred years, it has been host to the elite of Buenos Aires and its international visitors.


ALEX AT THE ENTRANCE.

INSIDE THE CAFE, MARIE ADMIRES AN
HISTORICAL ILLUSTRATED POSTER.

For those left behind, it was time for a change of pace. Three went shopping and four of us went to the Teatro Colon, the Buenos Aires opera house owned by the city. Competed after contracts and work with two architects from Germany and then Italy, the  building was finally finished when an architect from Belgian joined the project team in 1908. The guided tour in English was very interesting.



TEATRO COLON:
WITH NANCY BEHIND THE CAMERA AND
DONNA, JAN AND MARIE. 

OPERA HOUSE STAGE AND BALCONIES.

Thursday: working hard

Our work sites have expanded to three, all within blocks of each other in the La Matanza area, about one hour by bus during the morning traffic rush.

First, in answer to comments posted:

1. Weather here is considered winter, but we would call it spring as light jacket is all that is necessary. However the Argentines are wearing heavy coats for what they call "cold days". Actually it was hot today and we were down to shirt sleeves while working on the site.

2. Before we arrived, this area succumbed to the rainest August ever and evacuation of thousands of families in some areas. Where we are working, the resultant water is still standing and making nice suck your feet into it "mud". This has contributed to the conditions on our work sites: mud and more mud, muddy shoes, and more muddy shoes.

3. Hotel Hispano is a 2* facility. Wonderful fluffy towels, narrow bed, shower in bathroom with plastic curtain but no tub, just water on the floor with a drain to squegee dry after, rooms are clean and spare as expected.


4. Out in the area where we are working, lots of animals, freely moving around. It seems every family has at least one dog and cat. We have been befriending the ones on our sites.

At right: Rene with a dog 

named Kun after a 

well known Argentine 

soccer player.  >>>> 

SITE ONE (Claudia's house):

Eight of the team continued the brick wall building. this included the mixing of the mortar and for some, learning to do the bricklaying. We worked until the height of the wall would have required scaffolding (there was none) to continue. Remainder of the day was another bucket brigade of the earth fill, which we now moved for mixing into a slurry for the concrete sub-floor of the two rooms in Claudia's house.

ALEX WAS GREAT STICKING WITH THE HEAVY LIFTING OF EARTH CONTINUOUSLY UNTIL RELIEVED LATE IN THE AFTERNOON BY TWO OTHER TEAM MEMBERS.

(Lauren and Joe take note: Alex has been a great worker and solid team member of this Paterson group. Pix of him working upcoming) 

NANCY AND DONNA HAVE RELIEVED
ALEX AND PITCH IN TO SHOVEL EARTH
FOR THE BUCKET BRIGADE

DIANE HANDS BUCKET OFF TO JOSE,
WHILE DONNA TURNS TO REACH FOR NEXT ONE.



WALL AND FLOOR AT END OF DAY.

SITE TWO (Antonia's house):
Work continued with clean up from the roof removal. Antonia has been thrilled to have a team on site and helping her with a "house solution".

BARB READIES THE MALLOT OVERHEAD
FOR THE BIG CONCRETE SMASH!

AND SCOTT TRANSFERS RUBBLE FOR CARTING AWAY.

SITE THREE (Graciela's house):

She has been living in the house she built for more than fifteen years and has been plagued by moisture on the floors and even measurable accumulation. The work here is to build rooms on the back of existing house which the family will move into, demolish the existing which has been seriously comprimised by water damage, and regrade the property to prevent further occurence. A mother of 4 children, the oldest at 18, Graciela is an engaging woman and appreciative of the volunteers.

Work for the Habitat team is plastering the interior walls (built by previous volunteers).

RENEE COVERS BRICK WALL WITH PLASTER.

USING A LONG BOARD, ANDY SMOOTHS OUT THE NEW PLASTER.

Wednesday: two work sites

MARYANN WETTING BRICKS
BEFORE SETTING ON WALL.
 

We were split into two teams today. One, worked at the house of Claudia and her family of 2 sons and husband. Here we began the bricklaying of a rear wall of their new house. Three courses of "used brick" and three courses of a red block. This brings the wall to correct height for installing windows.

BRICKLAYER NANCY

Four of this team, were assigned to shovel duty, digging a trough in muddy, smelly dirt, so that pipe could be placed for carrying stagnate water away from the house.

DIANA DIGS INTO A SHOVEL READY PROJECT

By day's end our walls
         looked like this:

 

In the afternoon we formed a brigade line to move a large pile of earth fill from where it had been dropped in the street to the backyeard. Pail by painful pail. Only two hours to complete a job which would have taken the homeowners most of two weeks. This earth will be used to level the ground before pouring concrete floor for the room.

The other team was a block away working with Habitat homeowner Antonia who had an earlier loan from Habitat for the installation of a roof and
which loan has since been paid back.



UPPER RIGHT ROOF PARTIALLY SMASHED
WITH MALLOTS AND RESIDUE ON FLOOR
FOR HAULING AWAY

SCOTT SMASHING REMAINING ROOF.

Today's work was in preparation for a upcoming project. The team helped to clear out stuff stored in the old part of the house and demolished a very old and unsuitable roof over this area. This makes the space now available for another use. VERY HARD MANUAL work!

A major effort by Jan Folsom encouraged the homeowner to sort out unwanted stuff. The junk man arrived later with horse and cart and hauled away the discarded items.

ANTONIA AND JAN REORGANIZING ITEMS.

We celebrated the day's tough work at a local restaurant. Nice Malbec wine and local beer plus dinner. Wes and Daniel were wearing the soccer team shirts they purchased at a shop near the stadium in La Boca.

Tuesday: with Habitat Argentina

The work being done here in Buenos Aires is multi-faceted. They call it "housing solutions" for they are building new "seed houses" plus also work renovating and reinvigorating of existing structures. Victoria Biedermann, Brigades Coordinator Habitat Argentina, explained and showed the multi-family complex of 7 flats for 7 families in a single building they are in the process of construction in the "La Boca" section of the city.

Victoria stated that in the 10 years of Habitat Argentina existence they have made a total of 700 home solutions of these types, new, renovations and other family assistance.


LA BOCA SOCCER STADIUM ENTRANCE, SEATS 40,000

BRIGHT AND COLORFUL, IT IS A YELLOW STADIUM!

She took us on a guided tour of La Boca, the oldest area of the city and frequented by tourists for its unique and colorful buildings.

DOORWAY TO COURTYARD FLAT

ANA CUTTS, NATIONAL DIRECTOR
HABITAT ARGENTINA GIVES US AN
OVERVIEW OF THEIR NEW MULTI-FAMILY UNIT PLAN

NEW MULTI-FAMILY SITE WITH PRE-FOUNDATION  WORK UNDERWAY

When completed, the multi-family unit will have a colorful facade to blend in with its neighbor building shown at right. The building will have a common area on the ground floor and possibly a shop.

Monday: in the city

Today was a get-acquainted day. Those who had arrived before today, were off early on a city tour bus, in the hop-on, hop-off style and had a good time. Six of us arrived on the overnight flight and at the hotel by noon, so only a little sightseeing in the afternoon.
 
Buenos Aires is an old city, with beautiful architecture that has been challenged by the pollution and elements. The are many interesting places and we visited a few, learned to manage the subway and took a short tango lesson on the sidewalk.

Tonight Victoria of Habitat Argentina joined us for dinner and gave us our itinerary for an orientation day on Tuesday. We will have a chance to learn more about their work first had tomorrow.

Leaving on a jet plane.....

Leaving on a jet plane
All my bags are packed
I'm ready to go....

The song was written by John Denver in 1966 and most famously recorded by Peter, Paul and Mary. It turned out to be their biggest (and final) hit, becoming their nly #1 on "Billboard".

And off we go. Some of the Paterson team left on the 17th, a few more on the 18th and the last six ill be flying out on the 19th. On Monday, the 20th, we will all be together when we will have an official welcome from Habitat Argentina. Pix at right, leaving Newark (EWR), l to r: Maryann, Alex and Nancy. >>>