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. >>>

Building opportunity

SMILE! You are about to follow a volunteer Paterson Habitat Build.

Fifteen volunteers. For one week. August 20-27, 2012.
OK. Sounds good. But where?
Only a plane ride to Buenos Aires, where we will build homes in August 2012.

Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America. Located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent, this is one of the ten most populated urban metro centers in the world with just under 13 million people. Most of the country's activity is highly concentrated in the city and its surroundings. A favorite for tourists from all over the world, this cosmopolitan city offers a large choice of cultural events, nightlife, restaurants, and pubs.

Contrast this to the metro area’s high poverty rate and substandard housing, and you can see why Habitat’s work here is important. How it will be meaningful for the volunteers who use their skills to build clean, safe homes for local people.

FACTS:

• In the city, 2.8 million residents and a poverty rate of 8.4% in 2007.
• Including the metro Buenos Aires area, about 15 million people and a poverty rate estimated at 20.6%
• Some studies indicate 4 million people in the metropolitan Buenos Aires area live in poverty.

LEADERS:
Barbara Dunn and Donna Brightman have plenty of experience leading groups to locations far from the New Jersey office of Paterson Habitat for Humanity. Dunn has lead groups 6 times to the Mississippi Gulf CoaSt for annual building visits and Brightman most recently led a group to build the 500,000th Habitat for Humanity house in Kenya. Now, they will together lead this team on a Build in Argentina.

Check back to see the progress.