The Long Long Long way home!!

It is strange how eleven days can change the meaning of such a simple phrase. Webster's dictionary defines "home" as :

1. one's place of residence : domicile b: house

2. : the social unit formed by a family living together

3. a: a familiar or usual setting : congenial environment; also: the focus of one's domestic attention

Eleven days ago twenty-four people set out, leaving the comforts of "home" to embark on a journey to Nicaragua.  As the team arrived in Managua Nicaragua, the members had the opportunity ti come together as a team while putting aside their anxieties.

The team was quickly reminded of where we had landed, as well as what we had all left behind in order to take part in such a great cause.  Less than twenty-four hours after leaving behind all those daily compliants of hardships upon which we tend to focus on in our lives back home in Canada..

...How bad we have it having to wake up early to go to work, Having to put up with the internet being down, the lad at Starbucks taking too long to make our five dollar coffee or finding that the three bedroom - two and a half bath house is too cramped......

Visiting the "homes" of the families that we were about to spend the week attempting to help build a new home for was a great way to quickly regain one's perspective in life.

Being invited into the homes of these two amazing families was such an un-expected experience and a harsh reminder of what a "home" really is.

Imagine having the resilience to wake up every morning, starting your day in a twenty square meter room with clothe walls seperating your space into rooms for your family of five?

Waking every day to a dirt floor, communal latrine shared with your neighbours and doing it with a smile on your face!

Now that we have spent eleven days in Nicaragua, the journey "home" has begun with a new meaning of what a home is. 

It is amazing  what a little perspective can do to a person.  Our issues at home can now be viewed from a diffrent light tanks to our recent experiences, kicking the "whoa is me" square in the teeth.

When things get rough at home we will be fortunate enough to be able to look back at our time in Nicaragua as a reminder of what a "home" truly can be.

Tony and I would like to thank the team for the amazing effort, spirit and teamwork that was putforth all week, it trully makles our responsibilities much lighter.

Hats off to our Habitat hosts Vittoria, Alisa, Scarleth, Nelson and Adrian for a very well organized trip

and a special thanks to Mike, Sheila and the crew at AutoTrim for their ongoing support, The team poseters were a huge hit..

'Till Next Year...

Paulie

Day Seven Friday November 25th

Both teams headed to their respective build sites for what is the saddest day.  We worked on site for the morning.  We busied ourselves trying to get as many bricks installed.  There is nothing more thrilling than seeing those walls get higher and higher and we have made such an impact.  On Team Paulie, our mason, Carlos, told us we saved him 4 days work!  That is huge!  Both teams spent the morning mixing cement, moving and laying bricks.  Some headed to the adobe factory to make more bricks.  Stan & Joanne went along to help set up for the Christmas party planned for the afternoon.   On Team Tony we were lucky enough to have a bit more time to set up a second tattoo booth, color cartoon pages with the kids and actually take a walkabout around the community.  It was an inspiring site, wonderful to see past Habitat houses, painted in different colors, their yards planted with local vegetation, even one house, brandishing the small Canadian flags handed out earlier in the week. 

The best part of the morning was playing with children, chatting with the masons, families and friends from the community.    On Team Paulie, Camille brought supplies for fingerpainting.  Fernando, Anderson, Francie, Fabiola and Ashley spent all morning doing this.  They were thrilled and so was Rosa when she saw their creations.  The people of this community are extremely proud.  They are not looking for a hand out but rather a hand up.  We have witnessed how hard working they are, especially the women.  I think they were overwhelmed by us, not sure of our intentions.  That wall was broken down and we were embraced. This community has taught us so much.

Since Friday was only a half day of work, at the end of the morning we witnessed the children of the communities going home to clean up and prepare for the early Christmas celebration that Habitat had planned at the Adobe Factory.  As we pulled up in our bus we passed local families walking to the Factory.  Upon our arrival, there were approximately 200 people at the site, with more arriving hourly.  We played games such as musical chairs, dance contests, obstacle course and tug of war, all of which we paired with the community and their children to participate in.  Habitat had organized a Christmas gift for all the children in the community as well as a meal after we had departed for the afternoon.   We were all feeling incredibly overwhelmed as we departed at the end of the day, at the end of this build.

In typical tradition, on Friday night, the Starfish poem was read, this year by Morgan, and then we all  shared our favorite "snapshot" stories of the week.... La Gallina has truly touched all of our hearts.  We would truly like to thank the Nicaraguan Habitat for Humanity team for all their hospitality and excellent organizational skills.  Their new day care project for La Gallina will be a tremendous success.

Day Six Tona and Paulie combined update

Today, as like all the days prior, moving blocks was a major part of our day.....11 cm, versus 11.5, versus12 cm, can anyone really tell the difference????  Apparently the masons can....

On both sites today, we experienced scorpions, two on site Paulie, and one on Team Tony.  Luckily for us, Eva, a 9 year old on our site, marched right over to the block with a trowel and sliced off the head of the scorpion and threw it in the bush.  Thank goodness for her!  

On site Paulie, morning time was spent for the kids with puzzles that Rita had brought.  At the end of play time, the children asked if they were allowed to keep the puzzle, to which Rita answered, "of course it is my gift to you as long as they are shared."  The kids carefully gathered all the pieces and disappeared into the house.  A few minutes later they reappeared with a bible as a gift to her.  The children all lined up, put their hands together in a prayer gesture and said "santito" meaning saint.  Scarlett  explained to Rita that she should cover their hands with hers and repeat "santito".  The gift of the bible was touching but the moment of all the children giving the blessing is hard to put into words.  Needless to say, Rita needed a few moments to compose herself! 

Carolyn and Morgan started off the morning with coloring school.  The kids were great and very adept at handling their crayons!  Morgan was the recipient of most of their pics.  The kids have been giving us hibiscus flowers picked from the trees, but today while we went for a walk, they formed two lines for us to walk through and gave us each small bouquets.  The gestures of giving, appreciation, and love are so great.  

We were fortunate enough on Team Tony to be allowed on the scaffolding.  At the end of the day, Jen placed a Loonie in the cement for luck, to be buried in memory of our time here in Nicaragua.  We explained to each of the families that this is done in Canada in order to bring good luck to the new home and the family living in it.  This tradition was started over the last couple of years at each build.  This year Team Paulie used a toonie...team competition continues!  

Tomorrow is the last day on site.  We will be working in the morning and celebrating our work with the families in the afternoon.  It will be incredibly difficult to leave the families, community and children we have become so fond of all week. 

Day Five - Team Paulie

Today was much the same experience as Team Tona...bricks, concrete and more bricks.  We have all become quite adept at using machetes.  We sorted all the blocks, chipped U and L blocks, set up scaffolding, cut and tied rebar, and sifted sand.  Always on the go is the never ending mixing of cement.  All these supplies are necessary for tomorrows progress so we are in good shape.  The time seemed to fly by.  After a lunch of Nicaraguan lasagna, we organized a colouring table for the kids, which was a huge hit.  They were so proud to send us home with their creations.  Got to know the family a little more...mom Rosa showed us her vegetable garden plus the many banana and papaya trees she has growing on her property.  Many laughs, stories and sweat shared amongst good friends and the common gratification of seeing our progress when we leave the site at the end of the day.

The director for Habitat Nicaragua, Frank, joined us for dinner this evening.  We enjoyed learning about Habitat Nicaragua, their ongoing projects and their hopes for future ones.  One of the biggest problems for Nicaraguans is clean drinking water and sanitation and Frank talked to us about their future plans to tackle this.  We had chicken and beans for dinner...we have never seen chicken prepared in so many ways.  Some of us might not lose any weight on this trip because we are being looked after very well!

Day Five, Tean Tona

Hola de Masachapa,

Day three. Today we awoke to sunny skies and the promise of sweat, smiles and growth.
We begin with a healthy dose of huevos (eggs) and friholes (beans) and proceed en-mass to what has begun to feel comfortable, homey.
Team Tony (Tona) arrives fresh and ready to face the rigors that are implicit with any Habitat build. It begins with the creation of a less than perfect volcano which erupts liquid cement upon the immediate area. For those who don´t know a "volcano" is created when sand and  cement are combined and formed into a crater which has water as its center... a delicate shovel dance is then preformed and the result is hopefully a useable mortar mix.
Not only that but Luz Marina (who we are building for),  kicked off her flip-flops and jumped right in to save  the volcano and out danced all members of team Tona!!
I must say that the Nico's do the shovel dance way better than the Gringo´s.

The rest of the build day consisted of bricks being moved and laid. Brick´s being cut and shaped... into U-blocks to accomodate re-bar or into halves, cement being made, sand being sifted and friends being made.

Morgan was again a pied piper and led the local children in a rousing game of duck, duck goose (which cost her a scraped knee) and baseball soccer. She was also instrumental in providing a tattoo clinic for the kids, where all walked away with an RCMP beaver tattoo provide by Cheryl.
Adding to the joy of having laughing, playing children on our site was their gift to us of fresh hibiscus and other flowers that they brought to us in a steady stream.

There  were also several side trips made by members of both teams.
Adobe bricks were delivered to four sites in conjunction with Habitat Nicaragua´s on-going  home improvement program.
In another trip, team members went to the Adobe factory and put together three mixes which made approximately 250 bricks. Our Global Village co-ordinator Elisa, states that we were "Awesome" and set some sort of record as they had never done three mixes in 45 minutes before.

Question.... What do you make when you add bankers, computer geeks, cops, designers, technicians together?
You make... Friends...  a team... a difference.

Never discount what you can do. The power of one grows... infects... until it moves and shapes. Be the mover, the shaper. Be the difference.

Day Four - Tuesday - Team Tony

Site Tony was similar in many ways to the other, mixing mortar, stacking brick, chiseling other bricks to specific sizes and shapes as requested by the masons, however, there were many children running around, wanting to help, loving having their pictures taken.  For a good portion of the day, they took to following Morgan around.Beyond her blond hair and blue eyes, which initially drew them, she had also brought a soccer ball from Ottawa to the site.  It is amazing how one soccer ball can bring such joy to a dozen children.

Scarlet was constantly drawn upon to translate what the children wanted to say to us....at one point, Eva, a cousin of our recipient family, gave a few of us hibiscus flowers to put in our hair.  There were also two young boys showing us their talents by spinning their tops on the ground and then scooping them up in their hands while spinning.

With promises to bring back the soccer ball, the children followed us to the bus, giggling and waving, with all of us practicing our limited Spanish saying ¨a manyana¨ ....can not wait until tomorrow.

Day Four - Tuesday - Team Paulie

This morning we were served a typical Nicaraguan breakfast which consisted of rice, potatoes, cornmeal and pork mixed all together and then wrapped in a banana leaf.  This was then boiled for 12 hours.  It was spicy and delicious.

Arrived at the build site where we divided into Team Paulie and Team Tony.  Team Paulie definitely has the "spa site"...lots of shade, lots of room to move around when working, all surrounded by lovely corn and sugar cane fields.   Our architect, Claudio, was on site, and made good use of his eager volunteers.  He speaks very good English.  The first two rows of blocks were already laid.  While Gerry and Barry helped in laying more rows of blocks along with the mason, the rest of us broke into groups.  Some mixed concrete, some sorted blocks, some chiseled to make "U" blocks, some filled mortar.  The day moved along quickly and we were all happy to see the outcome of our efforts...walls growing higher! 

The most rewarding part of today was being on the build site with our family.  Rafael and Rosa worked along side us while their children, Fernando, Francis and Fabiola played on the jungle gym (a.k.a. the huge pile of blocks).  In no time, their cousins came to play after news got out there was candy to be had.  There is nothing more amazing than giving a small kid candy and watching their face light up like you just gave them a piece of gold!  The other amazing part of today was giving our leftovers to the family.  I know that most of us cannot fathom this idea.  We were well fed at lunch and had lots of leftovers and we couldn´t throw them out. We sorted our rice, potatoes, pork and corn into containers.  We gave it to Rosa and her face lit up.  We´ll just end this post with that thought.

Day Three - Monday

Up for breakfast at 7am for pancakes with fresh fruit and fantastic Nicaraguan coffee.  Off to the adobe factory at 8am.  An adobe factory is not the software but a brick making factory.  Not in a building but out in the open.  This factory is all manual labour.  The only machinery available is to press the bricks, and ours was broken today, unfortunately.  In the meantime there was plenty of work to be done.  In the center of the site was a huge pile of dirt.  Some of us had to break up the dirt while others shoveled the dirt through the sifters.  The sifters are metal frames that stand over the wheelbarrow.  Others in the group were using the sifted dirt to mix the adobe brick recipe which consists of dirt, lime and dry cement.  Others were moving already made bricks onto the flatbed truck to be transported to the building site.  This was back breaking work, even more so in the hot sun.  Because the brick press was being repaired, we broke off into small groups to do other jobs around town in the afternoon.  Some continued to shovel and sift.  After lunch, we were joined by about 30 local families who were there to do their allocated work in order to earn their Habitat home.  All of the women and men showed up wearing flip-flops and not a single hat.  They worked solidly without the breaks that all of us Canadians needed to take.  They seemed unaffected by the heat.  We soon made some new friends.  We needed to sift enough wheelbarrows full of dirt in order to make an allotted number of bricks.  We surpassed the number needed thanks to our new friends.  

Some of the team members who were looking for adventure headed off to deliver materials to other job sites.  They all piled into the back of the flatbed truck....safety standards are not even on the radar here!  Little did they know that part of their job was to change the flat tire they soon had!  A third group of real keeners felt they needed a good workout and set off to dig a foundation.  Not only did they finish the foundation they completed the cement footings!  They worked overtime for this one!

Nelson, our bus driver, brought us back to the hotel at 4pm.  We all headed straight for the pool to cool down.  We had a dinner of chicken, beef, sausage, fried plantain and the best Pico di Gallo I have ever tasted.  After dinner, Tony was able to get the hockey game on the TV in the dining area!  We spent the evening playing Euchre, chatting and sharing lots of stories and laughs.

Day Two - Sunday

Breakfast at 8am...beans, rice and bit of bacon with toast.  The bus picked us up at 9am.  We met Elisa from Habitat Nicaragua.  She and Adrian took us to see the hilltop site of the former presidential palace of the dictator, Anastasio Somoza.  The palace was destroyed by the 1972 earthquake that leveled much of the city.  We also saw the notoriously brutal prison on the grounds of the presidential palace.  We learned about the recent elections and how difficult it is for the average Nicaraguan to have a fair and just vote.
We then departed for the town of San Rafael del Sur.  Our trip took us through the beautiful countryside.  The ride was very bumpy because we realized the whole highway is paved in interlock bricks rather than ashpalt.  Much cheaper!  Our hotel is in the nearby town of Masachapa which is right on the Pacific Ocean.  Beautiful beach and very quiet.

Following a nice lunch and a very informative orientation by Elisa, we headed to the housing development called La Gallina to meet the families we will build for.  We saw where they are living now.  Their new homes have the footings poured already so we have a good start.  Both families will be working with us and we will get to know them better in the next few days.  The community is full of shanty homes, a few completed Habitat homes, and beautiful lush greenery and hibiscus flowers.  It was nice to see that even though these people are living in some of the worst conditions, they still try to make their "home" a home.

We returned to the hotel for some relaxing time.  Many of us took walks along the beach and enjoyed the beauty of Nicaragua.  There were many local families enjoying their Sunday on the beach.  We had a dinner of chicken tacitos which was delicious and are spending the evening with lots of stories, laughs and even a game of Euchre!!   Good night to all at home.
Rita

Day One

Travel day!  Early start for all at airport for 6am flight to Chicago.  Eating and shopping in airports has become the pastime.  Chicago to Miami and then into Managua at 7:00pm.  All flights were smooth and on time.  Most importantly, all the luggage arrived with us.  We were met at the airport by Adrian from Habitat Nicaragua.  Onto the bus for the short drive to our hotel.  Managua was busy and there were some nice looking areas of the city.  We arrived to find Paul, Chris, Andrew, Jill, Mehdy, Barry, and Morgan waiting for us with refreshments on ice.  They arrived last night and prepared the lay of the land for the rest of the team.  After a lovely fish dinner, we spent the evening relaxing and catching up with everyone.  It is humid here.
Goodnight Rita

THE FIRST CANADIAN TEAM TO WORK IN NICARAGUA

2010 El Salvador

The Canadian Global Village program started sending teams around the world in 2006.  This will be a very special trip as we are the first Canadian team to visit Nicaragua.

HOTEL ACCOMODATIONS NOVEMBER 18-19

Upon arrival at the airport we will be transported to a hotel in Managua.  On Sunday November 20 we will leave for our build site and our hotel for the week.

Our hotel is on the link below:

http://www.hostalreal.com.ni/losrobles/losrobles_en.html

TRAVEL TIPS

Preliminary needs:

 Passport:         Scan a copy and send it to Paul at tpmack@rogers.com

Health card:    Scan a copy and send it to Paul at tpmack@rogers.com

We will have all the copies with the emergency kit in case of injuries.

 See your local travel clinic re. Shots and meds

2) Packing:

Less is better. Split luggage to include a day’s essentials in carry-on.

Baggage loss and delay is getting common. (No complaining allowed).

Suggested inclusions:

-          Two pairs work pants, two long sleeve work shirts

-          one pair khaki or casual slacks, or skirt, dress tops, shirts for dinner, R&R and travel

-          basic first aid kit, tweezers, travel wipes, hand sanitizer

-          A couple of pairs work gloves, one pair casual/hiking shoes, one pair work shoes or boots (open shoes not allowed on site),

-          wide brimmed hat: Tilley-type, (sunstrokes and dehydration  do occur)

-          sunglasses or safety glasses; bathing suit, sunscreen, bug repellant

-          special foods or medications; travel alarm, tiny flashlight; rain poncho,

-          Spray on sun block is much easier to use on the build site

-          A water bottle that you can refill on the build site

-          Electrolytes replacements..they are available in “jellybean” form, they work great on those days when the tummy is just not right!!!

-          Some snacks of choice (snack or protein bars)

4) Not recommended:

Gifts or toys for locals, on one-to-one basis

Shorts (officially they say no shorts, we have had no trouble with the cargo type shorts) tank tops, halter tops, high heels expensive jewelry, expensive cameras, or video cameras

5) Donations:

 Gifts, tools, books, or toys…may be made through the local affiliate on a group, not individual, basis. It is customary to leave excess clothing behind upon departure.  We have been asked to provide items that would be of use at a children's daycare in La Gallina

6) Research:

Check out Nicaragua as well as the Hostal Real via the following link:

http://www.hostalreal.com.ni/masachapa/masachapa_en.html

Canadian Travel Advisories:

http://www.voyage.gc.ca/countries_pays/report_rapport-eng.asp?id=216000

7) The weather:

Nicaragua has a range of microclimates, and it's always worth checking the weather to see where you want to go first. On the Pacific side, invierno (winter), or rainy season, runs May to November, at its rainiest in September and October when sea turtles nest 3000-strong to a beach. Verano (summer), or dry season, is November to April, the best time for hiking, camping and partying, as it coincides with high tourist season (December to March), most pronounced along the Costa Rican border. As verano desiccates to a close, the Pacific forests lose their leaves and lake levels drop revealing sandy lake beaches that you'll put to good use as temperatures soar from the normal high 20s into the mid-30s or worse.

http://www.lonelyplanet.com/nicaragua/weather

8) Money: US dollars!!

VISA, Mastercard, and Bank Card. In most places, one of these three works in ATMs , for cash withdrawals. American Dollars are also recommended.  American Express and Traveller’s Cheques are not popular.

9) Waters and Diet:

Bottled water is provided, free, continuously. Katadyn water treatment bottles are handy, if you bring them.  If it isn’t cooked or peeled, don’t eat it.

Smile, and expect the unexpected!!!