The pour

Today we poured cement. It was a simple job in concept but exhausting in execution. It involved moving probably well more than a ton of rocks and dirt, tapping it down, installing reinforcing wiring and then pouring and finishing the cement. And most of the effort involved bucket brigades.

It all involved the property belonging to America and her family -- where we had worked yesterday. The objective was to pour the foundation for her home, but first the earth that lay within the frame of the foundation had to be tamped down, and that was performed by Ben Larson, in the photo, below.

Ben Larson tamps down the earth.

But that ground was too full of organic matter, and didn't compact well. We had to set up a bucket brigade that hauled "yellow" dirt onto the site. This would compact better, and create a solid underlay for the concrete. The next photo shows Rigo, an Esperanza employee, working the layer of underlay soil.

Rigo, atop the yellow soil that will provide the underlay for the  foundation.

After Rigo tamped down the soil, another bucket brigade went to work, loading gravel and sand into five-gallon buckets which were emptied into the cement mixer. The cement was hauled by another brigade to be dumped for the foundation as Rigo worked and finished the surface. Filling and hauling those buckets of rock or sand and then passing partly-filled buckets of cement to the foundation went on for a couple hours. Rigo's announcement that no more was needed was greeted with a cheer. Time for another home-cooked meal by the lady of the home.

Rigo works the cement while Dennis Dooley delivers more.

Afterward we visited the home of Norma. This double-wide (a full 460 square feet) was completed last year as a basic concrete block house, and the photos below show what Norma did with it in the meantime. Her satisfaction in having this home was matched by the satisfaction of the Esperanza volunteers to see what she had done with the shell they left her a year ago.

Esperanza volunteers come to see how the house has been finished.

Norma shows off her bedroom with her brother, Roberto.

A baby sleeps in a second bedroom.

Norma's sparkling bathroom features a shower area with tiled walls.

I'm tired and I'm going to bed. Tomorrow I hope to have photos for you from the pouring of the roof for the other property we've been working on -- Nico's house.


Love,
Robert

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