Un Techo para Chile (A Roof for Chile)!

This weekend proved to be one of the most rewarding for me since I've been here in Chile. For a while the CIEE kids have been clamoring to help with earthquake reconstruction, but with our busy schedules and so much going on in Chile post-earthquake its been near impossible to organize. This weekend we finally got our chance to pitch in a little bit, by volunteering for an organization called Un Techo para Chile (A roof for Chile). Techo para Chile existed before the earthquake, and many other South and Central American countries have now copied their business plan.

The houses that they build are called "media aquas" and they come prefabricated so that volunteer teams can set them up over a weekend. Our CIEE team of 35 was split into 7 teams of 5 to build 7 houses in a little rural city close to Talca called Las Cabras. It was so awesome for me to get out of Santiago not to another big city or a tourist hotspot, but to the campesinos of Chile. It was an opportunity to see how most Chileans live--outside of the city, and it was a beautiful experience. It felt like the DR again a little bit--riding in the back of pickups, getting dirty, working hard, all while surrounded by beautiful mountains, lakes, and sunsets out in God's country.

The family my team worked with (a young couple that had been married 5 years) did not lose their home to the earthquake, but to fire. On friday morning their house had burned to the ground after a chimney fire got out of control. It was devastating to see how such hardworking people could lose absolutely everything in such a flash. There is a picture of their home below.


Saturday was a frustrating day. Since our family had just applied for a temporary Techo para Chile house the day before, we weren't able to actually get to the site and start building until about 3pm. The others in my team were really upset about this, and bad attitudes and negative spirits started us off. I had kind of expected that to heppen because 1. Chile runs on tiki-time. When someone says 9am, read 11. and 2. Because without fail, that's how volunteer work runs! I knew that we would get the house done, but after working until about 9pm (most of that time working by candlelight) we had not even finished getting in the pilotes (pieces of wood that would make the foundation of the house, pronounced pee-loh-tays). Here is a picture of the beginning of our work, getting the pilotes in.


Saturday night we had a giant CIEE sleepover in the gym of the local school :D I especially enjoyed getting to spend all this time with my gringos this weekend because it is dawning on me that after Chile, we will never all be together again! I have gotten close to so many in my group, and can't believe we have so little time left here together. Anyway, despite the lack of beds I slept like an angel Saturday night, and we were up and at 'em Sunday morning by 8.

Sunday was hard, but our team got into a groove and finished the house! We worked a 10 hour day, and had to put the roof, windows, and door on in the dark, but it all got done. We didn't get back to Santiago last night until about 1am, but it was totally worth it. I am a girl with sore muscles and a happy heart! It is so rewarding to start and finish a project like this with little experience and little time. This weekend was also awesome for my Spanish. Because we had Patricio (our program director) in our group of 5 and the husband whose house had burned down worked with us quite a bit, we spoke only in Spanish the whole time we worked. Language barriers can make things more frustrating when trying to do technical things like raise a wall, but I can now say that I feel very comfortable with both construction words and frustration words. I learned a lot of Spanish swear words! Here is a picture of our group with the finished house:


Anyway, the work was hard but the reward was great. I am so glad that I had the opportunity to volunteer this weekend. It was so nice to get out of the city, see the countryside, and get away from the constant stress of homework! BUT...now I've got to get back to the nitty gritty school stuff. I have a paper and a presentation this week so it will be busy, but I leave Friday morning at 3am for San Pedro de Atacama. Gracias a Dios, another break is not far off!