(click on pictures to enlarge)
Joining a few others from 3 other churches, Steven Lingafelt went to Honduras August 15-24 to build houses. Following are a few highlights and pictures. It was a good trip. We had enough money to build 10 houses. The team selected and worked on one house, starting on Monday with foundation (view the concrete foundations behind the beneficiary).
First, we moved hundreds of concrete blocks from the side of the road where they were delivered down a path about 200 feet to the building site.
Then we laid blocks, working in several 2-3 person teams so that by the end of the week, the house was 9 courses high for all walls.
Our team was a mix of men and women from 4 different churches.
The municipality will build the other houses which we did not work on and will complete the house we were working at. To complete this house, rebar was placed on top of block layer 9 (all walls) and tied to the vertical rebar in the house’s corners which is anchored into the foundation, then 2 additional block courses were added to the walls, and then the steel roof was welded to the vertical rebar.
Steel doors and windows coverings will be installed along with an electrical power connection and a light and electrical socket in each room. The dirt inside the house will be leveled and packed flat, then a concrete floor poured (one 5-gallon bucket of concrete at a time). This house will have a septic tank for waste (where possible, houses are connected to the municipality sanitary sewer system). A toilet, shower and sink will be installed. A pila (water storage and general-purpose washing facility) will be built. This is a typical picture.
We also gave each family a bucket of food: beans, rice, flower, oil, corn, pasta, etc.
5-gallon buckets are valuable to people, so in addition to food, they also got a 5-gallon bucket.
We also gave the families clothing made by Millbrook Baptist Church sewing group.
These 10 houses will provide shelter for 25 adults and 20 children.
