Honduras Trips

Dre Antono, another Habitat AmeriCorps brings us the rundown on the team's first work day in Honduras:

"Our first day on the work site was both tiring and fulfilling. We quickly realized that the houses, however small, required some serious hard work!

For the second year in a row, I’ll be spending Easter in Santa Rosa de Copán in Honduras.  This year, I’m leading a large team of 19 individuals who will be spending a week working with Habitat Honduras to continue building homes that we started last year in the 31-house El Rosario project.

as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. Psalm 103:12

So this week we are helping to build homes in what will eventually be a 31 house development in Barrio El Rosario outside Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras.  To lower the cost in order to serve poorer families, the Habitat affiliate has decided to build the homes from adobe bricks rather than cinderblocks.  We have been helping to make bricks, including harvesting pine straw (an ingredient in the adobe) from a nearby pine forest, and a few of our team have helped to lay some bricks on the first of the homes.

Today’s blogger is Pam Forsythe from Habitat Wake’s Development Department and our team leader for this trip to serve in Honduras.

After a rainy day yesterday, today was delightfully sunny – albeit a bit hot while working!  I spent the morning making adobe bricks with Jose and was proud that by noon I had made twelve and just about kept up with Jose! While making bricks, Jose and I shared English and Spanish words and phrases; we brushed up on the days of the week and shared details about our lives and families. 

Today’s blogger is Judy Szustakowski, a long-time Habitat Wake volunteer house leader.  This is her first build with Habitat outside the U.S.

Lessons learned today: (1) Be on time for the morning meeting; (2) Don’t work with a bunch of wimps; (3) Making bricks is hard work.

A knock on my door at 7:00 am startled me, even though I was already awake and reading.  Little did I know that we were meeting each morning at 7:00.  Without my computer and calendar, I never know where I am supposed to be.  Isn’t that sad?

Our blogger today is Norma Jones, Habitat Wake homeowner in Cary and participant in Habitat Wake’s Global Village trip to Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras.

Hola  Everyone, I am Norma,  proud habitat homeowner from Cary. I worked on my home as well as several others in the past but Lord knows now I know what real work is.

At 4 a.m., the sound of firecrackers broke the silence of the city.  By 5:30, our group had assembled several blocks from the main city square and could see the approaching parade and hear the music.  This celebration, called Carrerita de San Juan, is the traditional Easter morning celebration in Santa Rosa de Copan, Honduras.