It's Tuesday 2/2/10. We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant - outside under a roof - fresh papaya, pineapple, little bananas, melon, cereal, rolls, coffee.... The team was transported to Fiera Nova to the Habitat build. We worked till 9:00am then they took us to see where the people process the manioc into farinha. Many women and some men were sitting next to piles of manioc (casava) and peeling them like crazy. The peeled manioc gets run through a grinder/shredder then the juice (arsenic) gets pressed out of it. The flour is then cooked on big flat slabs and put into bags. The brazilians sprinkle this farinha on their food. The people who peel the manioc are paid only $15 reis ($8.00) per ton...yes, per ton...and they work 11 to 13 hours per day. Some of the women that we are helping to build homes work in this factory. They are only required to work 8 hours per week on the Habitat homes because they work so much already. Other family members can work for them including youth 16 and older. We are enjoying getting to know the women, some children and the construction workers that we are working alongside with. Today we made more cement - enough to finish a floor for the next house. We also started building brick walls on the cement floor we did yesterday. A cool shower at the end of the day feels like the most amazing gift after a long hot day of work.
It's Tuesday 2/2/10. We ate breakfast at the hotel restaurant - outside under a roof - fresh papaya, pineapple, little bananas, melon, cereal, rolls, coffee.... The team was transported to Fiera Nova to the Habitat build. We worked till 9:00am then they took us to see where the people process the manioc into farinha. Many women and some men were sitting next to piles of manioc (casava) and peeling them like crazy. The peeled manioc gets run through a grinder/shredder then the juice (arsenic) gets pressed out of it. The flour is then cooked on big flat slabs and put into bags. The brazilians sprinkle this farinha on their food. The people who peel the manioc are paid only $15 reis ($8.00) per ton...yes, per ton...and they work 11 to 13 hours per day. Some of the women that we are helping to build homes work in this factory. They are only required to work 8 hours per week on the Habitat homes because they work so much already. Other family members can work for them including youth 16 and older. 