We had a wonderful, hot, hard working week in Brazil. Worked on 3 houses (cement floor and 3/4 way up brick walls) by Friday afternoon. The day/week ended with a celebration with the families who will be living in the homes and with the construction workers and Habitat employees.
Habitat is working with the mothers association to help not only build homes, but build community and empower the women/community to speak up to get their needs met - for running water, income generations, a school in the area etc. Most, if not all, of the mothers have been abused by their husbands/partners. After the project of 100 homes is built, Habitat will continue to work with the community for a year or more if needed.
It has been a privilege to work along with the families and the construction workers in Brazil. The team of 14 people from U.S. and Canada made some great connections with the people here.
Yesterday we returned from Fiera Nova to the city of Recife (3 million people), went shopping, rested, dipped in the hotel pool, and ate at a very nice restaurant. This morning we romped in the ocean again - what a wonderful time that was. The ocean was salty again today (a lot of Brazilian food is very salty too)!
I am headed back to the U.S. this afternoon - trying to psyche myself up for cold and snow and such. Jim and I donated a lot of our clothes to the Habitat project group. Now I have room for all the cashews and a few other treats we bought to take back to the states.
