Day 4- First Day of Work

My first day at the site was a success!! As in no personal injuries or catastrophes.  I met the family that the house will belong to: Marta y Juan Carlos, and their three children Veronica y Juan Carlos Jr, the twins aged 9, and Erica aged 4.  They are all very sweet and eater to help.  Juan Carlos Jr. is quite the artist. As soon as I walked in he showed me books and books of his crayon drawings that mostly included pigs and giraffes and helicopters.  Right now they are living in thier aunt's house next door. It is a one room concrete block building about the size of my bedroom back at home.  Inside all they have inside are two beds shoved together for the five of them and a desk with a radio, clothes and pictures stacked on it.  That leaves only a small corner by the door free for thier table (an upturned paint bucket with a wooden plank balancing on top) and chairs (more cement blocks piled by the wall and only taken down one by one when needed to use as stools).  They have no floor, just packed earth.  Thier kitchen is outside around the back and consists of more cememt blocks surrounding a firepit and covered by metal scraps to keep out the ever persisitent rain.  They bathe outside with bucket carried from the water spiket down the street. This is actually better than what they had originally because last week Constru Casa demolished thier scrap metal shed in order to make room for the new construction.  This new house will provide them a home.  It wont be a place where they can just keep dry, but a place with a real lock they can secure at night and feel safe- a luxury they never had before.  They will have a floor for the first time to free them from worms and parasites that crawl every where.  They will have rooms to live and play, and rooms to cook and bathe.  It will change thier lives.
I am working with four other men: Servilio, the head builder; Ricardo and Mateo, his helpers; and Juan Carlos, the father of the family.  Juan Carlos and I do mostly odd jobs because we are not certified nor practiced builders.  The first thing I did was move 200 cement blocks from one location to another.  Then I punched holes in them with an axe so that they can be used in the anti-seismic system that is also featured in the house design.  After lunch I mixed cement for a good 3 hours.  Shovelfull... after shovelfull... after shovelfull.... I know my back will be sore tomorrow!
At times I did feel as though I only got in the way because I couldnt do any of the real important jobs.  Everything I do requires nothing but muscle, and in the present stage of the house, skill is more valuable.  They began this house last week and all that's left to do is finish the walls and install the roof and floor.  I'm content with shoveling, I like it.  It's much easier when they play the radio too; the intense Latino music gives a good rhythm to work to.