Cuarta visita: Witching a well

So one of the things you have to prove if you want a 4Walls house is that you have title to your land.

Last month a family who thought they had title found out they did not. Their little plastic house was actually on land that was dedicated as a road. They got evicted. Now they have moved to a new plot, where they have title but do not have water.  To dig a well, their friend, who must have some kind of electrical weirdness in his body, witched the well. He walked with a wire until the wire twisted. The twisting was a sign that water was below. They are digging now.

Check out the PBS video about water witching here.

Cuarta visita: A new baby

His name is Liam Yakeni Sevilla Lopez. His mom heard the name Liam once and liked how it sounded. She was delighted to learn that it is an Irish name. Someday he will go to Ireland, she said.

Cuarta visita: Granny's English students

I teach English to these kids on Saturday mornings. There are 31 of them.

Cuarta visita: Cristian Fernando, age two

Cuarta visita: Lunch under the mango tree

Ronald, me, Vivian, Jahaira

Cuarta visita: Construction day 5

Cuarta visita: My room

Cuarta visita: Cashew tree

Cuarta visita: You go to the beach

1. you pay $2.00 to rent a hammock for the day
2. you eat salpicón prepared by your family
3. you swim in the Pacific
4. sand sticks to your sweaty skin
5. you have hired a driver named Don Chico
6. he finds a well, hauls out water, and rinses you off

Cuarta visita: From the brick pile to the sand pile

Márlon is his name. I heart him.

Cuarta visita: Bathe the kids on the work site?

That's how we do it in Nicaragua.

Cristian Fernando

Cuarta visita: Fotos from the first few days

A new baby of a family who received a 4W house in 2012

My good friends Elesier and Marlon on the right, with Tomas, on the left. They are all volunteer workers on Doña Leonora's house

Vivian and Pepe walking home from work

Cristiana, Kela, and Kela's brother, playing outside the house where I live

Cuarta visita: Doña Sebastiana

Today I got information about the family I will be working with next week.

Doña Sebastiana is an elderly woman who lives in a house made of plastic. Also in the house lives Doña Sesbastiana's daughter, Miriam, and grandson, Fernando. During the rainy season they had to find another family to live with because their house flooded badly. Water rushed in from the street and also seeped up from the ground. Currently they have bricks laid inside the house to create a sort of walking space and protection from the wet ground. Miriam works in whatever she can find, often washing and ironing clothes for other people, to support the family.  

Fernando

Three members of the 4 Walls comité interviewing Miriam and Sebastiana.

Tercera visita: Me and my chiminea

This is Alfonso who's on a campaign to get smoke out of people's houses. I'm helping him. A lot of poor families still cook without chimneys.

Tercera visita: Aura Guadalupe and her big sister, Carolina

In front of the Santuario del Señor de Esquipulas, the famous church in El Sauce.

Tercera visita: sudar

sudar

verb

Ella sudó como una chanchita. (She sweat like a dirty little pig.)

to sweat, perspire, swelter, be damp

Tercera visita: How to sharpen your pencil

machete: tool of many uses

Tercera visita: What to do if you want chicken for dinner

Tercera visita: My team

From the top left: Pepe, Reina, Ricardito, Elyeser, Richard, Andy, Frances, and Colleen