Cambio de Planes (Change of Plans)We're Building a Home

Where the family currently lives

Once the new house is built, this will beome the kitchen

With one week left, to the day, I finally took all the money raised (plus a good chunk of my own) and used it for a great cause. I was worried when the initial “project” fell through and stressed about what I was going to do and what I would tell all the people who donated money. What started out as an easy way to give back turned into a realistic look into the difficulties of helping someone I deemed in need. Edvin, the man whom I was going to pay to have the water hooked up for, declined the help for various reasons. In the end, all I can think is that everything happens for a reason and all the right reasons. As the days passed and I was mildly freaking out with a large sum of money sitting in a Paypal account, I decided to have a little faith that things would work out and the money and good energy would fall upon the right person. 

I had told Jose, my work mate from Habitat, to keep his ears open for a worthy cause. A few weeks passed and then he called to say he was sending photos and information about a family in need. The pictures showed a dilapidated looking home and the suggestion was that I pay to have a new roof and cement floor added to the existing structure. Immediately, I thought “How can I just put a new roof and floor onto this mud and wood home that may fall in the next earthquake or be destroyed in heavy rains?”  I had too much knowledge from my days making Habitat house visits to deem it a viable, long term solution. I mean, how much more could it really cost to just build a whole new house? 

I was involved in visiting around twenty homes that were donated to families who lost their homes during Hurricane Agatha and knew the two-roomed, concrete block homes well. They are super solid, warm at night and last for a long time. The benefits to health and security are abundant and so I decided to go meet the family, see their current home and make a decision. I made the three hour bus ride to Tecpan to go on the hour motorbike ride to where they live. 

I met the Catú family: Josue (32), his wife Hilda (32), and their five children, Yenny (11), Darmaris (10), Dani (8), Yohana (4) and Diana (2). They were all smiles, had an amazingly positive energy and within an hour of being there, a decision was made. Let’s build your family a new home and let’s start as soon as possible. As we sat inside, with the heavy rains leaking through their old, rusted roof, I explained that I had raised the money for another cause through the kindness of friends and family. It had fallen through and for all the right reasons, I was sitting in their home that very moment. I told them that the money raised was not sufficient and that I would be essentially borrowing the rest (from myself) to make the home happen. 

The Catu family

I made it clear that I was not rich and had worked hard over the years as an educator. I also thought it important that they be involved in paying a small part of the home and asked them if they would be willing to commit to paying 100 quetzales per month for 15 months, a total of 1500 quetzales (around $200.00). I know that it will be a challenge for them to make the payments on Josue’s wages as a farmer but I have also learned in my time here that getting people to be apart of their own success gives them an investment in what they are receiving. It is not just a handout but a form of assistance. I spent a couple of hours with the family talking, as the rains were too strong for motorbike travel, and showed the children how to use my massive camera while we all grinned and laughed. I left with the feeling that the project I started had found the right place. It just needed time and a little faith.  

The details were ironed out and the decision to build the home made last week. Today, I stuffed the two checks my good friend Judy gave me and a few hundred dollars into my bra and set off for Tepan via chicken bus to pay the building supplies, windows, door and mason. Jose picked me up and we made the proper stops and by noon all was paid in full. Getting to that moment was a process, full of learning, confusion, disappointment and then finally ended with an easy success. Supplies should arrive tomorrow or the next day and construction should start on Friday. My hope is to help build at the site next Tuesday and fly to Memphis, Tennessee the following day. I am bummed I will not see the house complete but it gives good reason for a return trip to this country that has wedged itself well into my heart and soul. The house should be completed by the end of the month.  

I raised $1,033.00 from friends and family to help with the water project (double what I needed). All the money raised is finally going to a grand cause and I can only speculate that those involved will be perfectly happy with where it is going. The total cost of the house build is $1,906.00 so I am taking a loan from myself with hopes of raising more money over the next few months, either from generous folks or possibly in a photography exhibit. I am also content knowing that I may have just paid $900.00 to build a family a home.  

As I debated on spending the money, I kept thinking that I could so easily make that amount of money in the States (if I did in fact have a job) and also that I have the resources, here and now, to get the house built cheaply, efficiently, and to a high standard through my contacts with Habitat. I am certain that the house would have cost as least a third more, if I had just been anyone trying to build a house, so I decided to seize the moment and put to use what I learned the last six months. I want to say a huge thank you to Jose, from Habitat, because this project never would have happened without him and I also want to thank the friends and family who trusted that I would use their generosity to really make a difference.  Together we're building a home.

Jose, my workmate, with the kiddos