4 Walls - work and fun!

As promised, here are some more fotos from the amazing 4 Walls group! They left yesterday to spend a day in Leon and a few days at the beach, and are definitely missed here in El Sauce! The families are incredibly grateful for the humble houses of which they are now owners. It definitely puts things into perspective and makes all this hard work the volunteers have contributed worthwhile. Bonnie received the most beautiful letter of thanks from Alejandra, the mother of the family. It put us all in tears!

Without further ado, here are the images!

 The whole group at one of our cenas. We even had musical entertainment! Traditional Nica music!

 Martha and Gabriela! So precious

 Sally and I! It was a pleasure to meet you and get to know you, amiga!

 Bonnie, Beth, Nancy, and Bill. Such a dynamic group!

 After dinner at the barbecue! We actually ate in the family's living room since it was so packed. Only in Nicaragua...

 The house Bonnie and Sally were working on. Such a beautiful view in the background!

 Sally and Alberto, the albañil working hard!

 Henry, the interpreter/guide for the 4 Walls group. Thumbs up for good work!

 Look how much is done! The house will have 4 walls, 2 windows, and a 2 doors to allow for air to flow.

 Mixing cement!

 Bonnie is a pro! If you look close, you can see the cement coming off the shovel.

 Passing the cement to fill in the middle column

 Alberto is an expert!

Tapping the wooden frame to be sure the cement gets all the way down.

Bonnie and Sally demonstrating how to sift out the rocks from the rest. Don´t worry, Bonnie is okay!

So as you can see, the group has worked very hard and enjoyed their time here in El Sauce!

4 Walls

As many of you know, I traveled to El Sauce with a group called 4 Walls, or in Spanish, Cuatro Paredes. You can read a description of the project and its mission here. If you scroll to the bottom of the page, you will see something that says <<Meghan's Story>>, and if you click on that, you can read how this whole project got started.

This is a wonderful project that helps provide a home with four sturdy walls (and a roof for the current projects) to a very poor Sauceño family (typically one that has many children or some other special need) that was previously living in a house made out of adobe, which could crumble during the rainy season, or plastic, which clearly is no way for people to live. I have met some incredible people through this project, as they are here currently and have been gracious enough to invite me to some of their dinners other events. I wanted to share some pictures so you can see what they're doing and appreciate the time and money they have donated to help other people less fortunate than them. Thank you, Bonnie, Sally, Beth, Nancy, and Bill for being so welcoming and for all of your hard work!

Here´s Bonnie and Sally working hard!

The albañil (mason) doing an amazing job!

Bill and Nancy, looking great after a long day of work!

Even the niños help!

Later I will share some pictures of the group at dinner and a video of Bonnie and Sally demonstrating one of the skills they have learned!