Sunday, January 5, 2014

Minga!

Our Minga started at around 8-830am and we worked until 1pm. We got on public transit with our host for the minga(Nancy). She took us to her house up in the mountains(I will try and retrieve the name of the town later). Once we got to her house she explained what she wanted us to do. Nancy told us her house has been getting a lot of moisture and humidity and said that it has been feeling like a basement. So what we ended up doing was digging out a 12 foot trench along her house. The tools we used were obviously reused and fixed many times showing us how, in this culture, you don't just throw things away, you fix them with the resources you have and make the best out of it. She told us that she had been working on this trench by herself before we showed up. So she was very grateful for our help because we got a lot accomplished in the time we were there. Her plan is to seal the brick of her house with cement and then place a tarp of some sort above the trench. Thoughtout the Minga, three of her five daughters gave us refreshments which we were very grateful to receive. We found out that this woman is a widow; her husband fell and got a very bad head concussion which resulted in brain damage and he passed away shortly after. Her youngest is pictured with us, she is three and her other two daughters who were helping with refreshments. The family fed us after our hard work and the food was absolutely delicious. The work was humbling and we were all inspired by her hard work and dedication.

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