We finished the home in 5 days, had an amazing dedication ceremony.
Cheers to all those in Puerto Lempira that help make everyone’s lives a little easier everyday.
We have a special place in our hearts.
We all made it safe back to the US and are missing all our friends and the children in Puerto Lempira.
Today Alyce at the American Express office exchanged our money for the trip. The rate is .0575. So $100 lempira equals $5.75
Here’s a photo of Alyce and the money
Getting ready. Backpacks are packed, money exchanged, hair braided and dinner for Valentines.
We had an article in the Dallas Morning News, Neighbors go section, click here to see the story….
http://www.neighborsgo.com/blogs/5/92277
We finished hurricane clips on both houses, starting the Hardie siding. Tomorrow, we will put on the tin roofs. It’s been hot, but we’re staying hydrated. Tonight I hear Garth Brooks will sing for us after dinner. He’s really sunburned, but Trisha is staying under her hat. The Carters house is going well.
Our families are hanging in there with us and are very excited.
Getting into Leogane and Haiti was interesting. The poverty is amazing and the aftermath of the earthquake is indescribable. So many people are still living in tents, with rubble and contaminated water just next to their tents. Children are bathing in the streets and the food markets are just next to the waterways filled with garbage. Although it seems hopeless, the Haitians are very resilient and ho ful for a better future. Our homeowner was Mika and she was teaching us lots of Creole French words. Hammer is “Frappe” Today we finished the walls and trusses on two homes. Our team is great and hardworkers. We have several from the Denver affiliate and others from NY, and the east coast. The children are so happy and give us thumbs up. We have ten buses full and every morning we are escorted by an ambulance and police and the secret service. The special guests here are Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, Former President Carter and his wife Rosalynn. Yes, Sofia, I got a picture with all of them and your Flat Stanley will hopefully send pictures later this week if I can get them downloaded. Very limited access here.Talk to you again tomorrow.
Tonight we had an amazing opening ceremony featuring Former president Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn Carter. They will be documenting our progress this week at habitat.org/cwp/2011
5 days, 400 volunteers, 100 new houses, 34 1/2 acres of field comprising the Santo work site, 4 Carters-Jimmy, Rosalynn, Chip and Jeff, 200 sq.ft. In each Habitat house, 27 years Habitat has been working in Haiti, 2 Delta flights chartered from Atlanta to Port-au-Prince. 7.0 magnitude of the earthquake that struck Haiti in January 2010, 50,000 Haitian families Habitat has pledged to assist over five years.
This past week I got my tetnus and whooping cough shot and now I start taking Chlorquine to fight off Malaria and hopefully mosquitos. They say that the Haitians are fighting with those that have housing and those that don’t and that security will be very high in the area. It will be interesting.
celestehabitat 