Action/Service- Habitat For Humanity Build: My First Build

On the 25^th of September the community service group I’m in, Habitat For Humanity, set out on our monthly build. We were only a small group: Ms. Wolf, Ali, Sascha, Camie, Esfar and I but I think we were all very excited to get our hands dirty and really see how we would be making a difference. We left the school early Saturday morning and arrived in a small village about an hour and a half later. We soon found out that unlike on a previous build were the group laid the foundation for the not yet built house; this time we would be mixing and laying on cement to create the floor for the house. We first took a look at a few of the completed houses to get an idea of the size and overall look of the finished product, all the while taking pictures for later use in our CAS blogs, then we decided that it was about time we got to work! To start things off, we had to make the cement, the items needed to put this together are: pebbles, sand, cement powder and water. We formed a chain and starting off with the sand we passed it along to one another using an object that resembled a wok until it reached a designated open area where it could be dumped. We then did the same thing with the pebbles. Once this had been done two people carried the heavy cement powder bag to the mound of sand and pebbles and broke open the contents of the bag with a shovel. These three items were then mixed together with the aid of the shovels and hoes while water was thrown unto the pile, which would in the end, create the cement. We once again formed our chain and passed containers full of cement until it reached the mason who in turn laid it down and made a proper concrete floor for the house.

A little later in the day a large group of employees from a bank came to do some work with us. We all together went through the same steps as with the first house and quickly completed a second concrete floor. We had one last thing to do before we departed for the day, partake in a lunch the women from the village had prepared for us. With lunch finished we all got back into the van and returned to OSC, exhausted but pleased with our work.