Dela Cruz House Update!

  

Thanks to some amazingly generous and supportive friends and family members… Aunt Judy & Uncle Joe, G-Ma & P-Had, George & Joy, Tara and her students, Nana, Mom & Dad, “Aunt” Mimi, and Ricky… the Dela Cruz family will have a brand new (and improved!) house after Typhoon Glenda blew down their old nipa hut!  The new house, made of native materials, is much more sturdy and stable than the old house and will even have a cement floor (instead of packed dirt)!  When I visited yesterday, the house was about half finished; the carpenter said it should be tapos na on Sunday.  The walls are up and the nipa roof is secured but the carpenter is still working on the kitchen area in the back and will be pouring the cement today or tomorrow.  The new house will give the family a lot more living space, will hopefully be easier to keep clean, and will be lockable (the last house was not). 

 

It’s been really difficult to predict the total expenses for this housing project since I’ve only been able to get the carpenter to tell me the expenses for each day as it comes.  As of right now, about half of the donations have been spent for construction supplies, labor costs, and preparing food for the workers and volunteer helpers.  In this culture, food is a very vital element of any event or project.  In this case, by providing meals and snacks for the carpenter and volunteer helpers, we get more work time each day since they don’t have to go home to eat.  Plus, since times are tough here after the typhoon, it’s probably really helpful to the volunteer helpers to get some free meals in exchange for their assistance—and the house gets built faster! 
 

I’m hoping the rest of the construction won’t be too costly so that we will have leftover funds to also build a CR (‘comfort room’/bathroom) for the Dela Cruz family.  It will be separate from the house but only about 15 feet from the kitchen area.  Their last ‘CR’ was simply an old toilet bowl propped up by mud they had packed up the sides, and was shielded by old, tattered tarpaulins they had strung up on branches that were pounded into the mud.  It’s very windy there between the rice fields so the tarpaulins were rarely stationary and didn’t provide much privacy.  I’m hoping the new one can be made of concrete block walls and a corrugated metal roof!  It would be great if it could even be big enough to bathe in!  Right now, the family gets all their water from a pump well located a couple houses away, which is where they bathe.  OoOoOoO Maybe we can do a pump well at their house if there’s enough money left!  Brainstorm!

Bagong Bahay ni Dela Cruz Pamilya
From L to R:
Gerry (Lorena's oldest son) & his "fiance", Kuya Rodeto Madela (carpenter), Bobby, Lorena, Marlon, Joseph, me, & a curious neighbor boy

There’s still no power in Magarao, but my neighbors purchased a generator while I was away in Manila.  It is really loud and very stinky and, unfortunately for me, right next to my bedroom window.  Last night my bedroom smelled like an overused, polluted highway and I ended up dragging my bed foam into the next room so I could close the door and try to sleep.  They said they’d only be running it at night so they could have people work in their wig shop at night, but they started it up this morning around 9am and I decided to make my way to Naga instead of breathing that in all day.  Naga is slowly getting its power back and one of my favorite café spots now has WiFi again!  Hopefully that means power and WiFi will be back in Magarao soon also.  Last night was my first night alone in my house with no power (the Dela Cruz boys were staying with me from the time Glenda hit until I left for Manila) and it is SO BORING.  Other than hanging out outside chatting with my neighbors (which I really enjoy), reading or writing by candlelight, or sleeping there is NOTHING to do.  I can’t complain, though, because when I signed up for Peace Corps there was never a guarantee of modern amenities and, I have to admit, I’ve been very lucky so far.  Plus, a lot of the poorer population (Dela Cruz family included) never have power at their houses. 

More pictures and updates to come in the next few days as the house is finished up!

P.S. It’s fiesta time in my barangay!  I slept through the 6 a.m. parade this morning, but HAPPY FIESTA!