We finished our 2nd house today, and what a day it was! In the morning we were told that we were going to paint houses elsewhere in the village but that we would be back for 2pm to finish our house and see the family. As the hours rolled by we came to realise that we were going to painting 12 houses and weren't going to arrive back to the main site until 5pm! It took 8 hrs to paint all the houses, which was very frustrating since we wanted to be with the family for the last day, we didn´t have enough water with us, the kids had been promised a piñata at about 3pm, and Kate and Maddy missed their spanish lesson again...not to mention painting for 8 hrs (with a 15 min break) was exhausting!!

Despite all this, it turned out to be one of the best days we have had so far. Because we have been in the same village for two and a half weeks, a lot of the locals come to know who we are. So what started out as 1 professional builder, 6 volunteers and about 4 children painting houses, ended as all that plus about 15 more children and about 8 other women from various houses around the village. Each time we left one house we seemed to arrive at the next we 3 more people. It was like the pied piper of Guatemala. By the time we got to the last house it seemed like we had the whole village with us, and everyone was in really high spirits...especially the children who knew there was a piñata at the end of it.

At 5pm, we were shattered but all happy, and made our way back to our original houses to hand the keys over to the family. Oscar made his usual speech but when Amalia (the mother) came to say a few words, burst into tears, struggling to express her gratitude. You could tell that after many years of living how she had been, this new house was something she had only dreamt of and that it was a huge weight of her shoulders. I couldn´t quite hold it together and even Ian said he almost let a tear slip out! Amalia was a truely wonderful women with 3 lovely boys, who we all came to care for a lot. We were all a little overcome with emotion...it´s really hard to put into words.

The 3 boys then gave Maddy, Ian and me a letter each, written by Amalia and decorated by the boys (see photo). This set me off again!! The letter was as follows (Original was in spanish as none of them spoke any english)...

"The Lopez Garcia family would like to thank for your voluntary work building our house, which will bring many benefits especially when the weather is cold. We don't know how to thank you, but god with repay you. Farewell from our family (especially Henry), and we wish you much success in the future."

Just when I thought I had composed myself, this set me off again!! For us, this is a great experience and 4 weeks of hard work, but for the family it is more that just a house...they have made it clear it will change their lives, especially for the children, some of whom can get quite ill living in the conditions they are in. We also learnt today that they have to rebuild their current house every 5 years!

After another crazy piñata session and a meal from Amalia, we all hopped in the truck. As we drove away, the street was full of people waving and shouting "Adios!!". Some of the children were chasing the van up the street, a few even jumped onto it!

It was a wonderful day that is hard to put into words.