Day Four

It happened. Montazuma has exacted his revenge. Going into the barrio was out of the question for me today, so I am going to rely on others to bring you news from today's events. (I'll be fine once the Imodium begins to work its magic.)

It rained last night, which means there was even more mud in Aguas Negras than before. I was told by the returning teams that it wasn't too bad, and actually there was less dust rising from the parched areas of the neighbourhood.

One of the more interesting events to occur also happened today: a local pig gave birth to 12 piglets, exciting many of the urban gringos. “They were so cute,” said Cindy Lloyd, advertising manager at the Toronto Star. Cute they may be, but for people in this community, they are a source of income and food.

Christal Earle of LiveDifferent tells me there is a pig program in the community and Melissa Bazely knows all about it. I'll report on this later, when I have a chance to talk with Melissa ... right now she's off on a cigar-rolling tour – the Dominican is famours for its cigars. I know. I enjoyed one last night.

The Canadian ambassador to the Dominican Republic, Todd Kuiack, was also there today with his wife, Christine.

“He was very engaged and excited, Doug Trarry of Doug Tarry Homes in St. Thomas and the current OHBA president. “He was thrilled that home builders came here as a group.”

His presence was enough to draw local media, including the Travel network and a couple of newspaper scribes. Media coverage is very prized to the people of LiveDifferent as it brings attention to the community and to the work they are doing here.

Last night, in a little bit of team building, professional homebuilders were asked to create gingerbread houses from a kit. It was hot. The icing wouldn't dry and many of them collapsed. Alvin Curling acted as judge, but really, who cares who won? It was about fun.

Check back here later, I'll be posting on the pig program, I'll have pics of the piglets, and hope to also have a chat with Kuiack. Also check out Dave Henderson's blog at http://www.humanitarianbuild.com/.

 

 

Day Three: The Building Continues

I'm going to say it again: What a day! (I'm posting late, so I'm actually talking about Thursday)

I cannot begin to convey to you the spirit of the people here, especially the children. I guess at a certain age you don't know you are lacking some of life's luxuries, or in this case necessities, like access to clean water and adequate shelter, toilet facilities and education. These are things we take for granted and are basic human rights.

Today I met a community leader who is making a difference. Sandra N. Timeo, who is called the Mother Teresa of the community, has created a foundation called the Garden of Light and has spearheaded the building of a school, church, boys and girls programs, a clinic and a women's cooperative that sells their handmade goods in a local shop. (In this picture she is given a list by a local construction worker.)

Sandra grew up in Aguas Negras and is a single mother of four children, aged 19, 17, 15 and 12, and is loved and respected by all who know her. When we were introduced to each other by Christal Earle of LiveDifferent, she gave me a big hug and put her hands together in prayer and told me that she loved me and we (the build group) were an answer to her prayers.

The school, which goes up to Grade 4 or 12 years old (whichever comes first) is about to get a second floor, meaning that the children won't have to bused out of the community to continue their education. And although admission to the school is free (it gets no government funding), children must buy their own uniforms and books, which can be a barrier to many families getting their young ones a prized education.

For many here, they know that education is the way out of the barrio and a key to their future. Sandra tells me there are about 1,000 families living in Aguas Negras – about 4,000 people – and there are 258 children attending the school with 10 teachers, and 36 girls and 22 boys in the clubs she runs. Teachers at her school are paid about the equivalent of $60 a month for a half day of classes and $120 a month if they work both morning and afternoon shifts.

The school is funded by private donations, with the bulk coming from Project of the Americas, with Ridge Point Community Church in Holland, Mich., their main source of funds. The church provides enough money to cover the teachers' salaries.

“I'm blessed because God gives me many people to help my community,” Sandra says in her acceptable English, although most of our conversation has been facilitated by Earle.

The Garden of Light is about to celebrate it's ninth anniversary and Sandra is proud of her work. She may be like Mother Teresa, but she is a saint in her own right.

On Thursday night, the Canadian ambassador to the Domican Republic, Todd Kuiack, and his wife Christine, joined us for dinner and headed out into the community to help with the building on Friday. The ambassador's presence has also brought out the local media ... I'll report on that later.

Also check back here later today, I'll be posting on Day Four shortly. Also check out OHBA's Dave Henderson's blog at www.humanitarianbuild.com.

Day Two: Building

What a day! Where do I begin? I'll try to start at the beginning.

The first trucks rolled out of the Rui Bachata resort at 8 a.m. with the first shifts of the six teams that will, by the end of the four-day build, have completed new homes for the six selected families in Aguas Negras (Black Water).

Upon arriving, the first thing I saw was the sign welcoming us to Barrio Nuevo Renacer, which translates as New Life. The community petitioned the the government for the name change to reflect it's changing nature, from a squalid choked encampment to a real community with a school and families who had hope for their future.

A hopeful future for these families is being built bit by bit, thanks in part to the efforts of LiveDifferent and their programs to build safe shelter and schools, and offer a hand-up to the most in need in the community.

I say this because today I saw this first-hand.

As the building teams arrived, a group of school children chanted “gringos, gringos, gringos,” their way of welcoming us. It was an amazing moment.

When we arrived at the building sites, local contractors had already demolished the decrepit homes that had stood there, and had started laying concrete blocks. The OHBA members and their families jumped right in and started working ... no standing around chatting, just getting to the task of hand-mixing cement, laying blocks and constructing building forms – including Mountainview Homes' Mike Memme's two sons, Matthew and Aex, and OHBA's Dave Henderson's son, Quinn.

Tight building sites meant that not everyone on each team could work on the building at the same time. But not to worry! Christal Earle of LiveDifferent had a task for the rest of us: cleaning up the beach.

It was a sorry sight, indeed, with mounds of garbage washed along the shore. Such a waste! A beautiful sandy beach covered in garbage – which Earle pointed out is humanity's biggest problem. Garbage. In a community like Aquas Negras there are none of the things we take for granted, like garbage pickup or waste bins. The beach is also located at the bottom of Puerto Plata and collects everybody else's garbage, too.

Back at the build site, I had the good fortune to meet two of the young sisters who would be the beneficiaries of one of the new homes. They were shy but happily posed for my camera.

I might add at this point that it was hot today – 29F with scorching humidity. The build teams had a good workout.

At 10:30, after two hours of hard work, the first shift headed back to the hotel and the second shift moved in.

Work shifts are only two hours because of the back-breaking work (there are no power tools on this site) and the heat.

At 5 p.m., LiveDifferent held a “debriefing” session to answer some of the questions that had arisen during the day, and to also help some of the team members deal with the living conditions they had witnessed.

It was an incredibly moving experience, but what I learned first, and will stay with me forever, is the people of Nuevo Renacer. In a word, they are beautiful. Their spirits shine, their smiles are ready and their hospitality is infectious.

I can't wait until tomorrow. But first, early to bed for a good sleep.

 

 

Day One: Travel

When I got to the airport his afternoon, it seemed liked everyone was tryng to check onto the Sun Wings' flight to Puerto Plata. Well, it only seemed that way. In fact, there were 189 of us on the fligt that would bring us to the Dominican Republic to build six homes in the barrio of Aguas Negras.

The mood was jovial and there was a lot of backslapping among the men and hugs and kisses between the women; and sometimes visa versa. But there wasn't any impatience either, despite the slow-moving line. Alvin Curling, the former MPP and ambassador to the D.R., waited patiently in the long line with a smile on his face and a cheery word for all who greeted him.

Once through security and on to the plane, I heard the cargo doors close and a small cheer went up ... until it was announced there was a small problem and technicians had been called to fix it.

Was this an omen, I wondered? The shape of the week to come? And then the “technicians” stepped on board. Oh no! It was an omen! A good omen! For dressed as airplane “technicians” was James Bazely of Gregor Homes and Dan Gabriele of Marz Homes – the co-chairs for the OHBA Humanitarian Build.

I gotta a feeling that this was going to be a very good week (to paraphrase the Black Eyed Peas).

When our plane touched down in Puerto Plata ahead of schedule (due to a good tail wind), we were greeted by scorching heat and humidity, several tour buses and our very own “beer” truck. There was a lot of hard work ahead of us, but we were off to a good start.

A quick orientation session with Hero Holidays and we were ready to roll ...

Day Two will start early – breakfast and 6:45 and out to Aguas Negras at 8 a.m. I'll report here again tomorrow on the further adventures

 

 

The Beginning

It all began when Melissa Bazely went on a trip to the Domican Republic with Hero Holidays eight years ago. It changed her life -- and her father’s.

“When she came back from building homes with Hero Holidays, she cried every day for two weeks,” recalls her father, James, president of Gregor Homes in Barrie and a past president of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association. “The poverty and the living conditions stunned her.”

From that experience, James decided to convince the OHBA to take its annual conference to Puerto Plata and do what its members do best — build homes.

“I approached (the late OHBA CEO) David Horton and he grabbed me firmly by the arm and told me to make it happen.

“David grabbed me by the eyes,” adds Alvin Curling during a recent discussion with Bazely and Christal Earle of Hero Holidays at Curling’s Scarborough home. “He told me I must be involved and that he wanted me to be the ambassador for the group.

“And of course, I said yes,” says Curling, 72, a former MPP, housing minister, speaker of the legislature and envoy to the Dominican Republic from 2005-2006. “Nobody says no to David.”

And so, the idea became a concept and on Jan. 12, 2010, the OHBA announced that the conference was going to the Dominican Republic and its members would be building four homes in a poor barrio called Aguas Negras (Black Water because it’s built on a former dump and when it rains black water surfaces and floods the homes, bringing garbage and sewage with it). As fate would have it, that was also the day that the earthquake struck Haiti, which is on the west half of the island of La Hispaniola, with the Dominican Republic across a mountain range to the east.

And that's the short version of why I -- and more than 180 other people -- are heading to the Dominican Republic tomorrow to build six homes in the barrio of Aguas Negras.

I will be reporting here daily -- if not more often -- on how things are going and how the OHBA members and their families are handling the heat, humidity and the hard work ... and just how this visit to the D.R. is going to change their lives, as well as the families.