Posts Tagged ‘cecilia rodriguez’

 

A Despedida

Monday, June 4th, 2012

Kevin and Wilson are already missing Ceci!

Despedida is the Spanish word for “farewell”.

On Saturday we had a Despedida for Cecilia. Cecilia Rodriguez came to Project Somos in February 2011 as our architectural intern from the University of San Carlos, Guatemala City. She graduated in the Fall and there was no way we were going to let her go. We immediately hired her and she has been with us until last week.

Cecilia designed the first two family homes and supervised their construction. She did everything from helping hire the workers to ordering the bamboo and earth-bags. She did dozens of presentations to the local school kids, getting them fired up to help make eco-bricks for the walls!

When Cecilia started her work with Project Somos, she moved into the Somos Headquarters with us. When she arrived she didn’t cook. As she leaves, she is a pro! All who live or stay in the house, participate in the communal meals. Cecilia jumped right in from the get-go and learned how to make some pretty amazing meals. And she found out that she loved to cook!

Prepping the pizzas!

And so…her goodbye party included prepping and cooking food together as we have done so many times before! At first I felt bad that she had to help but she was the first to say that she loved being able to do this together. As did I! We prepped about 15 different pizza toppings at the house and then headed out to the land where the new pizza oven was already fired up.

Twenty of us gathered to celebrate Cecilia’s participation with Somos and her time in Tecpán. Although the skies opened up, none of us noticed as we had such a blast preparing and eating pizzas together!

Ruben and Maco saying goodbye to Cecilia

Cecilia was more than “just” an architect to Project Somos. Cecilia was a spokesperson for the vision and was the most gracious of hosts to all our visitors. She would arrange shuttles, help with hotel bookings, suggest great spots to visit in Guatemala, etc. Everyone who met her was touched by her beautiful heart and generous spirit.

We really hope and trust that this isn’t really it for Cecilia’s involvement in Project Somos. We have lots more work to do and we trust Cecilia will be able to return or at least work from a distance with us. She is a treasure we want to hold tight to.

We love you Ceci!

Thank you for EVERYTHING!

Heather Alicia xoxox

Ceci and her Tecpan friends!

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | 15 Comments »

The Best Response

Friday, March 9th, 2012

Alicia, Cecilia, and I gave a Project Somos presentation last Tuesday at the Rainbow Café in Antigua. Although I had done some advance notifications of friends and interested people, we didn’t know what to expect.

We arrived early to prepare and set up our projector for the great video Steve Osborn put together. After some inevitable technical challenges, we were ready, and much to our delight the restaurant was full of people (40), waiting to hear the latest news of the development of the Children’s Village.

Alicia offered the welcome and introduction, including the vision of the Project. We moved directly into the video, that brilliantly depicts how the earthbag houses are built. When it finished, it received the largest rousing applause ever. It was wonderful to hear how it was received.

Cecilia, our fantastic architect and designer of the homes, then outlined some of the advantages of sustainable construction, as we are applying it. Again, there was applause. The feeling of acceptance and appreciation for what we are doing was tangible. For us it was rejuvenating, as sometimes, while in the trenches of daily tasks, we can lose sight of how significant the work is.

Greg and Cecilia presenting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the further credit of the audience, they asked as many questions about the children as the construction. They understood, as we try to emphasis, that we are a Project for, and about children. Sustainable construction is a positive byproduct of our big Vision for the children, but we are here primarily to care for children.

Kudos to those all those attending the Project Somos presentation at Rainbow Café. It is enthusiasm like yours that keeps us moving ahead. Many thanks to Rob and Cristina at Rainbow Café.

Rainbow Cafe Audience

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

- Greg

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in News | 1 Comment »

Kids Helping Kids

Friday, June 3rd, 2011

Excited to have us come visit!

On Tuesday Cecilia and I were invited to visit one of the local Tecpán elementary schools. The principal met with us last week and had encouraged us to come back, meet with the children and to invite them to help us with construction!

The kids were pretty intrigued when Cecilia and I said that we had come to ask for their help to build a village for orphaned and abandoned children. They were enthralled when we pulled out our sample “eco-bricks”, told them how they were made and that we would be using these for the interior walls of the houses.

Stuffing the eco-bricks.

In each classroom I would pull out an empty pop or water bottle, some plastic bags that used to hold almonds, oats or flour and then proceed to shove a bag into the bottle. I’d get partway done and then ask a child to take over. We did this in nine classrooms and the enthusiastic willingness to learn and do was palpable! When we asked them if they thought they could help us make 7000 these, their enthusiasm was off the charts!

I was deeply touched by the concern in the children’s eyes when we told them that we were doing this for children without parents. We had one little girl approach us at the end of a presentation and ask about the children we would be accepting. She went on to explain the situation for her cousin whose mother has passed away and whose father is a drinker. Grandma has been caring for the child but the government now wants to move the child into care. My heart ached for the burden this child is carrying and for her attempt at rectifying the situation for her precious cousin. Why must it be so hard for so many children?

So happy to help!

I am really grateful that our volunteer, Amy Yeung came along with us and that she took all these amazing photographs of the children. She was bombarded with children who wanted their photos taken and was a great sport about it!

-Heather

 

Tags: , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »

Construction Begins!

Wednesday, May 25th, 2011

Layout of the First Family Home

It was a pretty moving experience arriving at the land the other day to see the design of the first family home “drawn” out with a powdered calcium on the recently excavated soil. Suddenly all the work prior to that day was looking like a reality!

The Foundation Trenches all in Place

After we got back from our fabulous four day family vacation, we were excited to get back to the land to see the progress that had happened during our absence. With the guidance of Cecilia and our fabulous foreman, Antolin, all the foundation trenches had been dug!

The First Earth-Bag is Filled and Laid!

Yesterday the first earth-bag was filled and laid along the exterior wall. Israel Lopez, Professor or Architecture at the University of San Carlos and our newest Advisory Member was there to instruct the workers in the finer techniques of constructing with earth-bag. We are so appreciative of his enthusiastic support of our Project!

We can expect lots of visible progress over the coming days and weeks. Once the technique is mastered, earth-bag construction is fast.

Israel teaching the workers how to fill the bags

Tags: , , , , , ,
Posted in News | No Comments »