Be It Ever So Humble

CIUDAD VIEJA, Guatemala--Context is important. If you saw one of these houses in the States, it would probably be under a highway overpass.

But here, the senora was simply glowing and said she couldn't find enough words to thank all those who had helped her family to improve their situation.

I tagged along for an afternoon with a Common Hope volunteer brigade that was going to the blessing/celebration of the house they had helped build. These houses are one room, about 12 feet square, with no plumbing and with walls of what seem to be cementitious panels. (They look kinda like drywall, but are more sturdy and weather proof.)

In this case, two of the little houses sit side by side in one walled yard. They will be home for 10 people who used to live in one room. As the senora explained, the adults earned the houses by working 340 hours in jobs such as cleaning and construction.

The walls are important, of course, but it seems to me the roof and floor are even more so. The roof keeps off the rains. The floor is of concrete tile, replacing dirt. Dirt floors are bad. They get muddy. They get dusty. The dust causes respiratory problems for children.

At the blessing, the family members and volunteers crammed into one house to say the Our Father in Spanish. Then everyone had a slice of the carrot cake the volunteers had brought along. Two little girls sat on the one bed giggling shyly and eating cake.

Afterward, I chatted with a couple of the volunteers for a few moments in the yard. The question was obvious: So, where do people go to the bathroom? There was no latrine--so, probably a corner? Probably.

However, there was running water in the yard, through a standing pipe over a galvanized metal washtub that seemed to function as a pila--that is, a sink for washing dishes and clothes.

And in the house itself, the family had rigged up some electricity. The exposed wires went lord-knows-where and would make a U.S. housing inspector go apoplectic, but the light bulb worked.