Project Report
| Oct 11, 2017
Rain, rain, go away...
By Maya Cipriano | Fundraising and Development Coordinator
![Getting ready to lay the floor on our newest home!]()
Getting ready to lay the floor on our newest home!
It's the rainy season here in Guatemala, but that hasn't stopped us from working on homes, floors, and roofs! Now more than ever, there is a huge need for cement flooring projects. We've had a long and abnormally wet rainy season due to the huge amount of moisture in the Gulf area from all the hurricanes that have been hitting the US and Caribbean--strong tropical rains have been pelting the lake relentlessly since the beginning of September. All this rain has made life even harder for many families who have dirt floors. Because of a lack of good drainage systems, flooding often occurs, carrying dirt and sewage from the streets in to the homes of helpless families and leaving them succeptible to parasites or other germs. Our flooring projects and new homes help to protect these families from these dangerous pollutants by making their lives easier and cleaner. Cement floors don't soak up water and runoff when there is flooding, and can be swept or wiped clean to keep the home sanitary.
Thank you for your continued support and donations!
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Jul 31, 2017
Real Change
By Nancy Wynne | co-founder, treasurer
![GHA Director, Patricia Macias, with recipients]()
GHA Director, Patricia Macias, with recipients
Guatemala Housing Alliance has been busy building a home for a family nearly monthly during the last year. When there is a lull we take on the task of replacing roofs or laying more floors. Volunteers with only a short time to visit the area are great motivation for a floor. With just a day or two they can make a change that significantly benefits a family.
Imagine a typical dirt floor...bumpy and uncleanable, alive with pests you can see and parasites that you cannot. Unhealthy. Seasonally muddy.
And imagine a relatively easy fix....a cement or natural floor. Easy, but financially out of reach for so many families. Your donation makes a real difference in the comfort and health of a family. They do not take it lightly and member of the family always works at the side of our mason.
Come stir some mortar with us. You'll love the relationships you form.
![floor before change]()
floor before change
![mixin' the mortar]()
mixin' the mortar
![laying it down]()
laying it down
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May 1, 2017
Trial and Error
By Nancy Wynne | co-founder and treasurer, GHA
![Bajareque home with floor extending into to porch]()
Bajareque home with floor extending into to porch
You may have read in our reports over the last 18 months that GHA has made a real commitment to build in a sustainable, earth-healthy manner. Towards that end we have been building homes of bajareque....wattle and daub. These are beautiful structures that are stable and we are proud of our advances. Still to be mastered, though, are easy-to-maintain earthen floors. Floors just take a lot of abuse and need constant cleaning and care. In our last full home build, our 31st, we experimented with an earth and lime floor but it dried with too many fissures and we have had to replace it with cement. As durable as cement is, it's manufacture is onerous to the atmosphere. We will continue our quest.
This particular fundraiser to which you have contributed funds floors in homes that are already sufficient, save the floors. These are in addition to the bajareque homes we build from scratch. The need for floors in the town of San Pablo la Laguna is seemingly inexhaustible and your donations have improved the health and comfort of many families.
If you feel compelled, help us continue our work. Donate. Or better yet: sponsor a floor AND come to Guatemala and build it along with us.
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![living conditions before GHA and YOUR help]()
living conditions before GHA and YOUR help
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