Come Look Inside!

So this is the house the Orthner family is rebuilding for our family.  It's hard to tell from a photo how small it really is so I measured it today and it is 100 inches by 100 inches.  That is just over 8 feet square... for a family of 4... including their "bedroom", "kitchen" and living space... which is smaller than the ensuite I have in my home back in Canada.  Sobering!!!

I took this photo standing in their doorway... pretty much a bed (where all 4 sleep together) and a table and everything else has to hang on the walls (I'm going to ask tomorrow through our interpreter who plays the guitar :)

And speaking of ensuites... the bathrooms or "banos" in these "homes" are not inside, but rather outside... in a hole in the ground... 

This is a picture of one of our team members guarding the washroom while his wife uses the facilities!!!  

So Salarina (the mother) and her baby girl (Elizabeth) are super shy and timid and pretty much try to stay out of our way while we build.  They stand just outside the door to their old home for hours watching us.  Elizabeth is pretty scared of us and stays real close to mama and I can't get her to crack a smile if my life depended on it!!!  But she is still so darn cute and we are determined to win her heart by the end of the week :)

Betrice, the older daughter, can not NOT work!!!  She is a machine!!!  We encourage family members to participate in the build as it really helps them take ownership of their new home AND it helps us build a relationship with them so we are quite enjoying her assistance!!   She can paint, hammer and even used the nail gun today!!!

All in all, it has been an amazing adventure!  Physically the experience is pretty hard and emotionally it has been hard as well.  I found myself welling up today with unexpected emotion and almost lost it twice... once was when a boy in a wheelchair (he was missing one leg) pushed himself across the difficult terrain of the field towards our home and asked to help paint.  Turns out Hero Holidays had built him a home awhile back and he just wanted to pay it forward.  I took a photo and had to remind myself just to breath as I was so taken by the sight of him painting and the guesture of his love and care for this other family.  Many great life lessons we are ALL digesting... and it's ALL GOOD :)

Allison Orthner and family