Sorry the blog was late getting up. We are up in the mountains with no internet and very weak cell reception. I ment to take my ipad down to Loiza with us and forgot it. Hopefully I will remember in the days ahead.
Our work began in earnest today. All of our group traveled to the poverty stricken town of Loiza. Loiza was originally settled by freed slaves, and is an area of Puerto Rico where families have difficulty meeting their daily needs.
Our group was divided into three teams. Two of the teams weere tasked with power washing roofs and The third team went to clear debris out of and around a house that had its roof taken off in Hurricane Maria.
We were cautioned more than once about how hot the sun can be in Puerto Rico, and we were told- no, more like ordered- to drink water every hour. As it turned out the day was very pleasant and not as hot as expected.
I spent the majority of my time today working on scrapping off and redoing bubbled texture on Lucillo’s cieling. As you can tell from my picture it was not a neat job. Whil I textured, others in our group power washed the roofs and clean house. Edith and Noemi (the second picture) worked hard and were a bit pooped.
The team that cleared debris was at Santos house. They spent much of their time heaping up a big pile of debris from around Santos’s house. The third picture above shows what one side of Santos’ house looked like before they started. Notice one of three refrigerators Santos found on his property Maria. The fourth picture was what that space looked like after the team was done with it.
All three of our teams today experienced joy as we were able to bring a bit of hope to people who had almost given up hope.
