Day 5 What a week! We spent the morning working to finish up some things before we had lunch and brought the build to a close. We continued working on siding the soffit fascia, which proved to be a bit of a challenge, pounding nails overhead and making long cuts with only a hand saw. … Continue reading
Habitat Global Village CHILE | Santiago – Work Day 4
Day 4 We started today in early morning mist and fog and a bit on the nippy side. In the end, after we started to concentrate on our jobs, we were warmed up in no time and before we knew it, “Break time.” Breaks are not negotiable on a Global Village work camp. By the … Continue reading
Habitat Global Village CHILE | Santiago – Work Day 3
Day 3 Our addition is really starting to take shape. The roof trusses we built on Monday went up. The walls we framed were put into place and insulated. And we began to put up the siding. Now that the structure is in place, Claudia visits the space at the end of each workday. It’s … Continue reading
Habitat Global Village CHILE | Santiago – Work Days 1 & 2
Day 1 First things first. We look to our Habitat construction supervisors Sebastian and Raul for direction. These guys have been working for Habitat, and volunteers like us, for well over a decade. Monday morning, they had three specific jobs for us: build a huge fire wall that will serve as one side of the … Continue reading
Habitat Global Village CHILE | Santiago – Getting Started
Habitat for Humanity Chile has built houses in partnership with more than 12,000 families across the country. There is continuous construction in each region of this, the longest country in the world, and various new communities are in the process of establishing an affiliation with Habitat. These accomplishments are due in great part to the … Continue reading
1,000 Islands – Part 4 | New York, USA – Clayton
Final stop on our week long tour of the Thousand Islands was a small town on the waterfront on the US side. Of the four towns we visited, Clayton was the most quaint, with good food, shopping and lovely views of the water. The only hotel we stayed in during the trip – 1,000 Island … Continue reading
1,000 Islands – Part 3 | New York, USA – Dark Island
Our next to last night was the pièce de résistance of our trip. All of us agree this was THE coolest and most fun day and night of the trip. My friend and I decided to splurge and surprise our ‘little princesses’ with a night on Dark Island in Singer Castle. Yes, that’s right. There … Continue reading
1,000 Islands – Part 2 | Ontario, CANADA – Kingston, Wolfe Island
Kingston was a welcome change from the almost run-down depressed-town feeling we got in Ganonoque. This city is where it’s at! We only spent two nights here, but could have done three, or spent one of the nights on Wolfe Island (see below). Again, we rented a house on Airbnb, which allowed us to be … Continue reading
1,000 Islands – Part 1 | Ontario, CANADA – Ganonoque, Heart Island
This is where our adventure began. My friend and I piled 4 kids into her Chevy Suburban, loaded down with bags and groceries, armed with DVDs and iPads and embarked on our eight hour drive northwest of Baltimore. Road Trip! [PRO TIP: Be prepared to be grilled at the boarder crossing especially if you have … Continue reading
Habitat Global Village JORDAN | Ammar Ben Yasser
If you’ve decided to build with Habitat in Jordan you are in for a real treat! The deep dive into the culture is one of the best aspects of this program. Along with keeping busy on the site, each night we shared a meal with a local family, exchanged ideas about culture, customs, music and … Continue reading