Making progress

Things have been going great with my bottle school – we finished pouring the first set of columns on Tuesday, and we’ll probably start with the horizontal beams in the next couple of days. But it’s been a while since I’ve posted pictures; let me start at the beginning….

First things first, you have to dig a big square trench. Here's where the school is gonna go!


I dug out some of this dirt a little while ago; the afternoon rains make it thick and heavy (chopping it up is no piece of cake). So you have to take an occasional break:


Of course, at some point you’ll need to get sand delivered (for the concrete):


Then you’ll place the rebar for vertical columns and move onto pouring the cimiento corrido (honestly, I’m not even sure what this is called in English, but it’s the base of the building's foundation, the stretch of concrete running along the bottom of the trench):


Then you lay a few runs of cement blocks on top of the cimiento corrido, completing the foundation (you can’t use bottles yet, unfortunately :) ) That’s my program supervisor Carlos Julajuj on the left and community coordinator Don Miguel on the right:


Next thing you do is fill in some dirt and prepare the solera de humedad, which will be poured around the horizontal series of rebar running along the top of the foundation:


Jumping ahead, you can see how much progress we’re making:


On the day this photo was taken we finished the columns, which are formed within a wooden “box” into which you pour the liquid concrete. The novel aspect of bottle school construction is that you install a series of pins in both the soleras and the columns while the concrete is still wet - future pictures will illustrate why. Here’s one of the village kids helping out, putting pins into their holes at 20 cm intervals:


That’s our head mason Frainer mixing cement:


I had to help out, of course (shirt on my head = sun protection):


Then the wet cement goes into the column form:


All and all, things are going good. Tomorrow morning we’re going to deliver a bunch more rebar to the site, which should keep work moving at an even pace. People are motivated, costs are staying low thanks to collaborating organizations and everyone’s support means we’re making great progress. These kids can’t wait to get their new school!

Bottle School Construction has begun!

only a week late :)

I dunno; given the circumstances (Guatemala, the construction business and the fact that I recently spent a week in the States), seven days behind schedule seems pretty acceptable. I can’t complain.

I’ve included some recent photos; first of all, check out how many bottles we have now (thanks in part to the two teachers you can see in the foreground)


As for other building materials, here are kids from the community unloading the 360 cement blocks we’ll use in the foundation:


The big recent event came on Tuesday, when Cementos Progreso delivered the 250 bags of cement they donated to our project; that’s Don Miguel, my community counterpart, who's standing next to the truck:


Aaaaand…..that’s me unloading cement, Guatemalan style:


You’d be surprised how ergonomically correct this method is; you support all the weight with your legs – honestly, my back is fine.

Of course, you do end up getting kind of dirty:


I ended up having to wash my shirt by hand so I’d look presentable for the groundbreaking ceremony later that morning (pictures forthcoming – see if there’s a noticeable difference lol)

Here’s our head mason Frainer, preparing the rebar which will help form the structural support for the school’s cement columns. In the background, left to right: Don Miguel, Rosanio (Planning Office Director) and Anibal (Municipal Secretary)


Here are the kids starting to line up for the groundbreaking ceremony:


And here we are, about to place the primera piedra (“first stone”, ha ha but in this case it’s a concrete block) From left to right: Me, Councilman Alfredo, Mayor Miriam and Rosanio


Aaaaaand…..the first stone has been placed. I’m looking at Rosanio being like, “Is this supposed to support a building?” and he’s like, “yeah, it’s just symbolic anyway.” Lol


Yep, all ready to start building :)


Seriously though! I’m excited. Tomorrow we’re going to go buy the wooden boards with which to form the concrete columns and beams; once the sand and gravel gets delivered, we’ll be all ready to start pouring. Yeah bottle school!