UAM International Programs: Techo, Nicaragua Edition

I really can't even count how far behind I am on posting about what I've been up to. But sometime ago I spent a weekend a few hours north of Managua in Chinandega building houses with an organization called Techo (which means roof). Basically Techo chooses a neighborhood, does a bunch of surveying to find out who has the greatest amount of need, and then on a designated weekend a swarm of volunteers head to the neighborhood to construct the houses for the families.

The other ISEP students and I went with a Techo veteran from UAM named Bruno. He's from Bolivia, speaks stellar English, is completely awesome and very generous to take 4 gringos under his wing for the weekend. We headed out on Friday afternoon, worked all day Saturday and Sunday and made it back to Managua by Sunday evening.

All in all there were about 90 volunteers at the build, split up into 12 cuadrillas or building teams. At first it was really hard to enjoy building when I couldn't understand most of what was going on due to the language barrier. More exhausting than not understanding others was not being able to express myself or communicate the way I would in English. But eventually I just decided that the 7 other
people in my cuadrilla would just have to deal with my choppy Spanish and tried to laugh at myself and just go with it. Sunday passed quickly getting to know the group more, learning Nica slang (some more inappropriate than others), and finishing up the house.
We stayed in a school for the weekend, and while we were definitely roughing it, it was still well worth it! Despite sleeping on concrete, sketchy hole in the ground bathrooms and bucket showers, it was an incredible experience and something I want to do again before I leave Nicaragua. (If only so I can use my newly expanded construction vocabulary)

Working on the foundation the first day. You can see part of the original "house" on the right.

The concrete floor we slept on in a nearby school.

Working on the roof, terrified for my life.

Part of the most insane game I've ever seen. Each cuadrilla had to make the longest line possible out of what they had on them so everyone went all in and sacrificed everything from shoelaces to pants.