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Construction - Ecuador 2010

The construction in rural Ecuador is all hardcore manual labor. We were working in a very small town called Puerto El Morro a few hours north of Guayaquil, the largest city. The blocks are delivered and stacked as close as possible to the building site. Everyone helps, including little Andres in the foreground who has recently had a full leg cast cut off.
This is what we had to work with on the construction site.
Luckily, the concrete is mixed by hand so the wet, muddy ground was well used.
The concrete is shoveled into buckets and carried to the site where it is poured into holes that will support the structure of the house.
All the children of the family help. So do the neighbor's children...and more seemed to come everyday.
Stephanie Peterson takes a bus to the closest construction store, about a 20 minute ride to buy some much needed tools so we could hire a whole crew. The way back to the construction site is tricky because the taxis aren't marked and many people who are not taxi drivers try to act like they are to give us a ride!
Carrie was so impressed by the size of the pigs that she had nightmares about them chasing us.
Freddi, the Big Boss. With no yellow pages or Google you find people the old fashioned way-you ask around. Freddi was a skilled laborer who had a reputation of being good with concrete, knowledgeable about roofing and able to manage a team. He was hired.
Freddi's right-hand man, Zapato, was not too bad with a trowel either. The rest of the crew consisted of about three younger guys who weren't so thrilled about being there but thoroughly enjoyed taking their girlfriends out on payday.
Stephanie navigates the rebar and other materials while checking on progress. The sand is bagged down the road by hand. The concrete is mixed on the ground with shovels. All the rebar is cut with a handsaw. And lunch is shrimp or crab from the river below.
Crucita, the future home-owner, helps the guys by bringing them water both to drink and to mix concrete.
Two weeks progress and slowly but steadily the house takes shape. The family is getting excited and ready to move in.
After three weeks of hard work, the house is finished.
Crucita and her seven children move in the same day. They are very grateful. Her oldest daughter, Genesis, writes us a thank-you letter.
"... thank God for giving me the miracle of a house. We didn't used to have a house. Thank you very much." -Genesis' Thank-You letter

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