Un Techo Para Mi Pais
As I was approaching Bogotá’s El Dorado airport by plane I still didnt know what was looking for here, but what’s immediately obvious is that the airport’s name evokes a different picture in your mind than what you’ll see once you step out of the plane. A concrete jungle busy with thousands of poeple busy streets and construction sites but there are no golden streets or roofs to be found.
After two weeks of working in the office of my organization getting to know the day to day work and people who run it it’s time to go on to the real work. The work I’ve been looking froward to . Today for the first time I will build houses in one of the poor neighborhood in Bogotá.
I get up at 5:30 and we meet at 7 am at the office. One by one all the volunteers come. I’ve heard and seen that appearence is important in Colombia but i am still surprised that many of the girls wear make up today, after all im expecting pretty hard work.
Once the bus is loaded with the tools we head to the south. The streets are packed in Bogota and traffic moves slowly like molasses. A pick-up truck bulging with oranges passes our bus. And out of big speakers one of the merchants praises the sweetness, juicyness and overall perfection of his goods. We stop by a traffic light and a young man jumps in front of the cars and starts to juggle with clubs and before we head on asks the drivers for some change. Slowly we make our way and now were close to the barrio where we will work today. Long gone are the skyscrapers and pretty buildings of central Bogota they have been replaced by rather desolate houses packed with little shops for vegetables, meat or electronic devices.
We go upwards now, there are no traffic jams here but were still moving slow since the streets are not in the best shape and there are alot of turns. On the sharpest turns teenage boys are regulating upgoing and downcoming cars with handheld stop-and-go signs.
After a while we leave the last solid houses behind and the road turns from bad to worse, here’s no concrete to be seen anymore.
Finally we arrive. We’re in the barrio „El Recuerdo“ – „the memory“ and here in the outer parts of this barrio up on the hill live those who have been forgotten. By the Colombian government, and by the Colombian society at large. This is not the Bogotá the citizens want to talk about with a foreigner. The city is one of the largest growing economy hubs in Latin America and there is a lot the inhabitants are proud of. A lot they’d rather talk about than these hills and it’s inhabitants.
While working in the office on the application forms I’ve seen that alot of the people we build houses for have only lived in their barrios for one or two years. They come from Choco or Antioquia and other parts of the country, fleeing from violence or seeking a better life and wealth in the big city. Their trip usually ends here and in other outer parts in the south. And they too find that their roads aren’t made of gold. The hills are scattered with shacks made of everything you can imagine, from old plastic to pieces of wood, metal sheets and even fabric.
The bus cant go on since workers are building a canal and a quarter of the road is dug up. We take the tools and walk. I’m in a team of six, Yoyo, Diego, Monica, Oscar, Paola and me. Through dusty tracks we find our way to the family whom we are working with today. We introduce each other. Martha the mother and her four children are present, the husband is at work. The ground where we will build is very uneven and Yoyo our „captain“ and I go to work to measure the area and to look where we will put the first post. The new house will be directly in front of the families current housing facility – a shack of wood and rusty metal sheets too low to stand up straight.
from where we work there is a great view to the north but but the center and the wealthy northern parts of the city lie in a mist and seem unreachable from here. _For most of the people living here they are. Out of the neighboring shack blasts the traditional music from the coast Vallenato and Salsa music. A neighbor a little way down is competing with more current music styles – Reggeaton and colombian Rap.
We go to work and start digging the first hole for the post. The two boys, Jaime, ten and Felipe, eight while being shy at first are proud that they can help and start warming up to us. The girl of six years is taking care of her babysister. We only have very basic tools and the measuring of the post’s height is done with a water filled tube by adjusting the water level on one end to the height of the first post and comparing it to the height of the other posts. Yoyo explains them what we are doing and tells them about Archimedes. When we are measuring the rectangle he’s telling them about Pythagoras. The kids like that and get more curious. The other guys of our crew are carrying material we will later need whileYoyo and I are digging. As soon as they are done they join us. After several hours we have dug the fifteen holes for the posts and all of them are at the same height. Two neighbor boys, Nelson and Andres about twelve and fourteen years old help us now. Their family will get a similar house once this here is finished.
At about two we have lunchbreak. Martha prepared a delicious meal of lentils and rice. We talk a little bit and take some time to relax. The sunrays here at more than 2500 meters are intense and while it’s not hot due to a constant wind I realize that it was very stupid not to take any sunblocker or hat with me.
As we get back to work I’m very glad the digging part is over because my arms hurt from the work. Three pre-fabricated wooden boards – together 6,10 meters in lenght and 3 in width – will be the floor of the house. A house of 18 squaremeters. I knew the number but didn’t have a real idea how big that would be. Now I see it’s a little smaller than my bedroom in Vienna. Soon it will be the home for a family of six.
After the floor is done we start to assemble the walls. This work while still not easy is nothing compared to the digging and we are pretty quick. As the sun goes down at about six we have finished the house apart from the roof and the door. As it gets darker lights go on in the city, here in the barrios it takes a little longer since electricity is expensive but after we said „by“ to the people we worked with and we make our way back to the bus an amazing view reveals itself. The mists of the morning are long gone and millions of city lights way up to the northern parts glimmer and shine as far as the eyes can see. A view you can’t even buy with the highest appartments in the richest parts of the city.
Hands full of blisters and the head full of new impressions I’m on my way home.
Saturday getting up at 5:30 again is easier than I thought it would be. At 8:30 we’re in the south again. We split the team and at the moment I start working with Nelson and Andres, the neighbors who helped yesterday to, work on their house. Digging again I feel the work of yesterday in my arms and the ground seems to be harder than Martha’s. In the afternoon we’re changing and I’m helping at Martha’s house again to learn how to assemble the roof. When the roof is finished two guys are installing the door and I go back to the other site. As it gets dark we have almost finished the second house and Yoyo and Diego are coming down for the rest of us. Martha’s house is finished. Everybody who helped signs his name on a certificate. We nail a small ribbon in the colors of the Colombian flag to the door. With a scissor Martha cuts it apart and now enters the finished house for the first time. As Yoyo hands the certificate to Martha she starts to cry. We take some pictures together and then say goodbye. Its dark and we have done our work for the day.
As we leave I look back at the house once more. It’s not perfect, the wooden walls are very thin and a little wind will definitely find its way through some cracks. electricity is still not reliable and they still have to bring water with a bucket from the hilltop. But they don’t have to buckle down in their own home anymore the new house is hight enough to stand up straight. And most important; with the house the organization has gained the trust of the family. After two days of hard work they see the fruits of their labor and convincing them to participate in other projects to advance this neighborhood will be easier now. And thus maybe the children will find the way into the city that we are going now as we leave.
by Michael Franc, Austria
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