While Delia was away from home for a week, we decided to build her our first ever modular home, complete with brand new furniture, curtains, and concrete floor.  Previously, Delia and her husband Alejandro's family of 5, with a 14-year-old son, 12-year-old daughter, and 2-year-old baby, was living on a dirt floor in a tent with old furniture cluttering what little space they had.  In less than a week we built a 2 room wooden house and reinforced the tent to give Delia the surprise of her life on her return home.  As a nurse, she helped many people after the earthquake, but never received any help for her family from the government, so when she came to PSF asking for help, we were more than happy to oblige.
If you would like to make this magic happen for another family, one of these safe, sucure homes can be biult for only $500.00 see our donations page if you would like to "sponsor a home".  Thank you!

Before, Delia's family was living in a beaten up tent on a dirt floor with very little space, cluttered with old furniture.  The neighborhood round about consists entirely of makeshift esterra housing, with no adequate sanitation and no security.  Much of the area shows the effects time has on buildings not meant to be used for permanent housing.

Before we could make a start on putting up the new house, we had to take down the tent the family was previously living in.

Pouring concrete floors for houses which have only dirt floors has been a project PSF has worked on for a long time.  This time, however, it would also serve as the foundation for the modular house to sit on.  The concrete was 10cm thick and took 1 day to pour.  A concrete floor greatly improves the hygiene of a home, creating a safe environment for families to eat and live, and for children to play.

With the panels for the walls already put together in the yard, all that was left to do was to put them together on site.  With two skilled carpenters, Paul and Kyle, in our midst, the house soon began to take shape.  The panels were nailed together and drilled into the floor to create two separate rooms.

The roof is made out of tarpaulin covered in flattened bamboo, to protect from wind and rain.  This was nailed down to large bamboo beams.

To give the family extra space, we decided to reconstruct part of their tent at the back of the house. We reused the frame of the tent and covered it with a new tarpaulin, which was then covered with bamboo.  Wooden panels at the back of the tent enclosed the structure and ensured the security of the building.  In this part the family can eat, cook and play together.

Delia's favorite color is mint green, so we chose that color to paint the outside of the house, and added a swirling blue pattern. The house isn't just a place to live, it's a place to feel at home, and a place to be proud of.  It's a splash of color in an otherwise bleak neighborhood. Meg, Jade and Connie also created a 3-board mural for the tented part of the house, which would serve as dining room and play area. This part wasn't hung with material, so a vivid painting is just what it needs.

We wanted to make the house a lively, cosy place to live, so we built new furniture and decorated it in bright colors with fun designs.  We made bunk beds for the children, a cot for the baby, a new bed for Delia and her husband Alejandro, a dining table and benches, a cooking station, a coffee table and chairs, as well as two play tables: one decorated like a football, and one with disney princesses.

The inside of each panel is lined with tarpaulin to protect the house from the elements. However, the black plastic doesn't make for the most attractive wallpaper.  To brighten the place up, we hung the walls with yellow fabric, and put blue curtains in the windows.

With the floor poured, the walls built and painted, the interior decorated and all the finishing touches completed, the house was ready for the family to move in.  Alejandro and the kids had been helping us for the first few days, but we then sent them away so that they too would be surprised by the final outcome.  

In an exhausting week's work, a core team of around 20 volunteers toiled from morning to night every day to finish in time for Delia's homecoming.  Whether building panels, making furniture, painting, pouring concrete or sewing curtains, everyone's contributions combined brought this new home into being.  Jimmy spearheaded the project, which he had been working towards ever since we first began collecting free wood from Aceros Arequipa.  It was his final day in Pisco before heading home to the States, and he left on a high, saying that it was his favorite Pisco day of all.  Cecelia said that she had never been prouder of the people around her, and we all felt the same.  It was an emotional final day, with everyone excited to see Delia's reaction when she walked down the road.

As soon as Delia rounded the corner and saw the team of Pisco Sin Fronteras volunteers standing outside her new house, she burst into tears.  Once she had gathered herself, she made her way through the door to explore her new home with her family.  We all came together in the tented area and she gave a speech to express her thanks, saying that she had helped many people after the earthquake, but that she never expected such a great help to be given to her.  Always on the verge of tears, she said she would always carry us with her in her heart, and think of us as she enjoyed her new home.  Each member of the family took it in turn to speak, and her son sang a song in honor of PSF.  There were tears all round, both from the family and from the PSF members present, and many of us consider this to be the project of which we are most proud.  To give a family a new home is a wonderful feeling, and to witness how profoundly it will affect their lives, both emotionally and physically, is truly inspiring.