Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Making it Happen

From July 26 to August 9 Habitat Armenia hosted the 2nd team of 2014 international volunteers in Tavush region within the scope of the Global Village program. It is about two weeks that the volunteers who have arrived from United States have been enthusiastically working in Gosh village to support the improvement of housing conditions of the Ghazaryan family.  

For decades the family of Ghazaryans had been living in poor housing conditions due to insufficient means for house renovation. Thanks to the partnership with Habitat for Humanity Armenia their dream of having a simple, decent and affordable house became reality.


Day 1:  The team was touched by the warm welcome the partner family. After the introduction the team was provided safety orientation and started the renovation work. 

Traditional bread and salt which show hospitality



Day 2 was a typical work day 




Surprise from the community kids :)

Day 3 was a rest day and the team visited local monasteries



Day 4 and 5 were work days accompanied by delicious lunches prepared by the partner family





Day 6 was a rest day again and the volunteers visited a local church and bakery in Ijevan





Day 7-9 were typical work days full of work and delicious food



                                  

                                       

Day 10 was the last day. The blessing of the house was followed by the farewell dinner and the volunteers said good bye to the partner family





The team members share their experience. 










Dear Habitat Armenia members and friends,

We have launched our first building project for this year!
Global Village trip- Tavush Region -  June 28th to July 9th 2014

 Barev from our diverse team and the family of Seda Parsadanyan!
Our amazing team consists of 10 volunteers from America, Switzerland, and France.

 Day One: 9am – 5pm 

  • Introduction - Family and Volunteers 
  • Removal of garbage materials and soil embankment 
  • Partial plastering of walls 

The Parsadanyan family 

Exchanging hellos, gratitudes, and building a bridge between different cultures






Removal of garbage materials and soil embankment 


With the sun blazing at 32 degrees celsius, our first working day was brutal. First, we leveled the working grounds by transferring rocks and dirt from one area to another. Afterward, we filled buckets with rocks and transferred them onto a dump truck. Needless to say, by the end of the day, we were sunburned and exhausted! 

 Day Two: 9am – 4pm 


 • Cement-sand mixing
 • Partial plastering of walls
 • Partial floor finishing with concrete later

Aggregate- A mixture of sand and stone and a major component of concrete.
Volunteers hard at work, mixing cement, rocks, dirt, and water.



Floor finishing with the mixed cement

The transferring of the heavy cement buckets from downstair to upstair was quite difficult! 

Taking a much deserved ten minutes break


What an amazing team we have! I have grown so fond of these amazing people; the impact and inspiration within them shines so incredibly bright. We are all different- in gender, age, nationality- but we are at the same place, with the same desire- to help each other, and that's beautiful.

Until next time, I will leave you all with one of my favorite quote:




Love,
Toquyen Doan
Peace Corps Volunteer
Armenia 2013 - 2015

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