A couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to add a little of my own blood, sweat and tears to the building of a new community in Jakarta. GK is currently working on moving 30+ families from a community heavily effected by flooding. This is one of the communities I had the chance to visit following the devastating floods in January. (Read more about that visit here)
Members of this community come to the new site to help with the build on a rotating basis. There are community members on site everyday of the week and it shows...the progress is astounding. Below is a picture of the community pavilion that has been donated by Emilie's school, JIS.
Many of the materials and supplies have been generously donated, but GK has been feverishly fundraising to help make up the difference. GK also covers the cost to rent the land, but the families must work together to pay for other costs, such as electricity and upkeep.
There will be housing units for approximately 40 families. Below is a picture of the "living room" in one of the units. Each unit has three rooms of this size (a living room, a bedroom, and a kitchen). There is no air conditioning (Keep in mind, the weather year round is approximately 90 degrees Fahrenheit with, no less than, 60% humidity). The are 4-5 units per building and the corner units are the coveted ones since they have more windows and ventilation.
Below are photos of the various stages the build was in on the day we were there...
And check out the view!!!
The parent volunteers with JIS Peduli took turns moving bricks, mixing cement, carrying buckets of cement, and plastering walls. As I was mixing cement, the sweat was literally rolling off my nose and into the cement mixture - a little part of me will always be a part of these homes!
It was a great day for us as volunteers. It felt great pitching in and getting our hands dirty, not to mention knowing that we were helping to get more than 30 families out of flood waters. Below is a link to a great video documenting the build!
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