Building a Home...so She Could Pay It Forward!

My children and I headed to Mexico on December 23 and arrived in Agua Prieta on December 24, Christmas Eve. Everyone who arrived at the woman's shelter with us gathered and planned to drive out and view all the locations and see where we would be working. Everyone piled into a few vehicles and headed out.

One of the projects would be to build a home for a single mom of 5 children (2 little girls, 2 young boys and a teenage daughter). The project started with a plot of land with a large hole dug for sewage. The group would have to start from this bare minimum and build a two story home that would include a bathroom, small kitchen/dining area, and 3 to 4 bedrooms. The home would also have electricity, a modern luxury for this family and for a home in this area of Mexico.

Our group was lucky because some of our volunteers were professional builders, which proved to be a great asset.

The hole for the sewage was deep and scared me because I had two curious little ones that kept getting too close to the edge for my comfort. I thought they would place a septic tank in the hole but later found out the raw sewage just goes into the ground. This is probably why no one ever flushes toilet paper in the toilets in Mexico. They always place the soiled tissue in a garbage can that sits next to the toilet. This was a daily routine I struggled with and hated doing!

During my visit to the location, I found out this single mom was paying for the land, but had been getting behind on her payments and risked losing it and all the money she had already paid. The remaining amount owed was $700 before the land was hers. I later learned a family from our group was so generous they paid the $700 owed, which full paid the debt making the land hers so she could now build on it.

This is a picture of land adjacent to where we were building. It is a very common sight to see unfinished homes all over Agua Prieta! The owners usually run out of money, stop building, and abandon the lot until they get more to continue.

The single mom who would receive this home, is a homemaker by day and a nail technician in the evening to make ends meet. I was told she is a hard worker and does a good job. This was quite apparent when a few of the girls from our group had their nails done. This was while I was working hard (ha ha ha). Their nails were beautiful and shimmering. Since they stimulated the economy, it's all good!

While trying to pay for the land, this single mom was also paying $70/month rent for a place located on the other side of town. Charitable contributions and a lot of hard working volunteers have helped her eliminate her overhead costs and build a brand new home so she can now focus on her family and paying it forward.

The plan for paying it forward is, she will pay $70 a month until she reaches a total of $700. These funds will go toward her church's missionary fund, which sounds like a great idea!

At the start of this project, there was an issue with either laying a cement foundation or trying something new. The result was laying a cement foundation that took a long time to dry because the weather was so cold. We had to wait two days before we actually started building the home. If you look closely in some of the pictures you will see dark clouds looming on the horizon. They unfortunately brought strong cold winds (60+ mph) but failed to dampen our spirits or stop us from continuing this great work.

Everyone worked long hours on building this home. My sisters, Dawnette and Teresa worked with my girl friend Darla and I on hanging sheet rock. We secretly were racing the teenagers who were sheet rocking the room next to us. Later some of the teenagers left to work on something else and my sister Teresa moved over to help them finish. She also stole our ladder, so we couldn't finish. Later they claimed we lost the race, but we claimed they cheated! We had a lot of fun even though Mother Teresa became Teresa the Turncoat. And better yet, I now know how to hang sheet rock.

It was so cold we built a fire so the small children could hover around it and stay warm. Now and again we found ourselves in a winter wonderland with tiny snow flakes falling all about, but quickly melted once it hit the ground.


My daughter kept sitting in the vehicle to stay warm...and one time her cousin joined her!

My girl friend Darla was amazing and helped with a lot of the electrical stuff. Now if I could just hire her to add an electrical outlet in my bedroom!

Soon came our last day, New Year's Eve, and we still had a lot to do. We all worked late into the evening to get as much done as possible. The inside became crowded with all the diligent workers and some trying to escape the cold. Liz and Becca wound up working in tight quarters on top of the bathroom! Liz was working even after she got her nails done...brave girl!

In the end, we had to hire some locals to complete the last items we weren't able. This is still a good thing because it gives locals a job where they will be paid.

One of the locals who was helping us refused money we offered. He said, The Starfish Difference had built a home for his mother and he wanted to pay it forward himself. Another man named Ivon (pronounced like my name), from the pallet home project (which I haven't blogged about yet) came to help build too. I thought it was nice that some of the locals wanted to help out and offer their hard labor as charity too.

On January 1, 2010, my children and I stopped by this home to take one last look and a picture or two. I was so glad we stopped because this cute mom happened to be there with some of her children. I gave her some new towels for her new home and she smiled and was very happy.

She didn't speak English and I didn't speak Spanish, so we were unable to say a word but we were both happy. She kept looking in the windows and pacing around that implied she wanted to go inside her new home and look around. The front door had not been installed so it was boarded up to keep trespassers out.

Here is a picture of her and her children (minus the two young girls) before we left for home.

Building this home was a good experience and I am so glad I was a small part of a greater good.

My Sister Teresa provided the following update:
The Elder's quorum ended up finishing the home for her. The money we left to pay someone will be used to help purchase land for somebody next year. We left money for a mattress which the mother gave to her older daughter who now has her own bedroom she doesn't have to share with her brothers. She cried when she saw her own room and found out it was her very own room with an official mattress.