Peace Corps Habitat Build - Part One

I had advertised it on the Peace Corps Philippines weekly update and in a couple of other places; some people had to drop out when the timing changed due to Ondoy, and others who couldn’t have come then were available now. Two of our PCV builders had to cancel at the last minute due to medical issues; both were husbands whose wives still came. One person brought a counterpart, one a fellow RPCV who is working in town but is not a PCRV. A Filipino expat who lives in Hong Kong and had always wanted to do this joined our group for a couple of days. All in all, we had twelve people on the build – five who came for all three days, and the rest for a day or two.

We went to Pasig I, where I had done the farewell day/little bit of sand sifting way back when. Lots of progress has been made, despite losing a month because there was still water blocking the way to the site (there is STILL water, but it’s navigable – and there’s a big mud line about waist-high on most of the buildings). The first building is almost finished, and they’re starting the foundation for the second one. The engineer and many of the skilled laborers remembered me – amazing.

We arrived in time for the morning devotion and then were given our assignment for the morning – moving a big pile of gravel from the front of the building to the back of the building. Shoveling, bagging, carrying and unloading were the assignments. We were getting in each other’s way until the break, when Charlie organized an assembly line/bucket brigade/rotation. His background is construction management, so he could see the efficiency in doing it that way. The skilled workers had just told us what to do and left it to us to figure out who would do what and how. It made me think about going back to school for a PhD in group dynamics, with my thesis on different groups of Habitat volunteers. Does everyone figure out a system eventually? Who assumes a leadership role? How do the volunteers work as a team? How does it differ with different types of groups (e.g. students, religious groups)? With groups from different cultures? I think this is an endless source of research!

In the afternoon, we moved sand – it wasn’t as heavy as the gravel, but by then, we were all tired. The women were dirtier than the men, probably from cradling the bags against their bodies where the men just carried them. We were all tired and sore and we went to bed very early and slept very well! The first night I had one guest in my room and three in the office – but then the couple went to the hospital and the pension, and the counterpart stayed one night by himself and then went home early the next day because people were fishing illegally in his jurisdiction. So the guest load was not only manageable but fun!