hello again - a much delayed update with a story from CHRPA

It's been a bit of a long hiatus. But just because I haven't blogged doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying Tucson. It's great! The past seven months have been full of important learning experiences and the building of wonderful life-enriching relationships. Our housemates are a blast and have become a great support system for the two of us. We have also each found great people in those we work alongside each day.

One aspect of working at CHRPA is writing stories about our experiences with clients and the different jobs that we go out and do. I'm not very good at this, having only written two in my time now. But these stories, from past and current volunteers and employees alike, have been and are being compiled into books. Some stories even accompany grant applications. Scott, the director of CHRPA, frequently asks us to write stories. Yesterday, I finally got my second one to him and would like to now share it with you all.

Her bathroom sink didn’t drain. Her shower didn’t drain. The light above the sink hung to the side clinging with everything it had for life.  It was the only usable bathroom in the house and only Señora Barrera’s toilet functioned. She rarely left her room. In the week I spent there, she came out to the kitchen to fry up some eggs a couple of times. Her cancer left her tired and our jackhammering certainly didn’t help that situation. But Señora Barrera didn’t deserve to spend the rest of her life without a functioning bathroom.  

We jackhammered through the concrete floor and then dug down another foot on our hands and knees to get to the drain. We traced it from the shower back about five feet before finding cast iron pipe that wasn’t cracked and broken. We built a new drain from this point of good pipe back to shower and the sink. Nearly fifteen bags of concrete later, we had the floor back in order. We then laid new tile on the shower floor and the bathroom floor, working our way into the hall and repairing tile there, too.

It was clear that Señora Barrera’s home once housed a large family. She was living alone while we worked there, and yet, despite the lack of a usable bathroom, her house was still the place her granddaughter and great-granddaughter spent each afternoon. It is my hope and belief that we left her home having helped make it a place where her family could continue to happily gather.

jackhammers are really loud in such a small space!

just about to the end of the destruction

floor back in place with new tile