Today F and I got to meet the family for which we are going to build a new home. They are a family of 3 living in one room 3m x 5m where they all sleep. They have a make shift living/kitchen area in front of the building on the site where their house once stood before the earthquake. The foundations of their previous house are still evident. The living area is made of tarp and esterra (a woven flax) so gets very cold during the winter. The real only saving grace for families that live in the aftermath of the earthquake is that it does not rain here. They have a tarped up stand alone area which serves as their bathroom with toilet and shower. The walls are made of black tarp - its pretty grim.
The father is a tuk tuk driver and earns roughly S./180 per week (about $NZ90). The mother says at home with her beautiful daughter.
Our original plan was to build on top of the old foundations but it will be very difficult to level so after much discussion with the family we will build on the flatter and clearer area of their house at the front.
We plan to build two rooms the first being 3m x 4m and the second 4m x 4m. So although compared to our standards this is small, it is considerably bigger than their existing building.
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