Wednesday, June 27 – Today I woke to the sounds of roosters. It felt really nice waking up to a different noise than what I’m used to in Washington, DC. In DC my wake up call is my screaming alarm that rings every 15 minutes. The rooster’s clucking was short and quiet and I woke up instantly. There are no snoozes in Santa Rosalia.
It was our first full day with our host families, and I had the chance to experience new things and learn about the community, Santa Rosalia, a place that I would call home for the next four days. My host dad was funny and told a lot of jokes (just like my dad), and my host mom cared for me and made sure I ate and felt comfortable and at home in their space (just like my mom). They were warm, genuine, and united. My host family felt like my family.
Many people in Santa Rosalia are brickmakers. The setup for making bricks (which is done by hand) was in the backyards of their homes. The set up included a black mud mixture that was churned by a horse until it was smooth enough to use. On the table was the mud, a bucket of water and a mold for the bricks. The finished bricks were lined in neat and orderly rows and left to dry. Once dry, they were baked in an oven and ready for use. I was amazed by the speed of the brick making process! Four bricks are made at one time (in the mold), and up to 2,000 bricks are made in one day. Making bricks isn’t as easy as it looks! You had to know the exact amount of water to use; too much made the mud squishy and too little made the mud tough to work with and difficult to spread evenly in the molds. Four packed bricks are really heavy to carry from the table to the ground and the board on top of the mold created a suction that was hard to break. I felt relieved and happy after making bricks. It turned out not as bad as I thought it would!
The bricks made in Santa Rosalia are used to make houses and other structures in the community and are also transported for use in neighboring towns and bigger cities, like Asunción. Before this experience, I never thought about the bricks used to build my apartment building or any other home in Washington, DC. Bricks in the United States are manufactured in large plants, not by hand! The brickmakers are providing for their families, and they make so many bricks by hand, which is exhausting and may eventually take a toll on their bodies. I’m impressed and inspired by the work ethic of the brickmakers in Santa Rosalia.
Nayelly D. M., Capital City Public Charter School