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After four years of waiting, Habitat for Humanity International has finally reopened its Global Village program and a team including eight residents of Chisago County, went to El Salvador to help build houses.

Dave and Jan Kozlovsky took 14  team members to the city of Ahuachapan February 15-22.  It was the Kozlovskys’ fourth Habitat build in El Salvador, the first time as leaders.  Joining them from Chisago County were Vern Koepp and Becky Leuer (also repeat volunteers), Wayne and Elizabeth Herberg, Ron Trunk and James McCarthy, as well as two of Jan’s brothers and friends from Wisconsin and Nashville.

It was 98 degrees when they arrived at the airport outside of the capital, San Salvador, but Ahuachapan is at a higher altitude so daytime temperatures were consistently at 86 degrees.

The program “Building Hope in Ahuachapan” has as its goals not only construction of houses but also building community with education, health care, and development of leadership.

The build site included three houses being built for three related families.  Applicants for housing must have legal deeds to the land and the ability to pay the mortgage on the house.  Cost of the 425 square foot cement block  house currently is about $18,000.  To put that in context, the salary for the mason’s assistants was $15 a day.  Each of the three houses thad a mason in charge of construction and two mason assistants.  The volunteer work included digging for septic tanks, mixing cement for the foundations, moving the cement blocks to the build site, sifting sand for the mortar, and moving the “white dirt” to the floor of the houses.  Cement and white dirt were moved in five-gallon pails, passed in a chain person to person. The houses are built to withstand hurricanes and earthquakes, with rebar set vertically in each block and horizontal in each row of block. Then the blocks are filled with cement.  

The community of Santa Lucia where these houses are being built had been controlled by gangs, but now,  is safe.  The current president has ordered sweeping arrests, with 40,000 now in prison. Tales of human rights violations are for another time.

A cultural exchange activity included a chance to make pupusas, the national dish of El Salvador.  Pupusas look like a thick tortilla but are filled with various meats and vegetables and grilled.  The US volunteers brought maple syrup, dried cranberries, and cheese curds to share with their hosts.  Two Habitat staff and Jan Koslovsky provided translation for the team, but communication was also possible with a few words and gestures.  Dave said that with just three words, most work could be done:  más, no más, and dónde (more, no more, and where),

On the way to the build site one morning the volunteers visited the community of Getsemaní where Dave, Jan, and Vern Koepp had worked on previous trips.  Habitat El Salvador has completed its plan for that community, with over 100 houses built.  The community now includes a pre-school where volunteers were able to donate paper, pencils, and markers.  It also has a health care center where a doctor and a dentist provide care every Saturday.  But the highlight of that visit was seeing the house that Dave, Jan, and two other team members had helped build in 2014.  The mother and her 16 year old son were home and, amazingly, she remembered the volunteers.  “Seeing Norma and Josué and the house vibrant with beautiful vegetation where cement had been mixed next to the house made the entire cost of the trip worthwhile,” said Dave.

The eight day trip began and ended with tourist experiences, visiting memorials to the 12 year Civil War, Tazumal (a Mayan site with a pyramid), a coffee plantation and processing plant, and the picturesque artist city of Ataco.

Submitted by Jan Koslovsky

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