| Ms. Carmen’s house Ms. Carmen cannot remember how much time has passed since she moved from La Victoria to her small piece in Juan Moreno. Both populations on the central state of Aragua, Venezuela. Her fourth daughter Norma, helps her remember. They estimate sixtyfive years have paased since Carmen, a girl of 15, moved in with Luis Murga. They had their first daughter, Carmen Luisa. It feels as if she spent a lifetime living with Luis, who unfortunately passed away a few ago. They had six children, several grandchildren and now three great-grandchildren. The enlargement of the little room that her husband initially bought shows the growth of their family. “My husband worked at Ron Santa Teresa since he was a boy. Here we had our shack. Gradually we constructed the house. He bought this piece and a shack next door and a little barn. The rest was an area were we kept some pigs and chickens. We kept building until we got there,” she tells us. “There” consists of an extension of 20 metres to the original piece. With loans, they continued building the rooms. Today the house has five bedrooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining room, two patios and an adjointment for one of her grandchildren. In the oldest part of the house they used old wooden doors given to them by the coorporation Hacienda Ron Santa Teresa. The pitched roof is made of bitter cane and it keeps well. The ceilings of the enlargement are made of zinc. The house is full of children and grandchildren, pictures, parrots, saints and memories. It is a great representation of family life. Luis, Carmen’s husband, always lived in a neighboring village, El Consejo. Moving to the place behing the church in Juan Moreno was his way of remining close to his work and family. However, this sector was deprived of access to basic services. Norma, his daughter who is now 58, explains: “My dad did the García de Sena (main street of Juan Moreno), they put sewers. Water ran through the middle and they were able to channel water. This was pure latrine before, my dad built the drains. “ Indeed, the first bathroom the house has is on the north end of the home because it was not connected to a sewerage system. The area has changed, fewer people go to the church square and the streets are being rebuilt. However, Mrs. Carmen is still on the porch of her first home with her daughter, granddaughter and great-granddaughter, watching people go by. Link: http://iqlatino.org/2015/pieza-vivienda-venezuela/    |