Our first trip to Pirca was in August of 2007. The first project was to replace the grass roof of a sweet widow. Her old roof had burned leaving only the structure in place. The men of the village had removed the charred grass

Grass is added in bundles overlapping the previous row.

By the end of the first side of the roof we did not have enough grass. 9 men from the village and this nine year old, Alex, left at 5 am the next morning, hiked for 2 hours up to the fields, harvested enough grass to complete the project and returned carrying their load by 9am so we could finish the project.

Sam had a chance to see what it felt like to carry a load.

The work goes on with the help of the men of the village.

The grass has to be separated and wet down before it is ready to go on the roof.

The finished product.

Standing with the widow (Javier's Grandmother) in front of her house