An Argentinean woman uses volcanic material to make bricks to build homes for elderly women.
After weeks of enduring ashes brought on by Chile s Puyehue-Cordon Caulle volcano, one woman from the Argentinean side of the Andes is looking for the silver lining in the grey sediment that has smothered the area.
Maria Irma Mansilla, a resident of the poor El Mallin neighbourhood of Villa La Angostura, used the sediment and sand spewed by the volcano to create a brick prototype. She hopes she and her neighbours will be able to produce them on a large scale to build homes for the elderly and single mothers in need. Mansilla created three prototypes using a wooden mold and sent one to a government agency for approval to use as a building material.
