Building Projects

I don’t feel that my Spanish is coming along as quickly as I had hoped.  However, I have gotten comfortable with certain words and phrases dealing with construction materials for the many houses we’ve been working on here in Leoncio Prado.  Cuanto cuesta por los ladrillos?  (How much for the bricks)  Necesito cinco cubos de arena y viente bolsas de cemento.  (I need 5 cubic meters of sand and 20 bags of cement)  People are very poor here, and their houses are in very tough shape.  Most are made out of dirt and as you can imagine with the amount of rain that falls here it doesn’t take long before walls come tumbling down and dirt floors become muddy messes.  Safe and secure housing is a real problem here.  Thanks to the generosity of our mission sponsors, we’ve been able to make a major difference in the lives of several families by providing brick walls and even some cement floors to the poorest and most vulnerable.  It also has been wonderful being able to provide men with desperately needed construction jobs.  Here are some examples of who we’ve been helping: 

Victor and Rosana and their three boys lived in a small house with tarp walls.  The small space that was enclosed had their three beds, which the five of them sleep in, a desk where Richard does his school work, and bags of clothes in place of dressers.  The unenclosed space was where their kitchen, dining room and living room were.

Ilmer and her granddaughter lived in an old house that was constructed with dirt walls.  Over the years the dirt has crumbled and cracked, leaving many holes and cracks in the walls.  When it rained, it would leak in through the walls leaving a muddy mess on their dirt floors and rot away the wooden beams which were holding up their house.

Adler's wife died of cancer last year, leaving Adler alone to care for his now 5 year old son.  Adler and Leonel didn't have any walls on their house, so they lived in a small one bedroom house with Grandma.

Segundo and Lissett and their two children lived in a small house of half mud and half tarp.  Their hope was to have secure walls around their entire house.

 Crespo and Sarina had an outhouse made of tin and tarp for their bathroom.  Sarina shares how hard it was to keep a clean bathroom, and it caused a variety of health problems.

We are hoping to continue doing more house projects.  If you are interested in sponsoring a home for a family and a job for men in town, please let us know via email: beckerfamilymissionaries@gmail.com.  Here is the next house we will be starting on: