April 2014

Housing

Last year we left money for the building of 10 houses and actually managed to have 11 built so our first task was to go and view these new houses.  We were greeted by smiling faces eager to show us their new family homes.

One of the main projects each year is the building of houses.  Sister Terfatu gets many applications for houses throughout the year.  She pulls together a list and when we arrive we look to see how many we can build.  As Sister Terfatu has not been in the best of health she has not been able to go and look at the places and families that are requesting a house.  We only want to build houses for the poorest of the poor.  So with this in mind we spent a whole day walking around the countryside looking at would be applicants.   Largo (one of sister’s helpers) had been out the day before on his bike to find all the applicants as the list only gives the name and a rough location. Of a list of 10 we decided that only one was a worthy cause. One of the applicants had a house on a very large Chat Farm and just wanted a ‘new house’.  However Largo did make us aware of another lady who was on her own with a small child whose house was falling down, but she was not on Sister Terfatu’s list. We went to look at this property and soon put her on the list along with her mother who lived in a run down shack next door.   We are also going to purchase some land and build a house for one single mother who works at the centre.  So in all we hope to buy land as well as building 4 houses for families that need them.  On our return next year we will see more new homes.  Sister’s helpers are now fully aware of the criteria required for a house.  In future they will vet every application as it comes in ensuring that the neediest go on the list.