Home-building ministries in Third World neighborhoods

WASHINGTON (CNS) - On the cable television show "Trading Spaces," neighbors swap house keys, redesign a room in their neighbor's home, then unveil their newly improved homes.

But what would it be like to trade spaces with a neighbor in the Third World? How much would it cost to improve the quality of life for these neighbors? "We can build houses for between $2,500 and $6,000, depending on the needs of a family," says Missionary Oblate Father Marc Boisvert, director of Project Hope in Les Cayes, Haiti. Since 1998, the former U.S. Navy chaplain has headed up the nonprofit organization that runs three schools, an orphanage, a soup kitchen and a medical clinic in this southern Haiti city. He has seen poverty's toll on Haiti's most vulnerable population, its women and children. According to the United Nations, more than 100 million people worldwide have no housing. Some 640 million children lack adequate shelter. They may live in homes without adequate sanitation, constructed of poor building materials or erected in areas with little or no security. In 1997, Project Hope began building an orphanage "village" to accommodate 1,000 Haitian orphans and individuals in Les Cayes. Some of the funding for this project has come from grants and donations from relief agencies such as the Florida-based Cross International Catholic Outreach. Cross International communications director Jerry Harris says he believes the home-building projects in Haiti empower families to build sustainable communities by providing training in carpentry and other skills. Harris says the home-building projects give families a sense of permanency and stability, and help stimulate the local economy. Master tradesmen pass on their skills to others by teaching how to make cinder block or lay stone. About 1,000 miles across the Caribbean, west of Haiti, many Nicaraguans also struggle with inadequate housing. When Hurricane Mitch hit Nicaragua's coast in 1998, an estimated 750,000 people lost their homes, farms and livelihoods. Seven years later the people in rural San Juan de Limay still are struggling to rebuild. But with the help of North American neighbors such as the Maryland-based Casa Baltimore/Limay, the community is witnessing some progress. Since 1998, Casa Baltimore/Limay has "repaired 40 to 50 homes and helped build roughly 25 to 30 homes through its sponsorship, plus another 70 homes working with Catholic-run organizations such as the Pope John XXIII Institute in Nicaragua," says Barbara Larcom, coordinator for Casa Baltimore/Limay. Larcom says her organization, along with St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church in Baltimore, established an informal sister-city friendship with San Juan de Limay more than 20 years ago. The group encourages its volunteers and others to visit San Juan de Limay. According to Larcom, sending a delegation of visitors to the city is a key component of the program because it spreads awareness of the extreme poverty there. Delegations are sent once or twice each summer to witness the needs of the poor in terms of housing and latrine construction, something Larcom notes is vital if the community's health and proper hygiene are to be maintained. A completed house costs $1,500 in 2005, and the all-important latrine costs another $225. The coordinators of Project Hope also believe it is necessary for Americans to visit Haiti, one of the Western Hemisphere's poorest nations. Project Hope volunteer Jack Reynolds says he travels to Haiti every eight to 10 weeks to chaperone visitors to Les Cayes. Cross International's Web site (http:// www.crossinternational.org) says that for "just $5,000 Cross can help poor families in Haiti by building a house complete with two 12x12 foot rooms complete with cinder-block walls, a cement floor and a solid zinc roof." However, as Father Boisvert points out, that price "does not include plumbing or the cost of the land to build on, which can be an additional $500," more than a year's income for most people in Les Cayes. Harris stresses the importance when building a home of considering a specific family's needs. For example, some families may require more space to accommodate extended family members. For more information about Project Hope's orphanage and village in Haiti, visit http://www.theoswork.org or Father Boisvert's Web log at http://pwojeespwa.blogspot.com. Requests for information on Casa Baltimore/Limay can be sent to Barbara Larcom by e-mail at blarcom@bcpl.net. - - - Shieh is a librarian at Catholic News Service.

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