Dreaming of Homes...

Tuesday evening we participated in a meeting to brainstorm the development of a new community for those who actually live in the garbage dump[1]. Part of the mission of Project Transformation is to address the whole person with the whole Gospel. This involves helping people to create and own a healthier living environment. We are among a group of dreamers planning how to support the community's creation of new housing structures for these poorest of the poor.

Here is the Dream: Help the community to build 300 homes for people who currently live in the garbage dump. This effort would be similar to the creation of the Linda Miller community - people getting involved in building their own houses and taking ownership of the work.

Visits to their current homes are driving this effort. Jose Ramon and his sister, Ritzy (a student at AFE) invited our team to visit his two children. They were beautiful children even though they were covered in dirt and soot. Their smiles reminded me of my own son, yet saddened me as I saw where they lived. On dirt floors, surrounded by garbage and terrorized by vultures, six people eked out an existence in a six foot by eight foot make shift shack. They had no water, no electricity, and were under constant threat. The health risks apparent from no way to flush waste, no way to clean dishes, and a dirt floor are too numerous to mention.

With tears, Jose Ramon confessed his children suffer from constant sickness from the conditions in which they live. The father felt obvious shame that he could not take better care of his family. Jose is a hard worker. He is not lazy. He is the victim of circumstances and is paying for the sins his parents committed. Caught in a vicious cycle, only God can work a miracle in this family's life.

But God works through people like you and me to work those miracles. That is why we dream.

Imagine moving Jose, his wife and their two children, and his mother and sister who live with them, to a house with clean floors, running water and flushing toilets, light in the evening and a stove to cook healthy meals. His children would not fall ill but grow healthy and strong. No longer would Jose feel ashamed of who he is, but take pride in his family and his God who reaches down to help the least of these.

Pray that our dream will soon become reality.

[1] Determining how many people actually live in the garbage dump is a difficult venture because many people live in squatter settlements just outside of it; they might as well live in the trash. Others have shacks miles away in which they spend the weekends with their families. Monday through Friday they spend the night sleep in the trash.