Have you ever
wondered what it would be like to start a family without a place to live? This is the case for so many families
as they are forced to live with parents or hop from borrowed home to borrowed
home in hopes that some day, they’ll have a home of their own. This ministry helps those families get
started and is used as an evangelistic tool to reach out to the community. Change a needy family’s
future by helping to provide a home and freeing up finances for food, education
and healthcare. We take care of the logistics and you provide the labor. Join
us for a Dwellings house build!
This 600 square foot house serves the basic needs for our local families. It has a small three foot porch in the front, two bedrooms, a living room with a kitchen and dining area, a bathroom and a water cistern with a washboard and counter in the back, and an open section in the back that will have a gravel floor. We build our own cinder blocks in
advance that fit together like legos.
After strengthening the walls with columns, cement, and stucco, the roof is put on. With the floor, septic, and water cistern built before the team comes, this house can be done in one week with a group of 10 adults.
CURRENT FAMILIES IN NEED
(Alphabetical Order)
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The Almanza Sanches Family
Manuel Almanza and Jessica Sanches live in the community of Paramitas, about twenty minutes from Cofradía. They have three daughters living with them: Betzabe (21 years old), Sayuri (16 years old), and Brissa (12 years old). Betzabe had previously moved in with a boyfriend, but when the short-lived relationship ended, she returned to her parents' home with her baby daughter, Quiria, who has been diagnosed as being high-risk for SIDS.
Manuel
and Jessica have been married for twenty-five years, and for much of that time
they lived in borrowed homes. The town authorities donated a piece of land to
them, where they built a small shack—made of cinder blocks, wood planks, and
an aluminum roof—that leaks during the rainy season.
For
work, Manuel sells tortillas and Jessica teaches classes for adults.
Nevertheless, it has proven difficult for them to build a more secure home
because of the expenses related to their daughters’ education and their sick
grandchild. They would be very grateful for a cement house that is safe and
comfortable where they could better care for their children.
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The Ballesteros Solis Family
(Chosen by The Well for February 2020)
Fermín Ballesteros-Lucas and Carolina Solís-López, both of Cofradía, have two children: Diana and Alexis.
This couple has been together for nine years. Fermín is a temporary laborer working in anything from the fields to construction, but because of the scarcity of work in the area, they have been unable to save enough money to build a house, which has forced them to move from borrowed house to borrowed house. They comment that the majority of the time, owners arrived asking them to move out as soon as possible, many times giving them only 24 hours. This has caused them a great deal of difficulty because they have to find another place to live with very little time to search for something more permanent. They say this has been one of the most difficult experiences their family has had to endure, especially for the children.
Last year, Fermín was finally able to buy a plot of land together with their brother-in-law, Goyo. They dream of one day having their own, permanent home there, where they no longer have to bother anyone else.
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The Diaz Cervantez Family
José Andrés Díaz Arreola, of Cofradía, and Melissa
Cervantes Morales, of las Pilas, met while attending the local high school.
After three years of dating, they married, and they now have a nine-month-old
daughter, Lia Maileth. Andrés works in construction supply store, and Melissa
takes care of their home and daughter. They live in a house that belongs to
Melissa’s father. Since he left her mother, Melissa has been keeping her
father company, but over time that relationship has become troubled because of
what happened with Melissa’s mother.
Although Andrés’s job has been a great blessing, it has not
provided enough for them to save money to build their own home. Andrés’s
parents have gifted them a plot of land in Cofradía, and they believe that
having their own home built on that plot would provide them the great
blessings of privacy and the ability to make their own decisions for the
future of their family.
The Hernández Flores Family
Emilio Hernández and Bertha Flores have been married for
twenty-eight years and have three adult children: Deisy, Ocyel, and Jonathan.
Deisy is married, but their two sons still live at home with them in Cofradía.
The Lopez Carrillo Family
Zeferino Carillo-Matías and
Jesús Lopez-Vázquez have four children and currently work as field hands only
for two or three months every year in order to support their children. When
they travel to find work, the children have to stay with Jesús’s mother. This
is because the children are young, and the home where they currently live is
unsafe. They don’t want to risk
anything happening to the children. In addition, Zeferino works in Tepic (about
an hour and a half from Cofradia) when he can, helping with construction. This kind of work does not provide
sufficent income to make improvements on their home. During the rainy season, they have to find somewhere else to
stay because their roof leaks so badly. They are seeking God’s provision of
much more work in order to provide a better living situation for their family.
In other words, they are waiting on a miracle.
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The Martinez Partida Family
The Martinez Partida Family
Diego Martinez from Las Pilas and Sandy Partida from
Cofradía live in a borrowed house in Las Pilas. This young couple has been together for 11 years. They met while working in the fields
planting melons. Sandy was
interested in Diego and wanted him to ask her out. She remembers watching other young ladies flirt with Diego,
so she decided not to wait and asked him out, instead. The couple dated for four months before
moving in together. Now, Diego
cares for cows and repairs fences, and Sandy makes and sells cheese during the
rainy season. They really want to
have children and are seeing a doctor who is helping them with their fertility
struggles.
The couple has lived in the borrowed house for five
years, and they are ready to feel the security that comes with knowing they are
in a home of their own. This home
would also be a place where they would start their family and raise their
children.
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The Parra Oronia Family
The Parra Oronia Family
Rolando Parra Rojo and Zoica Oronia Galicia met while
working in the fields. They are both very shy, and for many years neither of
them could work up the courage to talk to the other. After five years, Rolando
worked up the courage to ask Zoica out on a date. They dated for one year and
then decided to get married. They have been married for four years and
continue to hope and pray the Lord will bless them with a child.
Rolando works in the fields or in construction. Although
they not have the expenses that children incur, their savings have not been
sufficient to afford the cost of building their own home. Through great
sacrifice, they were able to build a shack made of sticks and mud on a plot
given to them by Zoica’s mother in Cofradía. Having their own cement-block
home would, for them, mean security from the threat of animals in the area and
protection from the rain.
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The Salvador Flores Family
María Santos Salvador Flores is a single mother to her
youngest son, Francisco Javier Gonzales Salvador. María was born in the state
of Durango, Mexico. When she was fourteen, she was raped by her
brother-in-law; her parents sought help from the authorities, but they were
also beaten by Maria’s abuser. This “forced” Maria to find a “husband” that
could care for her. She married and had three sons. Her husband, however, got
involved with shady characters and ended up being killed. Because of the
danger facing her and her children, Maria fled Durango, leaving her home and
all her possessions, and ended up in Cofradía, a town she remembered visiting
as a child with her parents.
After being widowed, she endured a very difficult season of
life, during which, she says, she made some poor decisions that she takes full
responsibility for. During that time, she had three more sons outside of
marriage.
Since leaving her home in Durango, she has lived in
borrowed house after borrowed house, even moving to other locales in order to
find work to provide for her children. She says that having their own home
would finally provide her and her family a place of refuge.
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The Solis Huizar Family
(Completed by The Well in November 2019)
Gregorio (Goyo), of Cofradía, and Rafaela, of
Rosarito (a small community in the mountains of Nayarit), are a young couple
with two daughters, Mairani and Karla. Goyo’s mother, Modesta, and her grandson
Luis also live with them. (It is very common for indigenous families to live together.)
Modesta has no husband, so Goyo has taken on the
responsibility of caring for his mother and nephew in addition to his own
family. At this time, he works as
a brick layer, earning enough to cover the cost of food and some of their
necessary expenses, but that is insufficient for building a house. After expenses, they have only been
able to save enough to purchase just half of the parcel of land where they one
day hope to build a house.
They currently live in a borrowed house. Rafaela
says it is difficult knowing that at any moment the owners could require the
house again, leaving them without a place to live. Having their own home would
provide a long-desired sense of stability for their family.
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The Urenda Betancourt Family
José Adrian Urenda, of Santa Fe, and Monica
Betancourt, of Cofradía, live in the small town of Santa Fe. They have lived
in borrowed houses the entire four years they have been together. Monia
comments that it is very difficult to be there because on various occasions,
the owners have asked them to move out with only one day’s notice.
Adrian works as a day laborer and his income
is not enough to cover the cost of building a house. In addition, since birth,
their daughter has had ongoing health problems, which puts even greater demand
on their finances. For them, having their own home would be an unreachable
dream come true. Adrian says it would be a place where he can plant a tree and
feel a sense of ownership, and Monica says it would be a place where they can
settle and no longer worry about someone kicking them out on the spot.
________________________________________________________________The Vázquez Family
María Vázquez is a hard working single mother raising
her young son, Eric in the nearby town of Santa Fe. When she was younger,
María worked in Ruiz where she met Eric’s dad. He moved to the United
States, and later María and Eric moved there to be with him. It didn’t
work out for them, so María and Eric moved back to Mexico and stayed with her
sister. However, when her sister’s husband returned home, they had to
move out. She rented a house for a while, but it was very difficult for
her to make the payments with money she earned selling meals. When her
brother and his family moved to Cofradía, they loaned María their house in
Santa Fe. Everyday, she worries that her brother will need his house
again, and she and Eric will be asked to move. For her, having a home
would mean happiness, peace and the security of having a place of her own where
she knows she would never be asked to leave.
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The Vázquez Martinez Family
José Vázquez and Silvia Martinez are raising their
young son, José Alexis in the nearby town of Santa Fe. The couple met in
Chihuahua where José was working in orchards picking apples and peaches.
Two years later, Silvia came to work in the same fields, and José fell for her
right away. After dating for five months, the couple moved to Santa Fe
where José now works in the nearby fields, and Silvia cares for José
Alexis.
The family lives in a home they
are borrowing from José’s parents. The house floods during the rainy
season. The couple remembers a particular rainy season two years
ago. Their son was sick and after being exhausted from caring for him all
through the night and taking him to the doctor the next day, they were so tired
that they slept through the rain and didn’t notice the water coming into the
house. When the neighbors came to wake them, their clothing, furniture,
bed and other household items were soaked. For this family, having a
house would mean having the security of being in a home of their own on their
land. It would also be a safe
place for them to live that wouldn’t flood every year.
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The Verdin Carrillo Family
Juan Ayala Verdin and
Zulema Mariscal Carrillo have been married seven years and live in Cofradía.
They have one son, Victor, who will turn three August. Juan suffers from
Sciatica, which has made it difficult for him to work, so Zulema has taken on
the responsibility of working and providing for their family’s needs.
They live in the home
of Juan’s grandfather, who is alone and sick, but Zulema’s income is not
sufficient to save for their own home. However, Juan’s family has recently
informed them that they want to evict the young family from the grandfather’s
house, potentially to claim the house for themselves once the grandfather
passes away. Both Zulema and young Victor have been beaten up, both physically
and verbally, by extended family members in order to intimidate them into
vacating the house. They comment that it has been extremely difficult to
endure such mistreatment and that having their own home would provide them a
refuge where they can raise their son in security and peace.
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