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 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.
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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 Orozco Rodriguez Family
Guillermo (Guille) Orozco and Valeria Rodriguez have a young daughter named Kathy. Guille is from Cofradía, and Valeria is from the nearby town Paso Real.
The couple shares a deep sense of responsibility before God to care for their family. They currently live in the house that belonged to Guille’s great-grandmother. Guille’s grandfather gave them some land as a gift, but Guille wants to save up the money to pay him for it. Guille does everything he can to earn money: he helps with construction projects, repairs electrical items, and works in the fields. Sometimes, he works in the state capital, Tepic—about an hour and a half from Cofradia—helping with construction projects and selling fish and shrimp. Valeria stays home and takes care of Kathy. The family’s income still is not enough to pay for a house.
Valeria and Guille agree that if they were selected to receive a house, it would truly be a blessing from God.
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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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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 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 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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