Le th bridge volunteers build homes and hope for families in El Salvador
LOCAL GROUP BUILDS 27 HOMES FOR IMPOVERISHED FAMILIES
A group of Lethbridge volunteers has returned home with a real sense of accomplishment.
In little more than a week, they built secure homes for 27 impoverished families in El Salvador.
“We wanted to build more homes than any other group had done in one week,” says Dave Bodell. But before doing that, they had to raise financial support in Lethbridge.
“We successfully fundraised over $75,000 to build 27 homes,” says Bodell, a partner and sales manager at Ashcroft Homes.
The project was co-ordinated by Shelter Canada, an interdenominational organization, but backed financially by supporters in Lethbridge. More than two dozen Lethbridge-area volunteers found time to work on the building project.
“We were thrilled by the generosity of our business partners, family and friends,” Bodell says.
It was the third year for the project, organized locally by Ashcroft Homes. Volunteers dug into their own pockets to pay travel costs.
“There is poverty, and then there is El Salvador,” says Bodell.
“These people have been living in wooden, mud shacks with little to no protection from the elements or violence that plagues the region.
“There is no running water, no concrete floors and almost no ability to secure their meagre belongings. They are constantly fighting off illnesses and infections as a result of these conditions.”
Bodell says the simple metal homes they built have concrete floors, locking doors and windows. They’re much more capable of withstanding the weather and earthquakes.
“These types of homes allow people to leave their home secured during the day and work away from the home without fear of losing everything,” he says.
Though they’re small, “They are literally mansions in comparison to what they had been living in.”
As with Habitat for Humanity homes here in Canada, new homeowners are required to put in a predetermined amount of sweat equity on many homes, before receiving their own.
“This allows them to take a feeling of pride and ownership that simply giving them a home would deny them.”
Volunteers were also able to sit and interview each family and hear their stories.
“Many of them are sharecroppers whose entire existence depends on the success of the crops they plant.”
And this part of El Salvador is plagued by gang violence, Bodell reports. Many people live in a constant state of fear.
“As their stories unfolded we heard of families torn apart by the civil war in the ’80s, families destroyed by gang violence, constant medical needs and the inexorable and constant battle with poverty,” he adds. “But amidst all of this we saw hope, faith and love.”
Now back at home, the Lethbridge volunteers are looking ahead to returning to El Salvador.
They hope to raise more funds, take more volunteers — and break this year’s record.
“They say it takes a village to raise a child,” Bodell observes.
“I say it takes a city of amazing wonderful people, like we have here in Lethbridge, to help build the village that can raise that child.”
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These people have been living in wooden mud shacks with little to no protection from the elements or violence that plagues the region. – Dave Bodell – partner Ashcroft Homes