It seemed like an impossible feat, but with six sets of children’s eyes watching; we had to try. I would like to take you on a quick journey with me.
To Set the Stage:
This particular family lived in Salinas; the 6 children ranging in age from 6 to 16. The father is a painter that cannot find regular work. The mother is generally unskilled and has never been gainfully employed. In total, they have 9 children. The 3 eldest live on their own with young babies themselves. How we came to know this family is an entire story itself and involves neighbors, friends of friends and a chance meeting. One day I will share this with you.
I had never seen such sad living conditions up to that point. They created a makeshift home between the back of a store and the wall of the neighboring house. With a combination of wood, cardboard, and bed sheets they built themselves a wall and ceiling in this space and called it home for almost 18 years. One water tap from the back of the store, without bathroom, kitchen, or electricity, this family existed, invisible, behind the jumble of junk using candles to see in the night.
The owner of the store eventually died and the property then passed to his children. The family refused to leave the property as they had nowhere to go.
Fast forward to Sept 1, 2016
While assisting this family through an emergency situation, we had set up a trundle bed for the 3 boys. It came to my attention that not only have the children not been eating regularly, they would also soon be homeless. They had been evicted and had until Nov 1 to leave or the owners were going to have them removed. Upon discussion with the mom, I realized the children had no idea what was happening.
I tried to speak with the municipality to see if land could be donated, an abandoned lot, lean-to, tent, anything. I looked for any organizations that might assist them. We could not find anything in terms of solutions, or organizations that might have been able to help. Someone had made a comment during my search that this family planned poorly. They continued to have children under these living conditions and that this is the consequence. The situation was their own problem to fix.
My logical side totally agreed. On the surface it made sense, however, these situations are rarely black and white in nature.
An equally important fact is that these 6 children are innocent victims of this poor planning. None of this being their fault, they were clueless as to what was about to happen. Even if they did know, they were powerless to change it. The 12-year-old daughter worked for candles and fruit helping a lady selling dry goods. The eldest son, walked the streets looking for an opportunity for food or how to earn a buck.
They are the most vulnerable
If a person naively thinks this type of situation is not collectively our problem, then I have to respectfully disagree. This will be all our problem very soon. When you leave people in desperate situations, in particular, young teens without coping skills, it quickly becomes society’s problem.
These young people, homeless, full of shame, hunger, anger, vulnerable and without hope will quickly join gangs. The world is full of prostitutes, drug dealers, and criminals; not because it was their dream, but rather it was their reality. Desperate situations mean desperate decisions made.
I was getting nowhere with local contacts and only frustrating myself; reporting back to the mother with all bad news. I know many families that live in these neighborhoods. The land that is free if you can find an empty lot. Once you find a lot, you can speak with the barrio president and/or municipality. There is a registration process and then you can build a home. I walked these neighborhoods with some friends, asking for leads on available lots, but came up empty.
After a couple of weeks, I finally gave up. I believe fully that my involvement as a foreigner was actually hindering the process. Frustrated, that I was not able to help, I let the mother know I had to give up the search. She needed to find a lot and when she did, I asked her to connect with me. Once they had land, I would try and help. I left there sick with worry that these children would soon be sleeping in the street.
Two weeks later she called me and said; I have some land.
To understand the bamboo neighborhoods:
If you have ever driven off the beaten path where rarely the tourists or local expats wander, you will have undoubtedly noticed the bamboo neighborhoods on the outskirts of towns.
Many families live on these lots; most owned by the municipalities. They are humble, typically without services or very simple services and after 2 years, they can apply for a right-of-possession. It is not a deed, but rather a simple right they have earned to live there. The families often keep the lots, passing them from one family member to another. They may even ‘sell’ a lot. That means the buyer has purchased the rights to live on the property or any structure that is on it. You do not ever own the land. They do however try to keep the lots within families for obvious reasons. The homes they build often do not have floors, just walls, and roof.
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In these neighborhoods, you may have one or two families per block with a rustic septic system built with a bathroom. Many homes do not have bathrooms so the families will often pee outside. For the other, they will ask to use their neighbors when possible. This means the stench of urine in some areas can be strong.
Water can be piped using simple tubes they place about 6 inches underground. If they are lucky they will have access to a tap in easy walking distance from their home. The truly fortunate will have a hose running into their home.
Electricity can be brought into homes by a simple extension cord. They may have only one light bulb or plug to use. Other homes have one plug in each room and one light socket. I have seen where they share one lightbulb bringing it from room to room as needed. The fortunate families can purchase the exterior line, some bamboo poles and have a dedicated line to their home, meaning they can actually wire in a few plugs and multiple lights if they can afford the hardware. Each family pays a nominal group fee of about $5 to $10 monthly for electric and water as there are no meters installed.
It reminds me of an organized system of squatting
I certainly do not have all of the details and legalities to the right-of-possession nor are the finer points clear in my head, but I can tell you that much of those bamboo villages on the outskirts of towns are operated this way. The majority of the families we assist live in these neighborhoods.
If you do not build on the land, after receiving the rights, they can take it away. The barrio presidents tend to keep watch for this so they can put the lots back out to families in need. I have witnessed these community groups walking from lot to lot discussing the status of each. Families can be given timeframes to build or lose the lot. These are often times of great stress where they try to secure a few simple bamboo poles to put into the ground to show some type of building progress.
Let the games begin; The LOT
On the outskirts of Salinas is a bamboo barrio where the municipal office gave this family permission to live. We went to visit the lot, to assess services, access to bring in the building materials and basic layout for the home. My husband drew the initial outline in the dirt, a couple more visits we took measurements and made an estimate of how much it would cost to build a bamboo structure, with a concrete floor and bathroom. We calculated approximately $2200 with labor
Reality Strikes; how do we gather the funds in time?
We had 30 days to get the place built and the family moved in. There was really no time to panic, it was time for action.
Sitting at home, brainstorming, I decided to go with a raffle draw. There wasn’t time to organize a fundraising dinner or event. We were under a serious time crunch and we needed to break ground. We sent messages to local business owners and individuals and asked them if they could donate a prize. Collectively we gathered enough prizes to create 3 draws. The tickets were $10 each or 3 for $25.
We secured family members with construction knowledge to provide labor. They agreed to work for half the regular going rate as it was for family and it included lunch daily. They worked long days to get it done.
Because we did not have the money all up front but had to wait for the tickets to sell, we would visit the site every 2 or 3 days with the newest funds earned from selling draw tickets. We would update the community on the progress of the house and we would ask for their help to sell more tickets to keep the project going. The deadline date was approaching fast.
Oct 3 The Sale Begins
The raffle draw was launched on Oct 3. The community response was amazing. We had people purchasing tickets that lived in other countries that wanted to donate their prize to the family if they won. I would take the draw money every few days to the job site and work with the maestro on keeping the supplies coming and the men paid for each step.
Oct 7:
The septic was installed and the lot was raised to prepare for pouring the concrete floor.
Oct 8:
The cement floor was poured and leveled.
Oct 14;
The majority of the bamboo poles and walls were installed. The ticket sales were closed as we had exceeded what was required. With the extra, we were able to add a security fence and some supplies for inside the home. We officially closed the Raffle Draw having earned a total of $2895 in 11 days I felt it was important to increase everyone’s odds of winning a prize as well!
To date, we had spent $1895 on construction with another $1000 left in the pot.
Oct 22
The walls complete and roof installed; it is starting to look and feel like a home. We start planning for the move and chose the date. We collected donated items like beds for the girls to round out the transition from house to home and asked for volunteers with vehicles to assist.
Oct 29;
Moving Day! 3 trucks pulled up and this beauty of a girl brought out the very first box. I covered the children’s faces with hearts in these photos; you will have to trust me about the huge smiles. One of the driver’s had taken this picture. I was thrilled to receive it. It symbolized everything to me; the reason why.
This home built with love and giving hope for the future, together, Ecuadorians and Foreigners.
Nov 5 – A special day
There was an open invitation to attend a gathering at our place. This gave the family a week to settle into their new home before the final step which was to pick the winner of the draw! The children chose the winning tickets!
I am still in awe at how this all came together. The maestro on the job became well-known in the neighborhood as they watched this home go up and he received multiple job offers in the neighborhood and beyond. They have the largest home in the neighborhood. Three bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen, and dining area, along with a fenced yard that will be planted with a garden. They have electricity throughout and they also have plumbing to both the kitchen and bathroom. In the end, we managed to build the home for under $3000.
When I look back, some lessons I take with me.
- Do not over think everything; sometimes you need to jump in with both feet.
- Have faith in yourself and have faith in those around you to help pull together to make it happen.
- Action speaks louder than words.
- Don’t take no for an answer.
- Keep your eye on the prize and most importantly…
- … don’t forget to breathe.
PS… Since writing this story in 2017 there have been some changes that make me sad. The municipality decided to formalize the neighborhood, which I think is a good thing overall, but it meant some rearrangements and relocation for some of the residents. A crew dismantled half the family home to widen the ‘road’, but the problem is they did not replace many things the family had such as the counter in the kitchen or the bathroom. Just another example of unfair practices towards the most vulnerable.
