January 2023: Our Biggest House Yet
OUR BIGGEST HOUSE YET
There are some days when you just know what must be done. You can have all of the processes, clearances, and rules in place to ensure you are consistent in your decisions and responsible with your finances - but some days, what needs to be done is so obvious it makes the processes seem superfluous.
Still, you follow the process and check all the boxes because that is, in fact, the most responsible way to get the necessary result. In this case, three new houses in one big block to house three families permanently and a fourth family of transient workers in the living space underneath.
When we first met the families, we did something we rarely do: we went to buy them some food to eat. Then we set about arranging to build their houses and a toilet block: the biggest single structure our Heartprint team has built.
A bit of their backstory - but only a bit as it is their story. We’ll share some of it as it emphasized to us, once again, just how circumstances can alter our lives with little warning, turning them from poor but surviving into destitute and desperate.
The families are all part of one extended family group and were previously living under cover of small sheets of metal, old signs, discarded tarps, and random lengths of old cloth all held together with twine, string, and luck.
(How do you find work or get your kids to school or have the energy to do most anything when you are living under scrap metal and have no sanitation and little food to eat?)
One part of the family had borrowed money to pay for medical treatment for the primary wage earner who subsequently died, leaving the survivors with severe debt and little hope of earning enough to repay the lender.
Another part of the family suffered a significant loss during COVID, leaving a single mom with four kids. The third branch of this family is a mom with three kids and a fourth on the way - she goes to the countryside daily to farm potatoes.
The living space underneath the main structure now houses a transient family. It’s a space they can call home when they are not migrating for work opportunities.
We’ve said it hundreds of times and will say it hundreds more: A safe and clean place to live is critical if people are to help themselves. And, it makes it much more likely the children will all go to school which is one of the absolute cornerstones of Hope.
It took our team two weeks to build the houses and toilet block. It’s a single building with a shared front balcony leading into the three separate apartment homes. You can see the Before and After photos here:
You can’t feel the joy of the families the way we did during the handover, but you can see it in their faces.
Ideally, the children would also now enroll in our Community Centre for further educational opportunities and life skills training. But our programs are now full-to-bursting, so we must look to other programs, other ways to help lift the families and children we cannot welcome into our Centre. It’s a capacity issue - not one of the heart or mind. We hope we will find other ways for them.
For now, these families are in clean and safe homes, and they can begin to rebuild their lives and futures. This is why we are here. This is why we need you with us, no matter where you actually live.
We send out a most heartfelt thank you to the donors who made this possible, including David Baron of Angkor Golf Resort, whose charity auction funded two of the houses and the toilet block. What a life-changing difference you have made. Thank you, thank you.
There are lots of different ways you can help if you are interested. Of course, direct donations are always needed and welcomed. But there are other, individualized, and innovative ways you can also help. If you are interested, shoot us an email at : information@heartprint.org.au
