A House for Luz

Luz (pronounced loos, meaning “light”,) is a single mom with seven beautiful children:  Jairo Josue (15), Jesica Carolina (13), Denia Yolany (10), Jennifer Paola (9), Christian Fernando (7), Wilians Idai (3) and Alvaro Luis (3 months).   She only has a first grade education.   She migrated to the city of Tegucigalpa from the countryside about 16 years ago with the hope of finding a way to make a living and help her family.  Luz washes clothes and also repairs old shoes for an "honorable living", but she is barely able to feed her family.

At the end of our March 2010 visit, one of the lay leaders of the Divine Mercy Community approached us with a proposal on behalf of the church community.  Pointing out that Luz’s family is among the very poorest of the neighborhood, he asked we might be willing to partner with the Divine Mercy community in order to build a simple house for Luz and her children.  He promised that the community would match our contribution with their labor, working side by side with us. 

Luz’s current home,  is very small and in danger of falling.  She owns very few furnishings, and most of the children sleep on cardboard spread out across the dirt floor.  If you look closely at the photo, you can see how the walls of the house are very insecure: just thin boards nailed over a frame, letting in the sun and rain above and below.

This photo shows clearly how the house is listing to one side, in danger of falling.  We can  also see Luz’s tiny outdoor cook stove, fired by wood.   Luz’s family has no bathroom, no “pila” (water tank for washing clothes and dishes)—only one small room that the whole family shares.One of our team, “Boston Bill” Mezzetti, is a contractor who jumped at the chance to build a house  as a mission project.   With his commitment, we were able to tell Luz that we will return in August, ready to build her new house.   Luz cried when she heard this good news.

We hope to build a simple, three room house for Luz with a cement floor and tin roof, to replace this one.  We want to be sure that all her children sleep on a bed.    A cement pila (washing tank) would enable her to take in more laundry for more income.  The total cost will be under $5000.  These very minimal goals will be a radical improvement in the lives of Luz and her kids.

Here’s how you can help us build a house for Luz and her children:

• Travel with us to Honduras in August 2010 as part of a construction team. 
• Make a donation for construction materials or furnishings.

If you can help, please contact Sister Larraine.

P.S.  Several of Luz’s children are in our scholarship program, but more sponsors would help her other children to go to school.  Her oldest son has had to drop out to work, but a sponsorship would enable him to study at a special weekend high school where he could learn a trade.  We’d like to offer him some hope for his future.