Lend a Hand to a Local, Build a house for Victor
Donation protected
Hola Amigos!
As most of you know Brian, myself and the kids are taking a year off to live in Costa Rica and experience a year of rest, re-connection and redirection. During our stay here we have experienced first hand the vast difference of living between expats and Ticos (local Costa Rican's). Many locals walk or rides bike (as thy cannot afford cars) and live in metal huts (for lack of a better word, seen below), while foreigners live in mansions and homes with ocean views. The average wage here is approximately $4 an hour. The work week is Monday to Friday and a half day on Saturday. Ticos are hard workers and barely make enough to survive, yet they are the most friendly community, greeting us with a smile and welcoming us to their country.
Attached is a photo of Victor and his "house". Victor is the caretaker of our condominium complex. He has worked here longer than anyone can remember. He does everything from pool maintenance, to trimming the jungle around us, to watching out for poisonous creatures and warning us or getting rid of them, to collecting our garbage, sweeping our stairs, to managing building maintenance. He has become a friend as we practice our Spanish with him, share banana bread to which he replies, "muy rico!" and then brings us fresh picked limes and coconuts for the kids to return the gift. One day he told us about the flooding at his home which was up to his knees, to which Brian asked if he could come see it.
The building you see in the photo is Victor's home, a metal shed slapped together in make shift style with a dirt floor. As you may or may not know, Costa Rica has a wet season and a dry season. During the wet season there are tropical storms that roll in and pour down rain like I have never seen and I'm from Portland! We have now experienced the rain and understand what it means to have flash flooding. Ticos live in tiny homes like this. During the rain Victor's house floods with 1-2 feet of water. During the nights he is forced to sleep in a hammock set up in the building you see in the back of the tin shed, which is his new home that is under construction. The new home does not have completed exterior walls, no door, no floor, let alone any interior finish. It simply allows him to be above the flood water and lay in a hammock while the rain blows in thru the openings. Just the other day we heard of a family that had 2 children in a house that flooded, they were up on the table to try to keep out of the water, and were swept out of the house by the flooding. Thankfully they survived, but these stories are real!
We simply cannot allow our friend to live like this and have taken it upon ourselves to finish the building of his home.
As God always does he has formed a wonderful friendship between Brian and Johnny, a local Tico here who has been living in Canada for the last 18 years and also owned a construction company. Brian and Johnny have join forces to help Victor finish his house. Johnny knows the building industry here, can obtain inexpensive building supplies, and is overseeing the purchasing of supplies. The labor has been donated by men at Victor's church. So all we need is to raise $10,500 to buy what is left for his building supplies and his house can be complete! (That's only 100 people at $105 each!) (*Hey! We got some donations in cash given to us so we have lowered the total amount and how to do so even more as we inquire what else needs to be completed!). We are starting by putting up the first amount needed to simply close in his house and make it water tight.
Would you please consider partnering with us in this ministry to our friend. Any amount is helpful and will go a long way here. It will make a huge difference in a man's personal life. No 65 year old man should be living in a dirt floor hut flooded, cold and wet. We thank you so much for being a part of our journey of sharing God's love and care to a local during our stay here!
We will be posting more photos of us with Victor, here are a few of the bids for the building supplies for windows, doors, concrete, etc to get the building water tight (so you can see this is exactly where the money is going, all the proceeds will go directly to the supplies, no one else is being paid for helping) the bids are in Colones the local currency so don't freak out over the numbers! lol, and the progression of the build. Stay tuned for more!
Muchas Gracias!
As most of you know Brian, myself and the kids are taking a year off to live in Costa Rica and experience a year of rest, re-connection and redirection. During our stay here we have experienced first hand the vast difference of living between expats and Ticos (local Costa Rican's). Many locals walk or rides bike (as thy cannot afford cars) and live in metal huts (for lack of a better word, seen below), while foreigners live in mansions and homes with ocean views. The average wage here is approximately $4 an hour. The work week is Monday to Friday and a half day on Saturday. Ticos are hard workers and barely make enough to survive, yet they are the most friendly community, greeting us with a smile and welcoming us to their country.
Attached is a photo of Victor and his "house". Victor is the caretaker of our condominium complex. He has worked here longer than anyone can remember. He does everything from pool maintenance, to trimming the jungle around us, to watching out for poisonous creatures and warning us or getting rid of them, to collecting our garbage, sweeping our stairs, to managing building maintenance. He has become a friend as we practice our Spanish with him, share banana bread to which he replies, "muy rico!" and then brings us fresh picked limes and coconuts for the kids to return the gift. One day he told us about the flooding at his home which was up to his knees, to which Brian asked if he could come see it.
The building you see in the photo is Victor's home, a metal shed slapped together in make shift style with a dirt floor. As you may or may not know, Costa Rica has a wet season and a dry season. During the wet season there are tropical storms that roll in and pour down rain like I have never seen and I'm from Portland! We have now experienced the rain and understand what it means to have flash flooding. Ticos live in tiny homes like this. During the rain Victor's house floods with 1-2 feet of water. During the nights he is forced to sleep in a hammock set up in the building you see in the back of the tin shed, which is his new home that is under construction. The new home does not have completed exterior walls, no door, no floor, let alone any interior finish. It simply allows him to be above the flood water and lay in a hammock while the rain blows in thru the openings. Just the other day we heard of a family that had 2 children in a house that flooded, they were up on the table to try to keep out of the water, and were swept out of the house by the flooding. Thankfully they survived, but these stories are real!
We simply cannot allow our friend to live like this and have taken it upon ourselves to finish the building of his home.
As God always does he has formed a wonderful friendship between Brian and Johnny, a local Tico here who has been living in Canada for the last 18 years and also owned a construction company. Brian and Johnny have join forces to help Victor finish his house. Johnny knows the building industry here, can obtain inexpensive building supplies, and is overseeing the purchasing of supplies. The labor has been donated by men at Victor's church. So all we need is to raise $10,500 to buy what is left for his building supplies and his house can be complete! (That's only 100 people at $105 each!) (*Hey! We got some donations in cash given to us so we have lowered the total amount and how to do so even more as we inquire what else needs to be completed!). We are starting by putting up the first amount needed to simply close in his house and make it water tight.
Would you please consider partnering with us in this ministry to our friend. Any amount is helpful and will go a long way here. It will make a huge difference in a man's personal life. No 65 year old man should be living in a dirt floor hut flooded, cold and wet. We thank you so much for being a part of our journey of sharing God's love and care to a local during our stay here!
We will be posting more photos of us with Victor, here are a few of the bids for the building supplies for windows, doors, concrete, etc to get the building water tight (so you can see this is exactly where the money is going, all the proceeds will go directly to the supplies, no one else is being paid for helping) the bids are in Colones the local currency so don't freak out over the numbers! lol, and the progression of the build. Stay tuned for more!
Muchas Gracias!Organizer
Libby Radabaugh
Organizer