Last year, my youngest brother was a senior in high school, and he went with a group of 30 other high school students to build houses for homeless families in Juarez Mexico. Up until recently, Juarez was labeled as "The most violent city in the world". Not everyone is violent, but multiple drug-trafficking cartels (and their ensuing rivalries) have left their toll, and many people are homeless and/or without jobs.
My brother went through an organization called
Casas Por Cristo, whose sole function is to coordinate traveling teams to come down, and build homes. They plan everything out, so then when a team gets there, all the supplies are bought for and waiting on site. It takes 15 people about a week to build these small houses, which are very basic to say the least. A few small rooms, simple plumbing and electricity run, roof, etc. But more importantly, within a matter of days a dirt pit becomes a home for a family. It's pretty cool.
Casos Por Cristo has been doing this for quite a while, and has facilitated the building of hundreds of these homes, using thousands of volunteers. Often these families are living in cramped quarters with relatives at best, or living on the streets at the worst. In the case of my brother's trip last year, the couple had a recent newborn baby, and the father was working out-of-town just to find a job. A house to call home was very much needed. Here are a couple of pics from my brother's trip.
Setting up the foundation: Building the walls:
The (almost) completed house: Footprints in the threshold to the house:
Well this year, my brother is going back! Since I also work with High School students through our church, I'm also going to be going with him(!), along with a good number of kids from our church. As our group has grown, we're bringing 40 High School students, and they're going to be building 3 houses!
Our group of 40 will completely pay for the entire cost of all 3 houses, including supplies, food, airfare, hopefully something special for the families, and everything else, so it does cost money - about $1,000 per person. All of the students will be hosting fund-raisers before we leave in the middle of April, but if you thinking getting 40 High School students to fly down to Mexico during Spring Break and build houses for the poor rather than hitting up the beaches is pretty cool (I do!), then please consider donating! I've created a new address, so the donations can be publicly tracked: 1KUYDzEfLMsTojvUP1H9W4JGvUHi4cuHLw Seriously, anything you can offer would be greatly appreciated. 0.1BTC or 100BTC, I thank you.
We don't leave until the middle of April, but I'll be sure to update this thread as we get closer. When we do get back, I will be sure to post pictures of our work back in this thread. In the mean time, if you have any questions, feel free to ask!
Thanks
Crazyates