Newsletter – August 2019

How to support the cause of housing

In August we launched a new fundraising campaign that has a strong call to action: join today and open a door.

Although it seems that a house is something very big, complicated and expensive, the resources provided by donors along with the support of volunteers allow us to make it possible. Consider the mother who says that her children now go to school all year because they no longer get sick; or the father who no longer worries when storms approach the family home.  This is why we want to add more partners, like you, to the cause of decent housing here in Argentina. Can you help us do more?  Will you help us do more?

No amount is too small and each contribution makes a difference.

This year we are trying to reach the goal of a 10,000 total housing opportunities provided. With very little we can achieve very positive results. There are hundreds of families we know who only need an opportunity to get ahead.

Those who rely on Habitat para la Humanidad Argentina to help solve their housing limitations are not mere spectators. They are doing everything necessary to be a part of that solution: they participate in financial and construction skills training, help build their own homes, and pay back the construction loans they receive.

Join today and open a door for more families to access the security, economic stability, education, health and equality that only adequate housing can provide.

 

Donate now through the secure donation form

+ Info: fondohogares@hpha.org.ar

 

Volunteering: Global Village

Aldea Global is a Habitat for Humanity International program that offers the opportunity to live an experience within another culture, working together with people in need of a home. In 2019, this program celebrates 30 years of joining volunteers with families who, working together, have built and/or improved family homes in more than 40 countries around the world.

Volunteers have contributed to more than 9 million hours of volunteering at construction sites, community projects, Habitat restorations or advocating for the mission. Their passion for access to affordable housing has touched the lives of millions of families and, similarly, these families have touched the lives of those who have worked with them. This feeling is at the center of the mission of the Global Village.

Global Village in Argentina

It doesn’t matter the language, or how far they have traveled to get here. When volunteers arrive in Buenos Aires they agree on one thing: putting faith and love into action so that a family can soon live in a decent and affordable new home.

With this attitude, and over ten months of the year, HPHA welcomed several groups of foreign volunteers who come to build in Argentina; both in the Los Ceibos Neighborhood (La Matanza) and in El Saladero (Ing. White, Bahía Blanca). They donate their time, energy, and resources and do their best to promote the change in life of the families that chose this path through a safe and adequate house.

Global Village volunteers usually stay for 10 days.  During most of this time, volunteers spend 7-hours a day performing different types of building tasks that are carried out, side by side. with the homeowners and their children.  Volunteers share this time with the family they are building with, and with the neighbors who greet them.  Through this experience, cultural barriers fade and friendships that transcend those barriers are generated.

There are thousands of beautiful experiences during these exchanges. In general, most volunteers do not speak Spanish and families do not speak English. However they always find a way to share and communicate. The goodbyes are between hugs, tears and promises to keep in touch, which are fulfilled with cell phone messages or through social networks. Links forged by common experiences that last forever.

We invite you to read a note from Karen Foreman, pioneer of the Program, about the beginnings of Global Village.

 

+ Info: brigadas@hpha.org.ar

 

 

Stories
Juan

A few days after completing his new family home, Juan was unemployed. Thanks to the masonry training he had received to build his home with HPHA, he began to perform tasks in neighboring houses, and today he has a job opportunity that allows him to make the transition to a new job. He tells us about the life he is now living with Yesi, his wife.

 

• ¿What was your job?

I had a good job. I worked at Walmart San Justo, in the warehouse area, loading and unloading.

 

• ¿What did you do before this?

I am an electrician, and before going to work at Walmart I did electrical installations for newly constructed houses.  Although I was a mason’s assistant, I never dedicated myself to masonry directly; I was never a mason officer.

 

• ¿What did you learn during the construction of your home that now serves as a job outlet?

Today, thanks to the construction of my house, I can dedicate myself to the masonry trade.

It gave me more confidence in my skills knowing that when we propose to do something, we can achieve it with a little training and if we believe in ourselves. Thanks to building my own house I received additional training and could learn more about the mason work that was best for our home and that, thank God, gave me the experience I needed to do the masonry work I am doing now in the house of Mara and Daniel (another family house HPHA is helping to build).  With this experience, I can contribute in the construction of the foundation and all of the other details that it takes to build the house.

 

• ¿How do you see your future job?

If God wants me to continue working as a mason I would like to do that.  I like to research and learn about mason work, and it is the type of work I am interested in doing in the future, but there are many things that I still lack. This is a job where every day you are learning something different. Just like with electricity and plumbing, I know that in the course of time I will be learning it better.

 

 

Why I support HPHA
Emanuel Lentini – Donante

 

I support Habitat para la Humanity Argentina because it helps people to better see their own abilities and skills and then gives them the opportunities needed to put those skills into practice. HPHA makes visible the value of working for something that you or your family needs and makes the sense of effort visible. For people who have the opportunity to participate in Habitat, life changes.