Completed Project: Cleanup
With the help of donations, we were able to hire workers to clear out the rubble. We are now looking for ways either to fund the reconstruction of a home or to relocate them to a safer location.
Father and son stand on the remains of their two-room adobe house. Visible behind them to the right is the front door of the house, now almost buried, but which formerly stood 5.5 feet from the ground. Part of a wall is still standing behind them to the left. The family lost all of their savings and much of their stockpiled corn when their home was washed away. |
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We attempted to hire workers who also suffered damage to their homes or who lost all of their possessions in the mudslides. Other workers were people who found themselves unemployed in the month following the mudslides. With the slowdown in the regional tourist economy, many employers simply dismissed most of their employees. |
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The father joins the laborers on Sunday, his day off from his job with the municipality. The front door of the house (to the right) is now more visible. Note also that he is wearing the same clothes as in the first picture (above)--the only clothes that he currently has to wear. He works 6 days out of the week for the municipality--for a salary of $4 a day--to support his wife and 5 children. This makes cost of reconstructing a new home prohibitive. |
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