For the family of Elena, José and their XNUMX children, the last rain in early February was very different; they had been living in their new home in Recoleta for a week. Elena tells us: “It’s the first rain where I don’t have to go out with blankets and mattresses, like in previous winters. I lost a lot of things that were wet and we couldn’t get them to dry during the winter. “I never imagined myself having a house like this, but inside me I had hope. My children are happy, my 13-year-old son Luis (autistic) tells me “I like my room ” and my youngest son tells me “I like the bathroom, because it’s ours”.
Indeed, until January 2021, his family lived in a hut measuring 3 by 6 meters, without toilets or insulation and with a precarious electrical installation. Today, the situation is very different: their new house is 140 square meters on 2 floors, it has 2 bedrooms plus a living-dining room, an open-plan kitchen and their own bathroom and it is the result of a coordinated work between Fondacio, the Cristo Vive Foundation and the family of Elena and José, of course.
It was the Cristo Vive Foundation, through Carol Osorio, social worker, Ignacio Rosselot and Sister Karoline Maller, who provided a house at Quinta Bella, for 5 months, so that the family could live there during the demolition of the mediaga and the construction of Elena’s new house.
For Fondacio’s UHMD team, the realization of this project represented a double challenge, since it had to not only solve the limits of work during a pandemic, but also to deal with the replacement of French volunteers, which was absorbed by the Chilean professional volunteers.
Alfonso Rossende assumed the direction of the works with the support of the rest of the professionals: Juan Pablo Montalva, Carlos Bascuñán, Guillermo Menares, Roberto Bascur, each with his expertise. For their part, the social work and the preparation of the meetings and the minutes were assumed by Verónica Muñoz and Elba Muñoz.
The fruit is there for all to see. An exciting adventure, a smooth mission and dignity for all who participated.
