A POOR HOME IS BETTER THAN NONE AT ALL

One of the things which gives a family a sense of security and stability is a home but that is something our Durian families cannot take for granted. Eight of them, with a total of 18 sponsored children are squatters in an area called Acero. It is a piece of land on the edge of an old rubbish tip and their houses are precariously built on top of this shifting mound of refuse. In wet weather it is a quagmire and in dry hot weather it often steams and smokes as the rubbish rots away inside. About 200 families in total live there with the average size of a family being about ten. In spite of the difficulty of living there it has given them a sense of permanence and belonging but now they are living through a time of uncertainty and confusion about how long they can live there. The land is privately owned and the owner has decided he wants to use the land for a more profitable purpose and evict all the families. He offered the families just £70 each and a deadline of the end of November to move out. Some of the families decided to take the offer, including two of our families who are reluctantly preparing to move back to the cemetery again. 

They are all very upset about this because they thought they had found somewhere permanent to stay and call home and the children were happy to be in a place where they had friends and room to play.

Now things have got more complicated because most of the families decided to fight the eviction and are in negotiation with the owners to stop the demolition of their homes. It is very unclear exactly what is happening now: they might just delay the eviction, they might persuade the owners to sell the land either to the government or the squatters (we have no idea where they would get the money for this as they can't even afford to pay rent at the moment) so they can stay permanently but no one knows for sure and it is causing a lot of confusion. Those who have accepted the agreement are unsure if they have done the right thing but can't change their minds, those who are staying are unsure what to do as there are so few alternatives for them. They don't earn enough in the work they do to pay for rent and there are very few places where they can squat. It is difficult to get back into the cemetery to live without the right connections which our two families who are moving back in have. 

Please pray for these families who already have so little and have such a hard life. 

Pray that in this upheaval and uncertainty we don't lose contact with our children because they end up moving away to find new accommodation.

Rheanna's Story