Tuesday, August 18, 2009

The Mud House!!

A man gets up every morning and goes to the river near his house. He takes his four sons with him, and they spend the day pulling clay with their hands from the river bed. They use the clay to make bricks for their house and any extra bricks they will try to sell for food. Time is of the essence because winter is coming and they have a new 4 month old baby. A clay house is inexpensive to make but it is far less than ideal. Once the walls have been built with the clay bricks, clay is then used to fill in the cracks and make the wall smooth. Paint is then applied to help seal the walls and protect them from rain. As you can imagine the clay walls still wash away with each rain and these kind of houses require constant maintenance to keep them safe. A good roof is essential for the saftey of the people who live inside these clay houses. This family has no roof, six children and winter is quickly approaching. We met this family last week. You can tell that the parents are hard working and they love their children. We were invited inside the house. There was nothing. No beds, no blankets, no toys, no food.....but there was love, and it was tangable.
The safety of this family and many others is severly at risk. During the winter months it is not uncommon for roofs to cave in and kill or severly injur their occupants. Roofs are really expensive and that is why many people simply don't have them. It costs $3,000 us to purchase a roof for one family like this.

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