Build Homes, Build Lives with the VFV Build-A-Home Project.

Background

The Build-A-Home Project began life in 2005, following an anonymous donation that helped construct a simple house for a widowed mother and her five children. Prior to the completion of the project, the family had lived in dilapidated and unlivable conditions. The tin roof leaked so much that a water pool had grown in the mud floor, putting at risk the health and safety of her children.

Since then, Volunteer for the Visayans has continued to build houses for families living in unsafe and uncomfortable living environments. From as little as fifty thousand peso (P50,000.00) or just over a thousand dollars, Volunteer for the Visayans can complete a simple safe living structure for a low income family.

This is a great project for a philanthropy or club donation. Unlike many of our projects which involve nurturing and education, the Build A Home Project has instant results. A poor family is given a better life in just a couple of weeks.

Completed Projects in 2011

Total Rebuild #1: Our first Build-A-Home project in 2011 was for another child enrolled on our Child Sponsorship Program. The project saw the construction of a fully concrete house, complete with a comfortable living space and comfort room. The project was supported with hands on work from students of the Canadian School College Ste. Anne.

Family Relocation: In February 2010, Volunteer for the Visayans was contacted by the parents of one of its children enrolled on its Child Sponsorship Program regarding a land battle dispute. The family, who had built their house on land they did not own decades ago were being forced by the landowner to relocate else be evicted from their home.

Thanks to kind donations from international benefactors, Volunteer for the Visayans was able to relocate the family and provide a strong and safe living environment for the family eight.  The house was built from cement and hollow blocks with a perforated sheet metal roof; inside the house included a comfortable living space, kitchen, bathroom and bedroom.

Total Rebuild #1: Thanks to the support of a child sponsor, Volunteer for the Visayans was able to complete its most advanced build-a-home project yet by completing a fully concrete house in barangay San Roque, Tanauan, Leyte.

The house, which is now by far one of the most aesthetically and structurally pleasing buildings in the local community was completed for the large family of one of our sponsored children. Up until the start of the project, the family had lived in an unsafe and uncomfortable living environment, amongst everything else they had to tolerate a leaking roof and slowly rotting walls.

Watch a video response of the sponsored child who this house was built for here.

Total Rebuild #2: During the construction of the first total rebuild project, VFV entered into a second project to provide a comfortable living environment for another of its sponsored children.

Up until the start of the project, the family of the sponsored child had been living in a ‘home’ which did not even have four supporting walls and a door; instead not only did the family live in an environment that was unsafe, but also one that severely lacked privacy.

Thanks to the Build-A-Home project, VFV was able to offer the family a safe and sheltered home built from concrete and hollow blocks that not only offered the family more protection from the weather, but also offered them much more living space as to reduce the previously cramped conditions.