Home of Hope Ica , Peru
Construction Projects with
JUCUM Ica / la Misión
We initiated this Peru mission project primariy focused on evangelism, which comes in all forms. After all, what we accomplish here in this physical world accounts for nothing if we don’t take care of our final destination. Much of evangelism is purely spiritual, leading others to know the Lord, and that is where we spend most of our time, in prayer, worship, teaching, and interacting with those living in the surrounding community.
A lot of it starts with the youngest members of the families, we have a bigger job with the teenagers, and still harder to reach the adults. In all of this is the awareness of hope, lack of it, faith, need for it. Much of where these people fail and give up is the hopelessness of their lives. They work very hard and have little to show for it. Then nature comes and hits them hard. An 8.0 earthquake of 2007 for instance; and even more recent, 2017, 200 Jobs and dozens of homes werre washed away in local floods.
Construction has been slow in recovery since the earthquake in this community, mainly because income is low (farm workers), the weather is pleasant, rain almost doesn’t exist, and earthquake damaged walls can ‘temporarily’ be substituted with a sheet of plastic or cardboard. As years go by though, many of these homes still look like the earthquake was just yesterday. It is our intent to address this need and provide some sort of construction assistance, bringing workers, funds, to help push this need over the top. Our role is to be a base for the workers, to prioritize the home projects being selected, the schedule, help with material and expertise acquisition, and initiation of the projects. That is our desire. So far, as of 2019, other than one major project and a few minor, we are just getting started. Here’s some idea of what we have done, are doing and would like to do. [I will attempt to maintain a log here of past, current and proposed projects an put financial figures in local currency of soles (S/.) rather than dollars ($). Exchange rate is about 3.25 soles to the dollar.]
2016 – Marias Casa – In 2016 we took on our first construction project for the people we serve in the community. It was a 2 room existing house that a single mother with two children lived in. They had no inside kitchen or bathroom.
The kitchen (and a 2nd bedroom) was made of straw (see above picture) and was falling apart, people were stealing their kitchen appliances and cooking items. They used a hole in the backyard with a garden hose and a drape for a bathroom which lead to the youngest child being molested.
Wanting to help, we initially had to negotiate with the civil authorites to get a sewer hookup and that took 6 months. Once that was out of the way we paid for the project with an internet fund raising. Owner also came up with 10% of the labor cost. Total cost of project was about S/. 2000 materials, S/.3000 labor.
Here is a video of the project showing before and after. S./ 5000 converts to about $ 2,000 USD.
2016 – Lizbet’s casa – A 2016 small project, an early helper at the mission, teenager Lizbet, came to us and asked for help with a wall that was collapsing in their home. She lived in this little home with her sister Mia, and parents, in an area called ‘invacion’ which is how a lot of farm workers first get started, by staking a claim on the edge of some farmland and taking possession. Subsequent elections gradually get them water, sewer and electric, and after a number of years, they are the property owners.
To fix the wall, her father would be able to do the labor but needed help getting the necessary wood to replace the failing mud wall that was collapsing into the farm field next door.
This was an easy fix purchasing S/. 325 of plywood. He even came to the mission to pick it up. Ocasionally this is all that is needed, some help with building materials, wood, brick, cement, etc.
2018-2019 Project – “Nellies Kitchen – Altura”
This project has been on the table for a bit and is for a widow who has her son, daughter and grand children living next door. The home has a working living room and 2 bedrooms but no bath and the large kitchen which is functional is basically outdoors, having no ceiling one 2 of it’s needed 4 walls and a dirt floor. Also, no water tank so she only has running water for an hour a day.
Plan is to add the additional support walls needed, look at plumbing and electrical needs, complete with a new light weight bamboo and straw roof (concrete not needed since there are no plans for a second floor), then pour floor.
Latest finances on this project (as of Feb 4) –
Initial labor (3200 soles, approximately $1,000), for the rough construction only ( demolition of adove walls, digging the footings about 3ft deep (earthquake requirements, pouring concrete footing about 3 ft deep, concrete columns, lay brick wall, rough pluming and electrical.
- Materials for above (approx 3000 soles, another $1000) for 1000 brick, 50 bags of cement , 3 cubit meters of rough sand, 3 cubic meters of gravel, 4 cubic meters of big stones, 17 steel rebars for columns and beam for footing (+ nails, wire, etc)
- Finish Work (another $1000 approximately) these figures does not include the finish work, (labor & material) like a simple kitchen tile counter top with a SS sink, fixtures for the bathroom, like toilet, pedestal sink , tile for the shower, walls, floor, plumbing fixtures like shower head/handler, sink faucet for the bathroom pedestal, faucet for the kitchen sink, 3 electrical light fixture, elect switches, plugs, elect panel, and water tank and accessories.
- Free Services – Not included in the above, The ministry or ourselves as designer,construction management/ supervisor, engineer does not charge any thing for our professional time and knowledge. we get paid by God , 100 fold.
- it will be close to $4000. total not including paint or other finish like stucco,/plaster, (taregeo in Spanish) that may end up not being done…. or done by the widower later on.
2021 – San Pedro ‘off grid’ bathroom –
For 8 months Sosimo Barriga, our resident missionary, has been doing a bible study at a new believers home in San Pedro. His name is Alvina and suffers from a heart condition. His sister Celia came to live with him and care for him in his condition. They have a ‘large garden’ that they live off of, but being in San Pedro, with no sewer, their bathroom consists of an outhouse. That outhouse apparently has come to ‘end of life’ and needs to be replaced. When we first talked to Alvino, we were thinking to just add a toilet to the existing ‘hole’ but apparently that is not enough. We needed to retire the bathroom, bury it, and start ‘fresh’.
So, we had a mold for doing a septic tank at the farm already, so we put it to use here as well. Interesting process, the mold makes a cylinder pipe section, and you simply pour and make the mold where you are going to have the septic tank. When it dries, you dig below it, making it fall to ground level and you put another fresh mold pour on top of it. You repeat this for as deep as you want to go. I think we did only 2 deep here, making a 3 meter (10 foot) hole in the ground (at the farm we made it 3 deep).
On top of the new septic system, a top is formed, plumbing is laid, foundation and footers, and then walls go up. Ceiling is made strong enough to hold a water tank since here in Peru our water supply is limited to an hour or so per day, and that is when we fill our tanks, giving us a supply with water pressure all day. Work was finished with tile, and fixtures and his replacement ‘off grid bathroom’ now has running water, flushable toilet, electric light, sink, shower and linoleum tile. Quite an upgrade.Thank you also to a certain donor couple in Texas who made this all possible. Our $50 toilet project turned into a $2000 bathroom, but this single couple made this all possible. Thank you Lord for your timing, your representatives, and your direction … We are just here to do your bidding. In Jesus name.
2021 H4H San Pedro Bathroom
2021/2022 – Maribel’s casa –
All dirt floor and plastic ceiling.In a perfect world, we would look to put a solid concrete ceiling so that a 2nd floor could be planned. That would take some space away from downstairs though for the stairs, but would give them double the living space they now have. It is just so cramped.
This may be a two part project. In either case we need to assess the columns and rebars in place for columns to know if it can support a 2nd floor. More importantly is the missing one and half walls of no support that would need to be added regardless if one or two floors.
Also a concrete floor is needed, along with the missing walls.
Project cost originally way underestimated, with cost of materials going up. We are completing first floor at a cost of roughly $8,500. Two fantastic donors from USA have made this possible .. still need about $2000 to get scheduled for 2nd floor to to finalize all cost of 1st. Will hopefully have funds in 2022 to initiate 2nd floor.
Completing 2nd floor in 2022, cost of an additional $10,000, adding a 2nd bathroom and 3 bedrooms to the 1 bedroom house downstairs. This is by far the biggest project we have ever undertaken. But we are so glad that we did.
More pictures available on our Facebook page.
To be done:
Mama Kelly’s home” We have a home that is overcrowded in people and totally in disarray on the inside. The property is secured and has a sewer hookup but needs a toilet, some bathroom walls, some bedroom walls, exterior walls and ceiling.
It is sandwiched between two other homes and any part of
the construction, that would make perhaps another bedroom or better cleaner living space would be very beneficial to the family.
Kelly and her husband live here, with two of her children of a prior marriage (Kelly Jr?, Luis) and two from this marriage (Carlos and Fabio) and a nephew who spends a great amount of time at the mission helping out (Jean). The younger Kelly has recently moved out and is in a common law relationship about 7 kilometers south. (This is yet another housing need). This relieves the crowding a bit but still the house is in great need of help. We have had some discussion with Mama Kelly about ‘pitching in’, but the estimated cost for this project, material and labor, would be similar or a bit more than the S/.5000 of the other projects we scussed above. We hope to attack this project in 2020, but it is funding dependent.More information
Many other homes fall in lower costs than the above. People put up a home on invaded property that is unoccupied on the fringe of surrounding farmland where they work. As long as they occupy it, it pretty much stays theirs. Politicians make promises for votes every two years and they get water added, electricity, sewer, eventually a deed. So many of these properties are at first just straw and mud walls. We try not to offer assistance till at least they have sewer and water, but there are plenty that do. Many other properties just have a lot of leaks, mosquito problems, bad earthquake damaged construction that needs repair work. Many with expanding families slowly grow their home usually upward. Our plan is to make a pretty clear inventory of these projects based on need and cost.
