Year 4, Volume 1: Luján: Building Neighborhoods

The Luján Office is working on their next initiative called the Neighborhood by Neighborhood Project. This is the first project where HFHA is attempting to improve the environment of a whole neighborhood.

The objective of Neighborhood by Neighborhood Project is to improve the living conditions of the 100 families who live in the Barrio San Cayetano and Padre Varela neighborhoods. Because these two neighborhoods have the greatest need in the Luján area, this project will consist of loans in kind and housing solutions tailored to meet the specific necessity of each household. Some of the solutions that will be addressed are Obtaining Legalized Land Titles, Loans for Improvements and House with Land. At the same time HFHA´s aim is to generate interest in the continued development of the neighborhoods of Barrio San Cayetano and Padre Varela by encouraging the participation by families and institutions in the area to build community consciousness which includes the creation of community green areas.

The Neighborhood by Neighborhood Project aims to help those low income families who live in Barrio San Cayetano and Padre Varela neighborhoods in Luján and suffer difficult living conditions and who are looking for a final solution either in the form of a complete housing solution, a progressive house, or with legalization of their land.

Mariana Ballesteros

Local Coordinator

Luján Office - HFHA

Year 2, Volume 1: AFFILIATE LUJÁN: "Housing Enlargement and Improovement" Project

A different way to help more families at present living in inadequate conditions

Through daily contact with the families we begin to understand their housing needs. Many families already have a roof.... of some sort. But many houses are precarious, without basic services, without water, without a bathroom and often overcrowded. By offering small improvements or enlargements we can offer them a better quality of life.

A joint project by the NGO “De la Nada” and Habitat for Humanity Argentina’s Luján Affiliate is working to provide these small, yet essential, improvements. De la Nada is an organization that works with very low income families offering them small loans to help them begin their own income generation projects. Many of De la Nada's beneficiaries live in inadequate conditions. Habitat for Humanity, on the other hand, has the volunteers and experience to provide advice and coordination for loans to complete small improvements (such as a floor, or a roof, or a toilet).

This project offers loans to the families of 1500 pesos (approximately 500 dollars), which they must repay in monthly installments over three years.

So far this joint project has served 5 families in 2 months and both organizations are discussing a continuation project to reach more families.

Mariana Ballesteros
Local Coordinator
Luján Affilliate

Year 1, Volume 5: Lujan and Open Door

The following has been contributed by Carlos A. Miranda

a member of the Silva-Miranda Family of Luján who worked

as a volunteer on this project.

At 7.30 a.m. on October 29^th we arrived at the site selected by the Luján Affiliate of Habitat for Humanity Argentina, and chosen for the house of the Archiópoli family, It was just a grassy plot of land! Victor, the builder, began by setting the perimeters for what was to be the foundations of the house, according to the blueprints. Then, a team of volunteers from the Buenos Aires Marriott Hotel arrived and, when Victor had finished delineating the foundations, they marked it out so that the ditch would be dug straight and square. The same volunteers started digging the ditches. Another group offered to help me dig the hole for the septic tank. The future home owner and her father, with more volunteers, placed the fencing around the plot of land.

At midday, we had lunch and then continued the work. The remains of our lunch were distributed among the local children who were watching what was going on!

Soon after, the foundations were finished and the hole was 2m depth. Although there was some intermittent rain we were not deterred. The day finished approximately at 3 pm.

When I was at the building site, I thought that Paola and her family must have been feeling the same joy that I had felt when we began to build our home.

Carlos A. Miranda

Volunteer belonging to the Silva Miranda Family (First Homeowning family of the Luján Affiliate of HFHA)

WHAT IS OUR RELATIONSHIP WITH THE FAMILIES AFTER THEY HAVE THEIR NEW HOUSE?

Our work is not limited to helping families only by giving them an economic and decent house, because we are interested also in staying in touch with them and helping in the community..

Therefore, we work jointly with other organizations working in Luján - because we cannot do it alone! With one of our partners we organized a workshop on organic vegetable gardens and we handed out seeds.

After that workshop Norma’s family created a good vegetable garden at the back of their “Habitat” house. This helps them to reduce expenses and to balance their diet.

The Silva Miranda’s have also started with their “seedling boxes!” So we prove that a decent home offers, among other things, the energy and the will to progress.

Laura, mother of the Silva Miranda family, is a teacher and wants to continue studying at the University. She is also, with the help of her mother and sister, creating a small business with candles.

Veronica, who is 17 years old, is part of the Norma Niz household, and she is hoping to continue studying at college. She has applied for a scholarship at the Universidad Nacional de Luján.

Norma Niz works non-stop in order to be able to make the monthly repayment for her house; she sells eggs and beauty products, as well as doing housework for other people and working in a school.

Both families are very committed to help in the activities of the affiliate; they help build, and make invaluable contributions at special projects board meetings. We are very happy with this.

We believe that this is just the beginning. There are very few families we have been able to help so far …. but we intend to continue in the way we are have begun and have faith and hope that we shall be enabled to do so!

“Working with love is building a house with stones from the quarry of the heart, as if a beloved person was going to live inhabit it”

Celina Malvazo

National Educator

If you would like to join us in rebuilding Lujan, one family at a time, please contact:

Mariana Ballesteros, Local Coordinator - Tel.: +54 (02323) 430160 Address: 9 de Julio 502 , CP 6700 - Luján, Prov. de BS AS – Argentina - lujan@hpha.org.ar