The Dominican Republic and Morocco have joined the ’13 Houses’ Campaign with two very different projects. We are very happy to have reached the benchmark of 52 countries and we are grateful to see that the Campaign is growing even further after Botswana, France and Italy joined last March.
In the Dominican Republic, in the district of El Puerto, the Vincentian Family has identified an urgent need to help several families whose housing conditions are inadequate by developing a project that will guarantee them a safe place to call ‘home’. In fact, around 190 families living in extreme poverty and precarious conditions will benefit from the project as their houses will be refurbished or rebuilt.
The Vincentian presence in the district of El Puerto has already contributed significantly to the development of the area, helping many men, women and children in need. Through this new community project the livelihoods of many more people will be improved by meeting the needs of families who constantly face the risk of homelessness.
In Morocco, the Daughters of Charity are building a house for a family of four in a rural area. The house will help the beneficiaries to secure a dignified life and allow the father to earn a living that will enable him to provide for his family.
The Daughters in Morocco have previous experience of building houses for people in need and hope to be able to complete construction by October 2022.
We are grateful to see our campaign grow. St Vincent de Paul said: ‘There is no act of charity that is not accompanied by justice or that permits us to do more than we reasonably can’. As we are getting closer to reaching our original goal of changing the lives of up to 10,000 homeless people, we remember his words and renew our commitment to helping even more people. There are still more than 100 countries with a Vincentian presence that do not have a “13 Houses” project. We are also encouraging countries and branches that already have a project to bring more countries on board – taking Vincentian networks and connections to the next level. We are asking you to map your Vincentian connections with nearby countries and to act on them. Join us to end homelessness. One house at a time!