A Sustainable Future in Manchay
Our first goal at Communities for Life is to develop a sustainable community in Manchay, Peru. In a part of the world plagued by poverty, our hope is to develop a community where its citizens can provide for themselves and their families with no exterior assistance. To reach this goal, we are continually developing new programs that encourage a self-sustaining lifestyle for the people of Manchay. Our gardening programs, for example, have taught people about horticulture and how to keep personal gardens that will provide continuous food for their families. The soccer program has taught youth about values, leadership, and sportsmanship.
Our next focus is to help the Manchay community with housing. The settlement of Manchay was formed as a “squatter” community as the nearby city of Lima experienced rapid growth in the 1950s. People fleeing political instability and extreme poverty settled on public and private lands to live near the quickly-growing urban development of Lima. As a result, the majority of people in Manchay are not homeowners and are therefore subject to officials, companies, and even land traffickers trying to claim the land they currently live on. The migrants often have nothing more than clay and straw to build their homes, and they face the struggles of living in inadequate shelter every day: withstanding the elements through the rainy season or losing their children to poisonous bug bites from sleeping on the desert dirt.
As one might imagine, providing adequate housing accommodations for these people to claim as their own is vital. However, getting to the point where we can actually get started has been very difficult and complicated. We have struggled to maneuver through political loopholes and instability. Further, we need proper resources and both financial and business expertise to realize a sustainable housing program.
Although we face hurdles, we strongly believe a housing program for the people of Manchay is viable and obtainable! A housing initiative, along with other sustainable programs, will help launch this community out of adverse poverty into economic growth.
How you can help
- Pray for us. Please pray for us as we navigate through politics of acquiring the necessary resources for the program.
- Partner with us. Your dollars will help fund the housing program by helping us acquire the right resources and hire the right people for the project.
Read more
- Read about our current programs in Manchay
- Read a research article to learn more about the origins of the Manchay settlement