Pedaling for houses

Finally, after having overcome many obstacles, the most awaited day arrived: the day to build Pelele's house. Everything was prepared. The old house was demolished, and a concrete foundation plate was built in its place. Construction materials were brought to the site a few days in advance. On July 3, we arrived with our group of volunteers and began the construction process. We worked all day in the company of Pelele's family and in the end we delivered this new house full of emotion and with a happy heart for the wonderful result. Now they can be safer and their chances of progress will be multiplied. The day will remain forever in the minds and hearts of all the participants.

 Our project now continues with the construction of a house for a new family that we have already identified. It is a family made up of Dad (35), Mom (34) and children aged 13 and 16. Here, Mom´s invitation to help:

 “My husband and I graduated together. We have been together for 17 years. We are both workers. We both struggle to have a little house to provide better well-being for my children. My husband and I managed to buy a lot. We are hardworking people and we ask that you help us to achieve our dream of having a house of our own. May Lord Jesus give us health and license to move forward. Thank you very much for letting me tell you part of my life. God bless you greatly."

The good news is that we will build their house in the month of October but we still need help to complete all the materials and logistics. Please keep supporting us.

Thanks a lot to those who support our work. We are proud of our positive impact in these neighorhoods. The need is infinite but every piece of work is worth the effort. 

The difficulties we experienced trying to get the construction license for Wilfran´s house made it impossible for us to proceed with our plans and we had to abandon the idea of building this house. We soon found another family that would greatly benefit with the progress we have already made. This is Pelele[1]´s family. A family of 6 with Mom and 5 children of 8,10,12,15 and 16 years old. They have to pay rent to live in a “house” in extremely bad condition and it is becoming increasingly difficult for Mom to catch up with all the obligations. We met Pelele months ago as he would frequently volunteer to help us while building homes for other families. It must be great for him to be now helping us to build a house for him and his own family. The history of this family is that of so many who have had to suffer gender violence and many types of abuse. They fight every day to continue attending school and staying away from the bad influences. A safe shelter is the first solid step towards the construction of a more promising future.

Our first action was to buy their current house including the land. The negotiation was completed on March 17th and now we are preparing ourselves to build a new foundation of solid concrete. We still need to get additional funding to build the house itself which will be a 36 m² construction with metal doors and windows which will certainly provide a safe place for them to rest and forget about the hurries about paying the rent.

All the funds received through donations have been carefully handled and receipts and related documentation is readily available. 

We want to thank our sponsors for all the support we have received. We are firmly committed to change lives for good. So far, we have built 180 homes for families in need in Colombia. Its been worth and it will continue to be.

Best regards

Jaime Checa

Legal Representative

Pedalazos Que Construyen

[1]Pelele is a nickname by which everyone in the neighborhood knows him.