Housing in Colimes and the Recintos

The houses for the poor in Colimes can be a major problem. Unsanitary conditions and poor housing are part of the features of everyday life. The very poorest do not have enough money to put a down payment on a bamboo house which can be provided by ‘Hogar de Cristo’, an organisation founded by a Jesuit priest to provide houses for the poor. So this is where the Sisters step in (funds permitting) with help towards the down payment.

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Typical bamboo homes built by Hogar de Cristo often with help from the Sisters in Colimes.

The homes consist of 4 bamboo walls, a roof and a wooded floor. They are built high on stilts to avoid mud and damp in the rainy season. Access to the homes is via a wooden step ladder.

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Inside one of the bamboo homes

The inside of the bamboo houses is very basic; they consist of one room with no toilet, no bath and no kitchen and very little furniture. Often there are 10 or more living in them, but to the families living in them they are ‘home’.