Home Building
The Home Building Project is intended to give residents quality and resilient structures they can call home. Rebar and concrete homes are much more permanent and require less maintenance than the typical wood and slaked lime homes. You can see nature taking its toll on some of the dirt homes in the area, and many are leaning. For about $10,000, Gaby and his crew can construct a comfortable stone and concrete home, complete with a concrete floor and 4 rooms.
Other homes built like this in the area include Dutoy, Milcois, Diefete, Herners, and Nelson. Four homes in Jaksonville have electricity (solar panel, battery, and inverter) enabling them to charge cell phones and light their houses at night. This is definitely a sign of progress!
House of neighbor Francique. He is the administrator of supplies for the Missionary House, and helps administer one of the community wells.
This house shown here was being constructed in spring of 2007 and was finished that summer. It was sold to Dutoy, a local resident and friend of Gaby, for $10,000. He married in 2007 and now lives here with his wife and two kids, Piterly and Anayca. By giving people in Matabonite this housing option, it helps to retain teachers and much needed professionals to stay in the area. Houses are built for important workers in the community and the residents will then repay Gabriel over the course of 5-10 years.
Designed to be inexpensive, low maintenance, and durable, this four-bedroom house shown is constructed with concrete floors and walls with a corrugated steel roof. Windows are not needed since the temperature stays moderate to hot year round. We would like to construct more of these simple houses to attract and retain educated workers.
Dutoy is here in the red shirt. He studied carpentry in Cap Haitien and now works at the vocation shop in town, making doors, tables, and whatever else is needed for the community.
View from inside the house showing the roof.