El Salvador Fuller Center for Housing

(House cost $5500) visit www.fullercenter.org

In February 2008, the Fuller Center for Housing purchased a plot of land in the town of San Luis Talpa sufficient for 60 homes and a community center. Trish Stoops, the project director, completed plans and a layout of the homes, which will be either one or two-bedroom, with kitchen, bath and two porches, either of which can be converted to more living space if the family desires. The two-bedroom homes, built in duplexes, will house families with five or more members, while the one-bedroom homes will be built in blocks of four to accommodate families with four or fewer members.

UPDATE

The first family to occupy their new home at the San Luis Talpa site is that of Ana Gladys Bonilla and Santos Tito Flores and their four children ages 9, 5, 1 1/2 and 2 months. Santos works as a watchman in San Salvador and is able to return to San Luis for one day out of every ten when he joins the masons on the site to complete his sweat equity requirement of 250 hours. Ana Gladys and her children live in a makeshift home of plastic sheeting, discarded cardboard and scrap lumber. With the onset of the rainy season, they, and all their possessions, are exposed to the heavy downpours common in El Salvador.

Construction on the first duplex--one side of which will be the project office and warehouse while the other will be the new home of Ana Gladys, Santos and their children--began in April. The walls have been completed and plumbing installed, and only the roof remains to be put on so that this first deserving family can move in to a new, safe and decent home.

In May 2008, The Fuller Center for Housing El Salvador hosted a team of nine students and two professors from Georgia Southwestern University in Americus, Ga. Their enthusiasm and hard work resulted in the pouring of the foundations for the first block of one-bedroom houses. With the first three courses of block completed by the time they left, the team was tired but satisfied and committed to continuing their support of the Fuller Center.

In June, another team will arrive to participate in a pilot build in preparation for the Millard and Linda Fuller Blitz Build in November. This team, along with other volunteer groups from El Salvador, will work to complete the first block of four houses as a test to allow Fuller Center for Housing staff to plan for the November build when 16 homes will be completed in one week.