Building Homes - Changing Lives - Making a Difference
Juarez, Mexico - The Mission
Home | The
Mission | Photos | Donations
| Contact Us
Building safe homes for the impoverished families of Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico through an immersion program enabling Mexicans to begin living
a dignified life in their own country.
Southern Exposure was established as a building immersion program in
2000 to respond to incredibly harsh living conditions in Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico.
Ciudad Juarez is located just minutes across the United States-Mexico
border from El Paso Texas.
There are 60,000 people moving into the City of Juarez per month. It
is common to find two parents with three or four children living in a
12' x 12' cardboard shelter. These shelters have no heat, electricity,
running water or sewer and are at an elevation which gets well below freezing
in the winter.
Families in Need
A local community based group consisting of clergy, a local construction
foreman, an accountant and the Southern Exposure resident leader select
the family to receive the home. Selection criteria are based solely on
need, the poorest of the poor. The new home replaces the previous pallet
and cardboard shelter in the same location.
While families are not required to make payments for the new home, they
are encouraged to take ownership by paying whatever they can on a monthly
basis, which is not to exceed more than 5% of their income. Because of
the increasing violence against women in Juarez, over 30% of the homes
built by Southern Exposure are for single women with children.
Typical Home
The typical home built by Southern Exposure is 20' x 24' with exterior
walls made of concrete cinder block and a roof of 2' x 6' wood joists,
insulted and covered with hot tar and asphalt roof material. Each home
has a metal door with a window and lock and two additional windows that
open for ventilation.
In many cases an additional room has been added so that in the future
there is space for a bathroom as water and sewer connections become available.
Each of these homes cost around $3,500 to build, which includes materials,
plus the time and labor of the local crew. Southern Exposure is in need
of individuals and/or corporations to sponsor one or more home builds.
|