We Keep Moving Forward

The Fundacion Senor San Jose was told to exit its original home by the alcaldia a year ago, that’s when I became involved with the children, during my Field Based Training (FBT) that all aspiring trainees (aspirantes) must complete satisfactorily before becoming Peace Corps Volunteers: much like military boot camp.  The alcaldia’s plan was ostensibly to turn the building into a museum (which never happened).  So Sister Edith was left with no place to go and the responsibility of caring for 17 children.  She chose a building abandoned for approximately 30 years that had degenerated to the point of being used as the neighborhood dump.  She went before the alcaldia’s town council and received written permission to move onto the abandoned premises.  Over the past year it has become home to the Hogar San Jose.  There, however, remains one major problem.  The title to the property is missing and no one seems to know who is the rightful owner.  The story is that the property was sold to the state.  This is a very important point as no foundation or funding source will invest for improvement in a property that has no clear title.  All the improvements being made at present are being completed via the personal donations of persons like the Wobbrock family in Portland, Oregon and Dan Tiedge of the Virginia Health Center.  The above pics show the trash-burning fire, at the far top center of the large central patio where we’re growing a garden, smack in the middle of the 11-picture collage.  The pic next to the fire shows the new construction to the left as we enter the Hogar and the sequence of photos continues around the square to the end where the most recent construction has been finished.  Because of the title dispute the only construction at present is limited to metal supports and sheet-metal roofing to provide shade for the children and shelter from the elements.  More about this later….

This entry was posted on 20. March 2010 at 17:11 and is filed under Everyday. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.