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Construction Begins on Low Cost Housing Project for the Poor

May 27, 2008, Karachi:  Ali Hasan Mangi Memorial Trust began construction of low-cost houses for two of the poorest families in the village of Khairo Dero, in southern Pakistan.

The trust raised $1000 for each house through our donors, which accounts for the cost of the construction material. The villagers contributed the labor as part of our

Shabbir and his family in their collapsed home

Bhanel and her family in their house

plan to encourage community participation.

One of the houses is being built for Shabbir, a young man who works for a landlord tending buffalo. He makes less than $15 a month. He has six children and used to share his house with his brothers and their families. His house, which was decades old, collapsed years ago and he could never afford to build it again.

The second house is being built for Bhanel, a 75-year old woman who is the sole breadwinner in her family of 12. She earns just $10 a month sweeping floors at

government school and washing dishes for a landlord. She’s never had a house and her family sleeps outdoors alongside the livestock they tend for the landlords.

The houses are being built along a common design. Two large bedrooms, a kitchen and a toilet will be built out of a combination of baked and unbaked bricks. The roof will be made of bamboo sticks and weave, held up by an iron girder and covered with plastic sheeting and mud plaster. The trust is introducing Indian-style toilets to promote hygiene.
 

Bricks being delivered for construction