Ongoing Projects » Starve Poverty International

April 2nd, 2011 by editor

SCHOOL SUPPLIES AND UNIFORMS

As part of our mission, education is very important. Especially as their education system embraces Jesus Christ as an integral part of their learning experience. Thus, we try to help equip the children for their educational experience. Uniforms are a requirement and can be difficult for some families to provide. So we have assited in providing shoes for those in need. We will also be assiting with providing backpacks filled with the schools required material. These are ongoing projects that you can become a part of with your donation to the designated project: Shoes for children or backpacks for education. The cost to provide shoes per child is $20 and $30 for a backpack per child. Thank you for joining us on this mission to relieve some stress in these families’ lives as they send their child to school in hopes of breaking the chains of poverty.

EMERGENCY HOUSING

Picture this: a three building/six unit studio apartment that has been neglected for several years; plumbing and electric lines and fixtures destroyed:broken windows; missing screens;cracked and missing floor tiles and grass waist high.

February 2008
After a Starve Poverty team finishes renovations there are six ready to occupy units. Starve Poverty has agreed to maintain the units and grounds for five years. The units will be used for persons who would otherwise be homeless due to fires, leaking roofs or other social issues.
A laundry room and a gazebo are on the wish list for the future.

December 2010
The gazebo is built and even has a fan for the extra hot summer days. There are 2 units occupied. The other four are given a good cleaning. It is evident there is a need foe rodent proofing. Two broken down cars stored behind the units are removed.

February 2011
A large picnic table is constructed inside the gazebo so residents can eat or socialize together more easily. There are still two units occupied. All six units were rodent proofed. The four empty units were cleaned and are ready for use. The chain link fence at the project entrance was straightened.

FLO

At 80 Flo had never had indoor plumbing and so she made her way down a steep hill of coral rock to use the outhouse. Starve Poverty became acquainted with her after she fell on wet rock on her way back up the hill. She had laid on the ground in pain until she was able to crawl to the house. She had severely sprained her ankle.

In August of 2008 a team of Starve Poverty volunteers constructed a bathroom addition with a toilet and shower. Outside they added a utility sink for washing clothes and dishes.

The bathroom solved a major safety issue for Flo and made her daily life easier. Each time Starve Poverty is on Exuma we visit her. She is always glad to see us and eager to sing us hyms as well as lend us her bathroom when we are working in the area.

Most older homes on the island have separate buildings for “kitchens”. Although Flo has a propane stove now, other people continue to cook over open flames. Having the kitchen separate keeps the house from burning if there is a fire. Over the past two years we became concerned with the uneven rock from Flo’s front door to her kitchen. In December 2010 when Flo was seen holding onto the flat wall of her house to keep her balance on the way to the kitchen we knew it was time to look again at safety.

In February 2011 a team of Starve Poverty volunteers jack-hammered the coral rock and poured a concrete stoop and walkway to the kitchen. The stoop is big enough for a chair and one potted patio tomato plant. Two volunteers spent a day cleaning out the kitchen which looked more like a shed full of junk.

Flo believes the Starve Poverty teams of volunteers who have helped her to live easier days are sent by God and every day she praises He who does the sending!

Hazel and David

Hazel, and her late husband Harold, has been her grandson’s caregiver since his birth 30 years ago. David is blind, deaf and mute leaving him with no way to communicate with people or his environment. He wears a rope tether around his ankle for safety since their house is very close to the ocean. Since he has had the rope his entire life, he is content to go outside only as far as the rope goes. David loves to sit outside with his face uplifted to the sun. Despite many challenges Hazel has been able to teach him independence in dressing and grooming, eating, making his bed and other daily activities.

Despite the hardships of island life on this 80 year old, Hazel remains totally committed to David’s care. There is no running water in the house. The old well outside provides just a few gallons of sandy water a day which she must carry in buckets to flush the toilet, wash dishes and bathe. The thing which Hazel says is hardest of all though is not having enough food to fill David’s hunger. All food in Exuma is expensive because it must be imported. Milk costs just over ten dollars a gallon and toilet paper is almost two dollars a roll. Hazel’s government “stipend” is two hundred dollars a month. Hazel and David eat once a day and when David looks for food and there is none he drinks water. Starve Poverty seeks monthly donations which are sent to provide a store credit at the market so she can get what is most needed.

Starve Poverty has also adopted the repair and upkeep of Hazel’s house. To date outer doors have been replaced, a new roof added, the exterior painted and other minor repairs completed. In February 2011 a kitchen cabinet will be replaced

Help Emma See

Emma Glass is an 80 year old woman who raised 10 children in a one bedroom house with no running water or electricity. She earned a living for her children and grandchildren by weaving baskets. A few years ago Starve Poverty International added a bathroom with running water and a bedroom to Emma’s house. She recently had cataract surgery and now needs glasses. Emma can not afford to pay for these glasses. She needs her eyesight in order to continue to support herself by basket weaving. There are not many jobs that older women can do on the island of Exuma but basket weaving. There is no social security on the island.