When the founders of Via Pacis Eliana and Paolo Maino visited India in 2018, they were able to personally see the dramatic housing situation of many Dalit people (without caste) in the villages of Tamil Nadu: poor houses of mud and leaves, unhealthy, exposed to the elements, infested with mice and snakes. Already then Via Pacis had carried out a project of 12 houses for the poorest and it was decided to continue with over 50 brick houses equipped with the necessary for a more dignified and safe life. The houses are assigned to particularly poor and numerous Dalit families without sufficient income giving priority to those who have health problems or a disabled family member, to widowed or abandoned women with children.
We report two testimonies of how this project can change your life and open up to a better future (see project)
Anitha (Poovanipattu village)
“With my husband and our 4 children we lived in a house without walls, we protected with our clothes from the weather and from the gaze of passers-by. My husband drank and my children were ashamed of our situation. Snakes entered freely and one of my daughters was miraculously saved from a poisonous bite. We live in the house donated by Via Pacis now: for us it is a palace! We are happy, we also eat together with my sister’s family. My husband has started to reduce alcohol and he comes with me to work: I realized that his addiction stemmed from the sense of inferiority of having a small hut without walls. The help received from Via Pacis also ‘cured’ my husband and brought peace to our family”.
Ruby (Agineshpuram village)
“We are six in the family: in addition to my husband and two children, my mother-in-law (she has lost her husband) and her sister-in-law (her husband left her and he went with another woman) live with us. We lived in a hut made of coconut leaves, without privacy, exposed to insects, which forced us to take turns to keep them away from the children. My husband is in poor health and cannot work, we women looked for a few jobs every day, but we did not earn enough to eat and to buy medicines, with the children often sick because of cold and rain. We were in this situation when we were selected by Via Pacis for a new home. Now we live in a house that is like a villa for us and we would never have been able to build it. Our life has changed: we sleep well, we are able to work and to earn more, our children do not get sick, they study willingly and they are proud of their home. There is great joy in our family! We are grateful to Via Pacis and we pray every day for our benefactors”.