A Family Visit
8 May 2000, by Rita Cruz

This is an account of a visit conducted by Habitat staff and two members of the Global Village team, Theresa and Sam, to one of the selected houses of the Palmela project, the house of the Mouta family.

The Mouta family comprises five people: father, mother and three children. Mr. Joao Mouta, the father, is 46 years old and works in construction. Mrs. Rosa Mouta, his wife, does not work. Their three children are Clarisse, 15 years old, V�nia, 11 years old, and Bruno, a 6-years-old-boy.

Visiting the Mouta family and being welcomed in their house is quite a startling and moving experience. The first glimpse of the house where they currently live is misleading. The decoration works as a covering picture of what the house is in reality. A few steps inside, however, are enough to clear any doubts. The floor, made of wood, is worn out by years of cold, heat and rain. We feel it cracking and moving as we walk, truly fearing that it may go down at any minute.

The house is also terribly cold. Winter in Braga is sometimes harsh, but due to safety reasons, the family cannot use a gas heater, and an electrical one is too expensive for the family�s budget. Because the house has no isolation, the opposite thing happens during Summer. We were told that the heat inside the house is so unbearable that they sleep outside.

As we visit the house, little Bruno is running around chasing a sweet puppy. He keeps on chasing him all the time the Mouta's shows inside the house, as if making exercise to fight the cold, but at the same time bringing some easiness into the atmosphere, in that natural way that only children are able to. While we visit the bedrooms, we realise that the boy does not have a room of his own, for the little space of the house does not allow for three bedrooms. The boy currently shares his sister�s room.

It is with these distressing images of poverty and hard times fresh in our minds that we are led to the backyard of the house, where we discover Mr. Mouta�s hobby. Ever since he was a child, Mr.Mouta raises birds, and he keeps on doing it now, everyday after coming from work, in the small shed in the backyard. Greens, blues, yellows, an immensity of colours that await us. It seems a different world from the one we just stepped out from. The most touching thing happens then, when Theresa and Sam began to make themselves understood by the family without hardly any translation. It seemed as if a global language was being created. It was amazing to watch even little Bruno answering questions that they made.

Before leaving, Sam and Theresa offered some presents to the children. One of them was a colour-painting book for the six-year-old. Somehow, in the midst of that coloured backyard, it seemed the most appropriate gift. We left after taking a photo with the family, leaving them smiling in an atmosphere of hope for better days. On our part, we are determined to make those days come.

Back to Habitat�s office, time is running towards the Ground Breaking of Twenty-seven of May. As time flows, the preparations are getting intensive. More people, mainly international staff, are coming to the office to help. The construction consultant�s team grew from one to three persons in less than four weeks. It is expected that more people will arrive until the end of the month to help Habitat with the Palmeira project, which comprises the building of twelve houses to families such as the Mouta family.

The English Global Village team, from which Theresa an Sam were part, left Portugal in the beginning of the month. They were very enthusiastic about the project, and promised to come back in September, to participate in the Building on Faith Week, between the 11 and 16 of September.

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