Future Planning The ceremony on September 16, at the end of Building on Faith Week, presented us with one of those �markers� that encourage evaluation of a project�s progress and then a glance toward the future to see what is ahead. It was so exciting to see how far the houses have progressed in only 3 months, and to host again people who were with us for the Ground Breaking, and people who have participated in creating this miracle. We were also constantly reminded of members of Global Village teams and individual volunteers who came during the summer. Each memory brought a warm feeling of gratitude for the person�s presence, for the moments of sweat and joy we shared. In the immediate future, Associa�ao Humanit�ria Habitat is challenged to complete the 12 houses that are started in Palmeira. Our goal is to be able to give the keys to the Habitat families in Palmeira in time for them to move into their houses by Christmas. But if this is to be accomplished, we depend on God�s grace, and the good will of many volunteers to come during every week, and to join the families when they work on their houses every Saturday. A team of volunteers from several European countries is scheduled to arrive the first of October, and another from the United States on October 6, but the man-hours they put in will not be sufficient to finish this job. The families will need the help of local volunteers to bring to pass the dream of spending Christmas in their new homes. Looking beyond this goal, we are already corresponding with Habitat for Humanity International headquarters about having teams come to help next summer, and with the Europe Department office of HFHI on the possibility of hosting more European teams. But what will they be coming here to do? Where will we be building in 2001? How many families can look forward to new homes next year? At this very moment, the Direc�ao of the Associa�ao is holding meetings to discuss these issues, and talking with various entities to ask about donations of land on which to build. In order to maintain the price of the houses at an accessible level, it is necessary to keep every cost as low as possible; paying for land would put the houses out of reach of those who most need them. The conselho of Braga is fortunate in having a smaller housing problem than some other Portuguese cities, but of course for the individual family involved; one decrepit house is a huge problem. We are looking forward to continued partnership with those in the C�mara Municipal who share our concern, and have already been so helpful. Families have come to us from other Freguesias besides Palmeira, so we look forward to conversations with other Juntas de Freguesias who might want us to join them in addressing the issue of unacceptably degraded housing. Some requests for information have come from other parts of Portugal. Habitat�s International Partner for Portugal will be following up on these by visiting towns and cities that have expressed interest, to discuss Habitat�s program and how they could become involved. It is gratifying to work in a country whose Ministry of Housing has set the goal of eliminating substandard housing, and initiated programs to make that come to pass, but our experience as an organization shows us how intractable the problem often is. We look forward to constructive partnerships with other organizations, and with government entities, that will make it possible to advance in helping put people into decent dwellings, more quickly together than any one of us could dream of doing alone.
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