Roma Housing in Slovakia : An Amazing Solution

Randy and I met this family and toured their house a few months ago. The Church provided the pipes and fittings to connect these houses to the main waterline which we helped build in this community.

Normally, Roma people live in shacks and 'squat' in temporary housing on land they do not hold title to.  When they do that, they cannot legally connect to the municipal water or electrical systems so they either "steal" these or go without.

ETP Slovakia is one of our partners who has been developing some creative new ways to integrate the Roma into the communities where they live, thus improving their lives significantly.  This is from the ETP Slovakia website : follow the links entitled 'Building Hope" to see the video of the community we visited. 

"Lukáš Turták with his wife Michala are some of the first homeowners in Rankovce. They built their new house by themselves with assistance from the project Building Hope. Lukáš′s father also helped with the construction as he has experience working construction. Today, the couple lives in the house and step by step they will furnish it as they are able. Lukáš and Michala enjoy their own home and enthusiastically talk about what they have already purchased and furnished and what else they would like to do. They have warmth in the house thanks to the new furnace. They purchased a kitchen table, have furnished the living room and have obtained many other necessary things, although, as they say, at the beginning they had nothing.

Lukáš is now a skilled brickmason. He enjoys working construction and he is able to do most things now that are necessary for brickwork. He hopes that the practical skills he acquired building his own home will help him to get a good job in building industry.

Project Building Hope continues to bring hope into many lives. In this year (2014), construction of another ten houses by ten more families is planned, this time in Moldava nad Bodvou."