Home Sweet Home

When the mission first arrived, at first glance La Cucarita was a tiny little village supported solely by agriculture with scrap metal homes. The immediate goal of the mission was to create a plan for suitable housing.

The philosophy of the mission is to to help others help themselves; in other words everything the mission does in La Cucarita and the neighboring villages is earned by the people. The mission is not there so that La Cucarita can become dependent upon outside help.

In the case of proper housing many challenges arose. The houses were to be rewarded through a program much like that of Habitat for Humanity in the states. In the beginning of the housing program the villagers chose whether or not to sing up for the housing project. The choice had to be made in the beginning; everyone was in this together. Missioners were giving their blind faith to this village and in return the people of La Cucarita were expected to trust in the program from the beginning. A bong was created. The houses were to be built through construction missions where the the Dominicans and missioners would work side by side towards a common goal. Working on the homes was not only used as a form of payment, but gave the homeowners pride and satisfaction in contributing. In the end many Dominicans learned valuble skills in proper construction. After the completion of a house, there would also be a minimal mortgage.

The old scrap metal houses would be torn down; we were not trying to encourage the renting out of unsuitable housing. The new houses all followed the same layout: three bedrooms, a small living area, one bathroom, and a small kitchen. The houses were white with gleaming metal roofs; the only sign of Dominican style came from the brightly colored trim which was different for each house. This was about the only difference, but regardless of the similarity each house was filled with unique pride. The day of a move in ceremony consisted of a mass in which the entire village would attend to bless the house and aw over how beautiful it was. The sense of community continued to strengthen. The village was seeing concrete progress and the "hill of gleaming pearls was born."

Robert, a previous long term missioner of La Cucarita used to walk up the mountain to the location of a cross buillt from scrap construction pieces overlooking La Cucarita. From this point on the mountainside, he used to say La Cucairta looked like gleaming pearls in the sun; the pearls are the metal roofs of the mission homes. They are more valuable than any gem; they hold families who have love in their hearts and hope for tomorrow.