Pedaling to build
02.07.2010
They bought their tricycles, now they are buying their homes.
The Pedaling to Live program began four years ago on April 24, 2006. Today we have a total of 85 tricycles.
The tricycle is the means of transport here in Ozamiz City, Mindanao; it is simply a bicycle fitted with a carriage on the right side which can carry two to four people. Under the program the drivers pay a daily rental of $1 a day to the cooperative. The driver can take ownership of the tricycle when he has accumulated enough to pay the cost of the unit; now over 50 drivers own their tricycles.
For example, Leo Casas joined the program in 2007 and took ownership of his tricycle in 2008. He has a wife, Miraluna and six children; what they earn goes to buy food and other necessities for the family.
From our meetings with the drivers and visiting the places where they live, it is clear that the lack of decent housing is a major problem. The drivers and their families are all living in the poorest areas of the city. Leo and his family live in a house of one room with a dirt floor that becomes flooded when the rain is heavy. They have plastic bags for windows to keep out the monsoonal rain. Many others are in crowded shanties.
In response to the housing problem, we bought a piece of land in the city. Forty low-cost houses will be built for our drivers and their families. At present the site is being developed, an access road is being constructed, electric posts are being installed and pipes laid for the water supply.
Their area will be fenced to secure the mini-community and provide an opportunity to do urban organic gardening and environmentally friendly livestock production for chicken and duck raising. The site will implement an eco-friendly waste management scheme.
The houses will consist of two bedrooms, a sitting room and a bathroom. The drivers will help in the actual construction of their houses with the estimated cost of each house at 100,000 pesos (AUD$1,200).
An agreement will be drawn up between the beneficiaries and the cooperative. Like the Pedaling to Live program it will be a rent-to-own agreement whereby a daily rental will be paid back and after accumulating the cost of the house in rent ownership, the house will be duly transferred to the beneficiary.
The housing project is under the management of Ozamiz City People’s Cooperative that began in 1967. At present it has 5,000 members. They come from the poorest section of the community, market vendors, wage earners, small business people and youth.
We take this opportunity to thank Columban Mission and all our dear benefactors and friends who have been so generous in helping the Pedaling to Live program from its small beginning until the present.
Any donation to help our new initiative, Pedaling to Live Housing Project, will be gratefully accepted. The success of our tricycle project has given us great encouragement and we believe we can succeed. Please help us to continue the work we have begun and continue to make a difference in the lives of the poor here in Ozamiz City.
Fr Oliver McCrossan has been a missionary in the Philippines since 1975.
