Mission Direct - Volunteers helping the world's poor

Los Algadones is a slum village near Sosua in The Dominican Republic. It is home to former hired hands from the sugar plantations - many having been recruited from across the border in Haiti. Thousands live in unsanitary conditions, in shacks made of sticks and disused cooking oil cans. They live on less than £1 a day.

Our Involvement:

Mission Direct leaders have been partnering with Elio Madonia and The Samaritan Foundation since 2001. During that time we have assisted with nearly 100 houses of the nearly 1,000 built by the Samaritan Foundation since the early 90s. In addition our team members have performed countless acts of kindness to many families in the Sosua area. The current focus is to re-house the slum of Los Algadones such that every one of its 1,200 inhabitants should be moved to a new home. The new village built adjacent to the old is called Esperanza.

Two volunteers raised £50,000 to buy the land, bring a water supply and build a school. That school now gives the children the chance of a new life. Another Mission Direct team funded and built a church and still others built a community centre and a clinic on the new land.

The task is urgent and not yet complete. Please join us to transform the lives of these people living in such desperate circumstances. You don't need to be a skilled builder - just come with a willing heart. Volunteers sometimes give new occupants items such as mattresses and bedding.

Outcomes:

Nearly a hundred families have had their quality of life improved immeasurably, from the incredible squalor of their shacks to a new start thanks to Mission Direct volunteers. Their health, security and well-being are also hugely improved.