Please Help Us Protect Our Home

Our house is affected by dangers (flooding, neighborhood disturbances/violence, etc.) that have been impacting our physical and mental well-beings, and it has been damaging our work performances. And we need to work well in order to support our very basic needs in these very trying times.

Hello to you, and let me start off with a "thank you".

Thank you for taking the time to read our story.

Our concrete house was built during my early childhood years, when I was around 5 or 6 years old. We are a family of four who lives in a 3.5x4 meter two-storey house (approx. 150 square ft); me, my mother and father, and my younger sister.

Our house is what you can call "bare bones". It has the parts it needs in order to stand. That was all my parents could afford those previous years, to provide us with our own house as a family. It stands in a corner of the lot owned by my departed maternal grandmother.

(The exterior/front of our house.)

As we live in our house, problems have been occurring that have affected us negatively, with our physical wellness and mental health.

1. We have no windows at the 2nd floor
2. Our house has no protective plastering
3. We have no ceiling
4. Our walls are slowly getting eroded by the rain, winds, and floods
5. We have no gutters, fascia, nor soffits
6. Floods are getting higher and higher in our area and are now just an inch away from our doors

The effects and problems we are facing:

*We hardly have any healthy amount of sleep. All the noise our neighborhood makes can be very clearly heard by all occupants inside. And our area is a very populated local residential area=neighbors literally side by side. And our neighbors in particular, are simply put, LOUD. They have a regular schedule of at least twice a week for a drinking session in the streets. Others love to play their sound systems with a volume reaching the ends of the street. And with our laws here, they would be able to do so until they would be mandated to stop on 12 midnight to 6 in the morning. Imagine that happening multiple times a week. Oh, and don't forget the celebrations - new years, birthdays, etc. - even the fights: all the details are very clearly heard from our house. Our sleep is very much affected.
*Rainwater easily enters through the gaps. The 2nd floor is our family bedroom. During typhoon seasons, although we try to mitigate it with plastic covers, we still get wet as droplets and strong winds enter our house.
*We are at risk from thieves and other criminal acts. No one wants that hanging above their heads.
*We have regular visits from stray cats, birds, bees, and even rats.
*Our neighborhood (more specifically, our street) is known in our local area as very prone to fights and violence. I have experienced multiple sleepless nights due to random gunshots and screaming matches by 4 different pairs of couples in our street.

(Our current "ceiling" which is basically a big plastic cover.)

I am now nearing 25, with a minimum wage 8-5 job, 6 days a week. My mother is a below-minimum wage earner. My father, although unemployed, takes care of my younger sister and the chores at home. My sister is currently attending school as a 6th grader. Our combined monthly wage is around Php 23,000 (approx. 400 USD).

Our expenses consists of our daily food/groceries, water, electricity, transportation to and from work/school, internet and other school costs. With the rising prices of almost all commodities, and the unchanging amount of our salaries, we have zero budget for other things. Obviously, in case of emergencies, we would have no choice but to apply for loans or debts. And as we just did that for our pandemic relief, we have no other options left.

Our goal right now is to finish the house to protect our well-being. And we need all the help we can get.

Our main target list:

1. Install windows
2. Install ceiling
3. Plaster all exterior walls

And if we could afford to, we would also like to install gutters, fascia, and soffits. With our estimation, we would need around Php 70,000 (approx. 1,200 USD) for the materials and labor. I don't want my sister nor anyone else to experience growing up in a home you feel unsafe and restless in.

This is the estimated breakdown of materials and other costs that would be needed, as per our inquiries to the local construction workers (of course, any actual material/product/service bought would have its receipt documented and shared through this fundraiser's updates!)

Please help us reach our goal by donating any amount you could and/or sharing our story to any online/social media sites! Letting others know and spread the word will be a very big help!